Retail Event, eCommerce Event, Knowledge Series, Conference, Exhibition & Awards in Dubai

Day 1
INNOVATION ARENA

09:15- 10:00 Registration & Networking breakfast

Registration & Networking breakfast

10:00 - 10:15 Opening address

Going from a ‘Selling’ to a ‘Buying’ environment

Session brief: Know about the ABCs of creating a fast paced, interactive and fun shopping environment to engage with and stimulate ...

Session brief: Know about the ABCs of creating a fast paced, interactive and fun shopping environment to engage with and stimulate buying emotions of the hyper-connected consumers. Note: We are trying to invite an international CX subject matter expert to address this topic (refer to prospective speaker list).

10:15-10:35 Keynote/solo address

Delivering delightful CX

Session brief: What does it take to create a brand where customers are happy to shop and return? What does it take to curate experiences and create a ...

Session brief: What does it take to create a brand where customers are happy to shop and return? What does it take to curate experiences and create a high engagement strategy that customers value? What does it take to create a brand that customers are happy to promote? Note: We will invite a regional retailer that champions these areas (refer to prospective speaker list).

10:40-11:00 Research report:

Are brands delivering on the CX promise?

Session brief: Data and information to fill you in on what brands are doing to deliver on their customer experience promise. Note: W...

Session brief: Data and information to fill you in on what brands are doing to deliver on their customer experience promise. Note: We will invite a research firm to share key data and information from their report on customer experience and how brands are performing in this area (refer to prospective speaker list; I had already shared the Kantar lead with you in this regard to pitch Knowledge Partnership)

11:00- 13:00 The CX roundtable:

Attract, engage, retain
Session brief: Being customer-centric is not new. It has existed since the term retail was coined. Over time, the means and ways of creating a wow cus...

Session brief: Being customer-centric is not new. It has existed since the term retail was coined. Over time, the means and ways of creating a wow customer experience have changed, as the customer continues to transform. Customer Experience is a continuous process to understand the needs of and engage with customers. The CX roundtable will bring together great minds from retail groups who are consistently decoding and positively disrupting the rules of customer engagement. Note: We will invite 10-15 speakers to be part of this roundtable (refer to prospective speaker list)

Lunch

14:00 - 15:00 Case studies:

Collaborating to wow customers
Session brief: The case studies will focus on how retailers are collaborating with subject matter experts to optimise their CX capability, how they ar...

Session brief: The case studies will focus on how retailers are collaborating with subject matter experts to optimise their CX capability, how they are upskilling employees to better engage with customers, how they are analysing data to bridge engagement gaps. Note: The aim is to invite a retailer and a facilitator to understand how they collaborated to deliver great customer experience. Ideally these should be sponsor driven slots, wherein the sponsor pays and brings to stage their retail partner (refer to prospective speaker list).

15: 30-17:00 Start-up Conclave:

Building a CX-first mindset
Session brief: Home-grown start-ups and entrepreneurs to pitch their stories of building great relationships with customers. Note: We will invi...

Session brief: Home-grown start-ups and entrepreneurs to pitch their stories of building great relationships with customers. Note: We will invite 10 speakers to pitch their start-up stories (refer to prospective speaker list). Ideally this session should be sponsored.

16:00 - 17:00 Panel discussion

Rejuvenating tenant-landlord Relationship
Retail spaces thrive in the presence of the right retail mix. And retail requires right placement to succeed. Creating an enchanting shopping ambience...

Retail spaces thrive in the presence of the right retail mix. And retail requires right placement to succeed. Creating an enchanting shopping ambience, thus, requires a strong and symbiotic tenant-landlord relationship. This session will examine how the tenantlandlord relationship has metamorphosed over the last decade, while making a few predictions on how partnership models will evolve, how leasing will be done and how retail spaces will create memorable and seamless experiences.

Confirmed speakers:
… Abdul Kader Saadi, Managing Director, Glee Hospitality Solutions
… Ahmed Al Qaseer, COO, Shurooq
… Ebraheem Al Samadi, CEO retail, Al Samadi Group
… Furqan Athar, Managing Director, McArthur + Company
… Ian Alexander Hunter, COO, BinSina & Holland & Barrett
… Khadija Al Bastaki, Executive Director, Dubai Design District
… Manish Das, Group Chief Officer – Franchise Retail, Jashanmal Group
… Marwan Eskandarani, Group Business Development Director – GCC, Kamal Osman Jamjoom Group (Moderator)
… Mohamed Galal, CEO, Dar Al Osool

17:00 - 18:00 SOLOs (Stories, Opinions, Learnings, Outcomes)

High power / high impact speaking slots, covering diverse topics such as entrepreneurship, chasing one’s dreams, spearheading a culture of change, ...

