The countdown is on to Retail Technology Show 2025, which runs at London’s Excel on 2-3 April.
This year, Green Retail World editor Ben Sillitoe is hosting the sustainability-themed stream on the Wondrous Stage on the morning of day two (Thursday 3 April), which features a bumper few hours of case studies, panel debates, and live interviews with some of the biggest retail names around. Here’s what to expect from the sessions on that stage:
09:30: Introduction and welcome by Ben Sillitoe and a word from the sponsor of the theatre, Jasper Goeman, SVP business development Europe at Nuvei.
09:40: Andrew Xeni, founder & chair of Nobody’s Child and Fabacus, talking about cultivating a culture of responsibility in an organisation by empowering others to embrace sustainable practices. Xeni will also look at how to align performance metrics with sustainability impact as part of a wide-ranging conversation.
10:20: Panel discussion: Ensuring your sustainability strategy is a win for the customer, the environment & the retailer. Sillitoe will moderate a panel discussion with: Jag Weatherley, managing director for Europe & rest of world at Asos; Paula Coughlan, chief people, communications & sustainability officer at Currys; and Sophie De Salis, sustainability policy adviser at the British Retail Consortium. The session will delve into multiple topics including how to prioritise sustainability initiatives, how best to communicate sustainability credentials to increases sales, and some of the tech innovations retailers should assess to help them be more sustainable.
11:00: Fireside chat: Creating the world’s most sustainable brand. Sillitoe will interview AllSaints founder Stuart Trevor (pictured below), who has launched an eponymous clothing brand that doesn’t produce any new clothes – it upcycles vintage gear and uses overstock from brands and retailers to bring materials back to life and avoid the carbon footprint associated with new production.
11:40: Fireside chat: How can retailers merge sustainability & philanthropy to make a bigger impact? Sillitoe hands the moderator microphone over to Julian Burnett, founder Quercus Advisors and former tech and supply chain leader in the retail industry, who will chat to Fiona Robinson, CEO of Newlife, a charity for disabled children alongside Jade Snart, senior sustainability manager for clothing, home & general merchandise at George at Asda.
Sustainability was a big topic at the Retail Technology Show press day in London on 5 March, which brought together four of the scheduled speakers at the event. Trevor was joined by Simone Oloman, founder at Need It For Tonight, Mohsen Ghasempour, AI director at B&Q parent Kingfisher, and George Sullivan, founder at The Sole Supplier for a chat on everything that’s hot in retail right now, chaired by Burnett.
As he explained to Green Retail World earlier this year, Trevor says the future of retail is in the kids and there’s a need to create a proposition that appeals to the younger generation. It’s all about engaging the next generation of shoppers, he explained, adding that’s the secret to building brand longevity and was a focus of his in the early days of AllSaints and is why his focus is vintage now.
“It’s not, on its own, enough to say you’re a sustainable brand,” Trevor added.
“You have to have something outstanding [in place first].”
Sullivan warned that unless anyone has any quick answers to solve the global wealth gap, consumers are typically going to be directed by price rather than sustainability. His view was they will say purpose-led brands are important to them, but cost is going to be the leading decision maker.
It led the panel to discuss the need for retailers to, in the words of Burnett, “go and do this themselves” and “bake-in” sustainability to products to ensure the industry continues to move in the right direction in terms of its relationship with the planet.
Chinese players Temu and Shein, two of the most dominant and high-growth retailers in the UK right now, are often criticised for a lack of transparency in their supply chain. But Sullivan called them out for not having “heart” – something he argued brands need in order to cut through with consumers in today’s market.
Oloman said there’s an immediate need for retailers and brands to solve the equation of providing convenience and speed of service, but in a more sustainable way. That’s one of the biggest challenges the industry faces, she commented.
Ghasempour suggested his AI team have been working with the Kingfisher sustainability division and he “hopes to work more closely in the future”. He talked up work the teams at the retail group have done in the online recommendations space to try and direct consumers to more sustainable product choices based on their initial query and search criteria.
Other Retail Technology Show highlights
The session hosted by Sillitoe is only a small part of the Retail Technology Show, with two full days of content from 125-plus speakers, 400-plus tech companies exhibiting their wares on the expo floor, and several other intriguing event features.
Among the renowned names on the conference agenda are: Archie Norman, chairman of Marks & Spencer; Theo Paphitis, owner and chairman of the retail group that runs Ryman, Boux Avenue, and Robert Dyas; Maria Hollins, CEO of Ann Summers; Rob Barnes, CIO at Asda; Alex Gourlay, executive chair of Holland & Barrett; and Henrik Nordvall, CEO of H&M UK & Ireland.
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[image credit: Green Retail World]
