Thursday 12 June, 2025 | The Minster Building, Cavendish Venues, London
2025 Efficiency Debate Agenda
Rising costs and competitive pressures continue to impact retail and slam profit margins. Looming tax hikes only add to cost concerns. Retail Gazette’s Efficiency Debate 2025 will explore how retailers are working to balance increasing cost scrutiny and budget changes with tech-enabled and culture-led transformation opportunities.
Providing unfiltered retail insight and takeaway action points alongside candid learnings and game changing solutions, join us for a deep dive into treading the line between optimising costs and maximising impact.
8:30 – 09:30AM | REGISTRATION & NETWORKING
09:30 – 09:35AM | WELCOME & INTRO
09:35 – 09:50AM | EFFICIENCY CONNECT
It’s all about you. Connect with peers and set your agenda for the day ahead.
09:50 – 10:30AM | STATE OF THE NATION – OPENING PANEL DISCUSSION
Efficiency, unfiltered: tackling cost, complexity and continuity in retail.
In this opening scene-setter, we explore:
- What first-hand impact are retailers experiencing, and what’s the knock-on effect for 2026 planning?
- How can today’s economic and operational challenges be approached in a realistic way?
- Where does cybersecurity and digital infrastructure fit into the efficiency and risk conversation?
- Balancing investment in growth, resilience, and efficiency — is there a ‘right’ way to do this?
Steve Faulkner, chief technologist, security, CDW
Robert Kulawik, chief operating officer, Stroodles
Richard Lim, CEO, Retail Economics
Amir Mashkoor, master franchisor, Miniso UK
Richard Meeus, EMEA senior director of security technology and strategy, Akamai
10:30 – 10:40AM | TAKE 10: WORD CLOUD & DISCUSSION
Share, benchmark and break down your thoughts with those in the room with you. Where should retail be investing for long-term, sustainable growth?
10:40 – 11:00AM | IDEAS PODIUMS STREAM 1
Operations & Logistics
Tactical cost transformation: quick wins, difficult conversations & long-term impact
From uncovering hidden inefficiencies to implementing tech-driven solutions, join a real-world journey of cost transformation through the lens of Hunkemöller — a leading international retail brand. Uncover how third-party supplier spend, labour costs, store efficiency and beyond were strategically highlighted and reduced across a multi-country footprint. Gain actionable insights on achieving quick wins without losing sight of long-term impact, and why top-down alignment and difficult conversations are critical. Avoiding these challenges comes at a high cost – join us and identify how not to let that happen.
Andrew Davidson, director, 4C Associates
10:40 – 11:00AM | IDEAS PODIUMS STREAM 2
Data, Tech & Innovation
From content chaos to digital harmony: smart strategies for agile retail marketing
At a time when retail content demands are skyrocketing to fulfil the need for omnichannel and personalised campaigns – in an intensely competitive marketplace – explore how retail teams are maximising the value of digital brand assets, creating more content than ever, launching campaigns faster, and keeping the digital shelf on-point. Join us to hear how to do more with less, make your valuable images and videos work harder, and stay on-brand everywhere.
Andrew Hall, VP global demand generation, Canto
11:00- 11:30AM | NETWORKING & REFRESHMENTS
11:30 – 11:50AM | THE EX-FILES: Deep dive insights from the other side
Efficiency has its place – but not to the detriment of customer experience
We dive into exclusive efficiency insights with a former retail leader.
In conversation with: Paul Sims, former CTO, Halfords: former chief architect, Primark; M&S
11:50AM – 12:30PM | PANEL DISCUSSION
Data and AI-led innovation investment: making the right decisions to enhance long-term efficiency and growth
While data and AI-led innovation can unlock unmatched opportunities to deliver retail insight, efficiency and growth, the options are vast – and budgets are not.
- Innovation needs investment: how should you assess the systems and processes that can be streamlined to make the right decisions around capex spend – and create a clear, cross-functional business case to move forward?
- Where do you begin, and how do you track and measure impact? Is experimentation an option when budgets are tight? How do you know where test-and-learn makes sense, in order to scale efficiencies?
- Data, data, data: outlining the importance of data quality and governance in ensuring your adoption of AI-led tech reaps maximum rewards
Simon Jury, group data director, Kingfisher
Hilary McNair, global commercial director, The Body Shop
Morris Beek, head of AI strategy & solutions, Quinyx
12:30 – 12:40PM | TAKE 10: AUDIENCE POLL & DISCUSSION
Where do you see the most potential for AI within your business?
