Innovation Summit 2023

THE BRIEF

Retail Week clients Artefact, Okta, Oracle and Upp were keen to be showcased as industry leaders in the retail digital, tech and innovation space, with the chance to speak within content sessions alongside leading retailers. They wanted to meet retailers face to face, in networking and roundtable settings, generate leads and build brand awareness.

THE SOLUTION

Retail Week’s Innovation Summit 2023 was a standout success. A full-day conference held in Aldgate, London, it contained eight engaging content sessions, five immersive roundtables and four unrivalled networking opportunities, including an evening drinks reception.

The Innovation Summit offered the opportunity for industry experts and retailers to connect and share thought leadership and best practice on the big issues facing the retail industry, from supply chain, sustainability and HR through to digital innovation, tech and AI.  

With such a diverse array of content came a diverse mix of retail attendees, all focused on improving digital strategy and driving innovation throughout their businesses. Surpassing benchmarks, 72 retailers attended on the day, including Harrods, John Lewis, Kingfisher, M&S, Pets at Home, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and TJX.

Job titles in attendance included chief executive, digital customer experience director, digital director, ecommerce director, retail director, head of supply chain, earthcare partner, head of technology, global director of inclusive technology, head of store transformation and development, and head of solutions, to name a few.  

Three of the sponsors spoke on panel sessions, alongside leading retail speakers from Lush, AllSaints, The Edit LDN, Depop, B&Q, Estée Lauder Companies, Frank’s Remedies, the Co-op, EE, The Very Group, Too Good To Go, Roarsome, The Cotswold Company, Dishpatch, Rapha and De Beers. Two sponsors hosted self-select roundtables, which proved the most popular for retailer attendance out of the five available. One of our partners also hosted a successful private breakfast before the summit.  

Campaign marketing included: 

• Dedicated event portal with partner branding 
• Two teaser articles featured on Retail-Week.com and morning briefing newsletters 
• Social content across Twitter (100,000+ followers) and LinkedIn 
• Bespoke social cards created for sponsors and speakers to showcase their inclusion  
• Native advertising on Retail-Week.com 

The summit was celebrated across social media by attendees. One senior retailer commented: “There was plenty to take away and think differently about.” Another said: “I’ve not really attended any retail type of events but will now have to consider these – I generally stick to the big tech ones, but I’m definitely going to look out for conferences you are hosting.”  

Sponsors equally applauded the day, with one saying: “This is the best event we’ve been to all year.” 

As a testament to its success, 10 retailers immediately re-registered for the summit the following year, keen to not miss out on a place.