ECD GLOBAL LONDON – A SUCCESSFUL PREMIERE EVENT

On September 15th, ECD Global London boldly premiered at East London’s Tobacco Docks.

Despite difficult logistical and historical events that took place in the UK that week, aggressive UK-wide train strike, as well as the unfortunate passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 180 committed digital platform enthusiasts attended the event hosted by Tradebyte.

With its dedicated slogan “We Are Global”, the live, in-person event was attended by top brands, retailers and marketplaces from the UK and other European countries to expand their businesses.

You may be reading this, already decided that the ECD Global London or any other ECD affair for that matter, is just another e-commerce networking day. However, while simply an event about people that connect with like-minded industry folk to create their own opportunities in digital retail, it is more than meets the golden eye.

Here are the top three takeaways that made ECD Global London a bonafide game-changer.

1. ENGAGING WITH PEOPLE THAT SHARE YOUR PASSION INSPIRES GROWTH

Pictured: Tobias Röbig from heyconnect

From the time you enter the Tobacco Docks, a super cool, rustic and industrial space, you receive your name badge, your chances to beat the odds skyrocket. The reason is that you are instantly part of a perfectly-balanced mix of retailers, brands and marketplaces. The incredible atmosphere provided by the hosting team nurtures instant comradery amongst participants.

A chance to connect with fellow business owners, and relevant players can, let’s be honest, take months or even years to build via phone, email or chat. Here the ECD manages a full day of engaging, minus the anxiety caused by forced formal flowery decorum of other networking events.

Here, guests are encouraged to experience a new level of non-stop participating and via the ECD acronym to connect, engage and digitize their businesses in a specifically designed way. Discussion on the latest trends in the retail and fashion industry, problem solving and idea exchange is the sizzling energy of the ECD.

For the small price of a ticket, guests are provided a bonding opportunity, full of endless deep dives about digital solutions, and the license to challenge trusted processes amongst peers and decision makers. The bonus? A real chance to gain new business opportunities with top industry people, and that is gold in itself.

2. INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE FROM SUCCESSFUL LEADERS IS PRICELESS

Pictured Center: Andres D’ Alessandro from Adidas

For the EDC Global London, the day was not only about networking with like-minded players, but also gaining invaluable insight for platform and powerful digital transformation.

The day was also full of masterclasses, panels and expert talks in which guests learnt new methods, heard success stories, and were exposed to challenge their own thinking and find new ways to have thriving businesses.

Having high-profile experts lead the lectures and candidly share their success strategies and how they operate their businesses is extremely rare. Observing discussions led by the CEO’s themselves as the panel experts and attending classes led by VP’s comes with an insumable amount of useful information.

Pictured Center: Karoline Gross from Smartzer 

Among those powerful talks and on-stage discussions were leaders from Adidas, Trendyol, Smartzer, UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) and Tradebyte, as well as 13 workshops and masterclasses led by the CEO of heyconnect/Fiege, Director of Commerce for Adidas, and many others. With the humble austerity in the style of these presentations, the ECD Global London delivered platform industry royalty to the people.

3. HIGH PROFILE MEETINGS WITH TOP EXECUTIVES MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

London is a mecca for fashion and retail networking. But having private meetings with top contacts whose businesses are thriving, in London or the whole of the EU, can be the needed shift for much sought-after success.

Part of the secret of the ECD, is that it manages to gather excellent top executives via a high level of trust that has been built. ECD participants can benefit greatly from the direct exposure of highly successful leading players of any one brand, retailer or marketplace.

Providing these one-of-a-kind opportunities is the result of an extreme amount of planning, vetting and resourcefulness. So far the ECD has drawn over 4,000 guests since its inception in 2015. This is the handiwork of Tradebyte’s Head of Corporate Relations, Alexander Otto, who created the ECD. His goal was to not only have a unique event, but to secure excellent sponsors, panelists and experts and for the ECD Global London, to have them also headline the over 100 1-to-1 meetings available to guests.

Pictured Center: Alexander Otto, from Tradebyte

The Meeting Lounge, a designated area in the venue, is where these amazing opportunities are made. For as long as the time slot allows, ticket holders can, for example, build a solid relationship directly with a Director or C-Level representative of any brand and retailer. These powerful encounters seem to catapult many businesses that have ensured themselves the opportunity to attend.

Pictured Center: Laurenz Ochsenfarth from Fiege 

After having absorbed the day in its entirety, from a unique opening keynote speech, until the last spin of the disco ball at the after party, the lasting impression is that the ECD is unlike any other e-commerce event in that it has its very real, people-driven mission to connect others.

Sticking to its motto: “Platform Business is People Business”, what you experience is a refreshing, unpretentious tone, full of challenging process-oriented content led by founders, CEO’s and VIP experts in the field. A place where ECD participants freely roam the venue with unmasked joy for digital play, and a love for sharing in those processes that could optimize their platform strategies all the while building their own network and expanding their businesses via meetings with stellar contacts.

If you yearn for a unique event that ignites unmatched collaboration and provides you with powerful meetings, then ECD, as one guest put it, is a “rare, no-brainer”.

Written by David Juarez-Schmidt
Content Manager for Tradebyte Corporate Relations

The ECD wants to fully acknowledge the efforts of our exclusive media partner Fashion United UK and the generous collaboration with The British Fashion Council in helping raise extraordinary excitement for the first ECD Global London. Plus, a special thanks to our sponsors: heyconnect part of Fiege, Fiege, About You, Auto-Retouch, Douglas, Kaufland, Limango, Mirapodo, MS Direct, MyToys, Seven Senders, Trendyol, and Zalando. Their presence alone, and the insight these leading contacts bring, makes all the difference.

If you missed this ECD Global London, the opportunity to attend the next ECD GLOBAL LONDON will be in autumn of 2023.

Up next is the ECD MUNICH, making a solid return on May 25th 2023. Official event and ticket information is coming soon.

Please visit our website at ecd.de for updates, news and more game-changing content.