Share, benchmark and break down your thoughts with those in the room with you.
12:40 – 13:00PM | IDEAS PODIUMS STREAM 1
Operations & Logistics
The hidden costs of not considering store replenishment when designing your warehouse automation
Warehouse automation projects typically focus on internal metrics while overlooking impacts on store replenishment. By implementing perfect sequencing at warehouse level, retailers can eliminate inefficiencies and significantly reduce store replenishment time. This approach also reveals substantial cost-saving opportunities, previously hidden by compartmentalising the warehouse and stores.
Bassem Awada, VP business development, EXOTEC
12:40 – 13:00PM | IDEAS PODIUMS STREAM 2
Data, Tech & Innovation
Harnessing profit-boosting marginal gains through data-driven asset control
In large multi-site retail estates, HVAC, refrigeration, lighting and BMS are essential – but often inefficient – assets. Without precise, data-driven control at the store level, these systems can quietly drain profit through unnecessary energy use and avoidable maintenance. In this session, learn how leading retailers are harnessing granular asset data to unlock marginal gains – reducing energy waste, cutting maintenance work orders, and boosting profitability.
Orla McGreevy, divisional sales director, LoweConex
David Tingle, director of operations, LoweConex
13:00 – 14:00PM | LUNCH & REFRESHMENTS
14:00 – 14:45 | PANEL DISCUSSION
Greener, leaner, smarter: accelerating business efficiency by embedding sustainability into the supply chain
- Harnessing technology for visibility, traceability and real-time decision-making across the supply chain
- Leveraging automation and AI to reduce waste, streamline operations and respond faster to demand shifts
- Driving energy efficiency and transitioning to renewables across logistics, warehousing and transportation
- Rethinking product: sustainable design, circularity, and local sourcing as pillars of efficient, resilient supply chains
- Aligning sustainability with cost-efficiency goals to unlock new KPIs, operational models, and supplier partnerships
Matt Hanrahan, co-founder, Reskinned
Harshini Patel, merchandising and supply chain director, Seraphine
Giuseppe Guillot, executive advisor UK, Temera
14:45 – 15:05PM | MAINSTAGE IDEAS PODIUM
Less time, more impact: improve efficiencies in the decision-making process via next-level AI merchandising
Dive into the game changing impact that AI can have on your time – meaning you can focus on strategy. Enable your data to be efficiently translated into real-time merchandising insights and smart actions, while you shape out the bigger picture.
Ersel Gokman, CEO, BuyBuddy
15:05 – 15:35PM | NETWORKING & REFRESHMENTS
15:35 – 16:05PM | IN CONVERSATION
Never Knowingly Undersold: inside the 2024 relaunch of John Lewis’s iconic mantra
Gain an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the bold 2024 relaunch of the ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ promise, offering insights into the high-stakes decision-making that shaped its success. Join us as we unpack the urgency, agility, and leadership required to drive rapid transformation under tight deadlines. Uncover the five critical conditions John Lewis put in place to enable fast and effective decisions, as well as the intentional leadership behaviours that supported them. Leave with practical frameworks to empower teams, streamline delivery, and lead with clarity in today’s fast-paced retail environment.
Dave Suddock, transformation director, John Lewis Partnership
16:05 – 16:45PM | CLOSING PANEL DISCUSSION
More than metrics: shaping tech-supported cultural transformation for long-term retail efficiency
Culture drives the bottom line. Despite data to back this up, the impact of retail culture can still be overlooked and undervalued in terms of its ROI. Join us for a closing deep dive into culture as a long-term driver of profit, productivity and innovation:
- Building a culture and leadership team that embraces change: outlining the value of a solid cultural foundation in ensuring business efficiency, and exploring how to define and foster the cultural behaviours that align with objectives
- Investing in tech to support your change goals, from removing silos to streamlining workflows and supporting collaboration
- Human / AI alignment: how can the two work most effectively side-by-side for a culture of continuous learning, innovation and improvement?
Leanne Cahill, former CEO, Bravissimo
Simon Godwin, transformation director, Ocado Retail
William Lankston, managing director, Timpson Direct
Joe Cornish, retail leader & transformation specialist, Logile
16:45 – 16:50PM | TAKE 5: CLOSING WORD CLOUD & DISCUSSION
Share, benchmark and break down your thoughts with those in the room with you.
16:50 – 17:00 | EDITOR’S CLOSING COMMENTS
17:00 – 18:00 | JOIN US FOR DRINKS
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