High power / high impact speaking slots, covering diverse topics such as entrepreneurship, chasing one’s dreams, spearheading a culture of change, sustainability.

Confirmed speakers:

5-5:15PM: “Creating a community” by Butheina Kazim, Founder & Managing Director, Cinema Akil with Luz Villamil, Deputy Director, Cinema Akil
5:15-5:30PM: “Bouncing back” by Tahir Shah, Founder, Moti Roti
5:30-5:45PM: “Mind over matter” by Leanne Sherlock, C-founder, Safe Space

INNOVATION

What made a campaign popular? What rendered a store captivating? What are the forward-looking digital innovations? What’s next in online retailing? ...

What made a campaign popular? What rendered a store captivating? What are the forward-looking digital innovations? What’s next in online retailing? How can retailing be done consciously?

All of the above will be addressed through insightful presentations and meaningful conversations.

2:00pm-2:40pm: Presentations for Most Admired Responsible Retailer of the Year Award

2:45-3:30pm: Presentations for Most Admired Brand Campaign of the Year Award

3:35-5:00pm: Presentations for Most Admired Store Design of the Year Award

Note: The final awardees will be felicitated at the RetailME Awards 2019 ceremony on October 15.

Day 2

9:00 - 09:30 Networking breakfast

09:30 - 09:40 Igniting innovation:

Snap-ing, Gram-ing, Shop-ing by Priya Patel-Chomel, Product Marketing Lead, Facebook Middle East

09:45 - 10:00

Retailing in the age of social commerce by Akanksha Goel, Founder & Managing Director, Socialize

10:00-10:20 Report release

Look ahead: KSA by Mohammed Dhedhi, Principal, AT Kearney Consumer and Retail Middle East and Africa

10:20 - 10:30 Presentation

Global trends in food retail by Bernhard Heiden, Chief Strategy Officer, Schweitzer Group & Creative Director, Interstore

10:30 - 11:00 Power Chat

Re-engineering food experiences – from grocery to gourmet
A giant candy vending machine, a barista handing out cups of coffee, a healthy grab-and-go counter, a hot food section serving wholesome meals within ...

A giant candy vending machine, a barista handing out cups of coffee, a healthy grab-and-go counter, a hot food section serving wholesome meals within a grocery concept? Yes, all of these and more are becoming integral elements of grocery brands, which are looking to transform the shopping experience from mundane to exciting. From design to technology, products to people – every aspect is undergoing rapid transformation to enhance customer experience. This session will bring together experts from the fields of design, grocery and technology to discuss ‘what’s NEXT’.

Confirmed speakers:
• Bernhard Heiden, Chief Strategy Officer, Schweitzer Group & Creative Director, Interstore
• Chang Sup Shin, CEO, 1004 Gourmet
• Fabrice Le Boulenger, CEO, Grandiose Supermarket
• Laurent Guitart, CEO, Circle K UAE
• Mark Lack, CEO, Urban Foods
• Peggy Li, Managing Partner, sps:affinity (Moderator)

11:00 - 11:10 Coffee/Tea & Networking

11:20 -11:40 Report release

by Sandeep Ganediwalla, Managing Partner, RedSeer Consulting
...

11:45-13:00 Tech Talks

Reinventing retail in the ‘blended consumption’ era
The omnichannel evolution in the Retail 2.0 environment is a forgone conclusion. Going beyond the retail touchpoints, it all about how the shopping ex...

The omnichannel evolution in the Retail 2.0 environment is a forgone conclusion. Going beyond the retail touchpoints, it all about how the shopping experience is rendered ‘smart’, ‘experiential’ and ‘differentiated’. Data is being looked upon as the ‘new oil’, as artificial intelligence, machine learning promise to positively disrupt the retail landscape. Blockchain is the new ‘in’. However, going back to the basics of human interactions in retail, this session is designed to encourage a dialogue on how established and emerging technology pieces can be blended with human touch to create future-proof ‘smart’ businesses.

