World Retail Congress

A limited-seat, 2.5-hour “Future Hack” led by HACKMASTERS offers an immersive way to explore key retail trends, build 2030 scenarios, and bridge today’s challenges with future-ready strategies at the start of World Retail Congress.

World Retail Congress will host exclusive flagship store tours in Berlin on 27 April 2026, offering behind-the-scenes access to leading retail spaces across five themes: Technology, High Street, Modern Choice, Everyday Innovation, and Food.

Join delegates, speakers, and partners for an evening of networking and conversation to kick off World Retail Congress ahead of the official programme.

An invitation-only, off-the-record session designed for focused, high-level peer discussion in a concise and interactive format.

A private breakfast workshop exploring how retailers can balance AI and data with human insight, highlighting both the strengths and limits of predictive models.

Retail is undergoing rapid transformation driven by AI, sustainability, shifting consumer behavior, and economic pressure, redefining success over the next five years. In this opening panel, industry leaders share strategies, predictions, and practical insights on navigating disruption and building resilient businesses for 2030.

• Future Retail Challenge
• Next-Gen Travel Retail
• Growing AI Powered Models
• Inside the CEO Agenda: The Trends Redefining Retail’s Next Five Years

• Beyond Retail Media: Designing Value Exchange Customers Welcome
• The Private Label Paradox: Why Retailers Undervalue Their Most Powerful Brand
• China’s New Global Commerce Playbook: Temu, Shein & TikTok’s Strategies to Redefining Retail Amid Political and Consumer Shifts

• The Art of Shopkeeping in the Digital Age
• The Discovery Imperative: How Agentic AI is Rewriting Retail
• Value Retailing to 2030: How to Continue Winning Customers

• Turning Economic Insight into CEO Action
• Best Global New Stores
• From DIY to ROI: The OBI Retail Media journey of turning data into a high-margin business

• Brands of the Future
• Data-Based Decision Making
• The Autonomous Store of the Future

• The Future of Luxury
• Serving the Underserved Consumer
• From Task-Takers to Value-Makers: Elevating the Front Line for a New Retail Era

This panel examines the strategic and leadership decisions required to turn AI into a source of sustained advantage beyond technology alone.

Retail CEOs face a core challenge: how to drive like-for-like sales growth amid declining consumer spending, rising costs, and intense competition.

This session explores key behaviors and drivers shaping modern shopping—from personalization to new loyalty dynamics—helping retailers adapt and stay relevant through 2030.

Leading retailers go beyond marketing to build communities that drive deeper connection and long-term loyalty. This session explores how shared values, storytelling, and experience translate into commercial impact and stronger brand engagement.

• Technology as a People‑Enabler
• The Confidence Effect: Will AI Supercharge Spending?
• Future of Loyalty

• New Markets, New Growth
• How Purpose and Partnerships Drive Growth
• Decisions Drive Margin (Exclusive Survey Results)

• Social Commerce: Where Influence Meets Conversion
• Knowledge Partner: The Retail CEO 2030: The New Playbook for Talent, Trust, and Transformation
• The Fast‑Growth Formula

• World Retail Brand Partnership Forum
• Start-ups, Scale Impact: Unlocking Real AI Value
• Winning Consumer Insight from Outside Retail
• Collaborating to win: unlocking the business and customer benefits of the circular economy

• Resale Reshaped: The New Economics of Second‑Hand Retail
• What defines a world-class experience for today’s e-shopper?
• What the Next Generation Workforce Expects from Retail

• Coolest Retailers Report
• How Sephora delivers customer experience in the digital age

Based on new Brunswick Group research, this session explores how retailers can build direct relationships and sustain trust in an increasingly complex and politicized digital landscape.

In this keynote, innovators share the capabilities, shifts, and practical actions needed to stay relevant and drive growth in the years ahead.

Otto Group, a global retail and services company with 35,000 employees, is strengthening resilience through strategic focus, financial discipline, and innovation. In her keynote, Petra Scharner-Wolff outlines how investments in AI, robotics, and portfolio optimization position the Group for sustainable, future-ready growth.