Confirmed speakers:
• Amit Yadav, Head of Marketing, 2XL Furniture & Home Décor
• Ashish Panjabi, COO, Jacky’s Retail LLC
• Charbel Lahoud, Head of Scouting, Chalhoub Group
• Heer Lalwani, Marketing Manager, Al Ghurair Retail
• Rajiv Prasad, Chief Innovation Officer, Xpandretail
• Vijay Talreja, Co-founder and Director, Adapty
• Manoj Ganapathy, Division Manager – Visitors Management & Robotics Division, Jacky's Business Solutions • Megha Kapoor, Head of Performance Marketing, AYM Commerce • Milat Sayra Berirmen, Digital Innovation Director, Reem Mall • Rajiv Prasad, Chief Innovation Officer, Xpandretail • Sarah Jones, Founder & CEO, Sprii.com • Vijay Talreja, Co-founder & Director, Adapty • Xavier Anglada, Managing Director – Accenture Digital Lead, MENA and Turkey (Moderator)

13:00 - 14:00 Lunch

14: 00-15:00 Panel Discussion

Unlocking the KSA Potential
The retail industry in Saudi Arabia is forecast to reach $119 billion by 2023. The 34 million-plus population in the Kingdom has seen far-reaching cha...

The retail industry in Saudi Arabia is forecast to reach $119 billion by 2023. The 34 million-plus population in the Kingdom has seen far-reaching changes – be that relaxation of foreign ownership of businesses, opening up of cinemas after a 35-year hiatus, more and more local Saudis joining the retail workforce, tech-savvy youth spearheading digital transformation. Our Saudi Arabia-focused session will bring together experts from the Kingdom for an engaging discussion on the ‘NEXT’ big changes that will have far-reaching impact on retail, leisure and entertainment, real estate and consumer behaviour.

Confirmed speakers:
• Feras Almaddah, Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Zmakan
• Hathal Saad Alutaibi, CEO, Alandalus Property Co
• Jim Ragsdale, Deputy CEO – Beauty, Kamal Osman Jamjoom Group
• Kamal Osman Jamjoom Group LLCMalik Shehab, Co-founder & CEO, Golden Scent
• Mohammad IB Alawi, Chairman, Sahat Property Management Co.

15:00 - 15:30 Power chat

Being unique is the new norm
How important is it to stand out? How important is it to have a sense of purpose? How important is it to plan for and be prepared for the NEXT wave of...

How important is it to stand out? How important is it to have a sense of purpose? How important is it to plan for and be prepared for the NEXT wave of transformation? This session will bring together unique brands that are slowly, yet surely, building a strong community.
Confirmed speakers:

• Ahmad Kazim, Co-founder, Project Chaiwala
• Duncan Fraser-Smith, Vice President of F&B, The First Group
• Heba Al Farazi, Founder & CEO, Coveti
• Kristine Lasam, Head of Branding and Integrated Marketing, Accenture Interactive (Moderator)

15:30 - 16:45 Start-up Conclave

Strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem
Is there a magic formula to set up and run a successful business? An idea is only the starting point. That idea needs nurturing to germinate into a co...

Is there a magic formula to set up and run a successful business? An idea is only the starting point. That idea needs nurturing to germinate into a concrete entity. It takes grit, strategic thinking and passion to build a business, irrespective of the size. In the last few years, a lot of agencies – governmental and non-governmental – have come forward to support the development of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region. But a lot is yet to be done. To delve deep into finding that magic formula, the start-up conclave will bring together truly passionate entrepreneurs to discuss their experiences, pain points and successes. What’s more, the best startup concept will be felicitated with the coveted RetailME Award.

Confirmed participants:
• Armin Jamula, Co-founder & CEO, Its Her Way
• Bahaneh Dehghani Green, Founder, Happy Bubble
• Carole Moawad, Co-Founder, M’OISHÎ
• Dana Alsharif, Founder, Urban RetrEAT
• Feras Almaddah, Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Zmakan
• Geetanjali Kaul, Co-founder, TurtleCard
• Ibrahim Abudyak, Co-founder, The Smash Room
• Mahmoud Gao, Founder, Mr Draper
• Rumana Nazim, Founder, The Edit
• Tania Lodi, Founder, Tania’s Teahouse • Zubin Doshi, Founder, Scoopi Café
• Zaina Kaanan, Founder, KAVE

Jury panel:
• Katia Kachan, Managing Partner, All4Founders
• Lucy Chow, Director, Women’s Angel Investor Network • Nadine Benchaffai, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Taqado Mexican Kitchen & Founder, Park House Café • Shahzad Bhatti, Founder, The Co-Dubai & Share This Space

19:30 Onwards

Cocktails followed by RetailME Awards 2019