The Invite-only forum for Heads of eCommerce and Digital at Europe’s leading Food and Beverage Brands

10/19/2023

Digital Food & Beverage Connect is the invite-only event for Heads of eCommerce and Digital from Europe’s leading Food & Beverage Brands. We provide high-level networking through a VIP, closed-door experience, supplemented by pre-qualified 1-1 meetings with hand-picked solution providers.

In October 2023, over 2 days we brought together 100+ eCommerce & Digital leaders from the top UK food and beverage brands and retailers to the luxury venue, Sopwell House in St Albans! We hosted 12 engaging sessions to encourage benchmarking and learning from these senior peers. In addition, we offered 8 stand-alone 1-1 meeting slots; resulting in a total of 96 pre-qualified 30 minute meetings. Not just this, we also had networking experiences from our Beer & Bubbles Roundtables to our Three Course Networking Dinner! Our senior attendees represented some of UK Top Food & Beverage brands and retailers, such as:

Unilever, AB InBev, Pernod Ricard, SideChef, Pepsico, ADM Protexin, Loacker, Britvic, Azelis, BAT, Lantmannen Bakerie, Barilla, Fazer, GoPuff, Ocado & Tesco

The audience breakdown at Digital Food & Beverage Connect read as follows:

View the full list of attendees here.

"Had a blast today with at Digital Food & Beverage discussing all things FMCG & DTC. Thank you WBR for a great conference!" - Pamela Erlichman, Chief Evangelist Officer, Jebbit


Our Retailers Investment Priority

The Heads of eCommerce and Digital that attended Digital Food & Beverage Connect were the top decision makers and budget holders who were actively seeking new solutions. All our attendees had a minimum annual revenue of £50 million, with 43% of these having an annual revenue of £5 billion+. Each attendee had a minimum personal budget of at least £500,000, with 30% having a personal budget of £5 million+.

With the extensive profiling and marketing campaign that happens in the lead up to the event, you can guarantee that deals were made across the 2 days.

Here is a look at the solutions our Digital Food & Beverage Connect eCommerce & Digital leaders were looking to invest in, within the following 12 months:


An Unrivalled Speaker Faculty

Under Chatham House Rule, our 24 speakers hosted a mix of high-level strategic case studies and interactive discussions focused on the industries biggest growth priorities. Our audience were able to engage in high-level strategic case studies and interactive discussions to benchmark their eCommerce and digital marketing plans.

Our packed agenda of 12 sessions covered pressing industry topics, from Building Collaborative Relationships & Taking Omnichannel to New Heights to Creating More Inclusive Shopping Experiences & Out of Industry Inspiration.

  • Emma Carrera, Global Director Digital & eCommerce B2B, Unilever
  • Emma Cathie-Harris, eCommerce Channel Development Director, PepsiCo
  • Vladimir Sushko, Global eRetail Director, AB InBev
  • Sarah Masters, Digital & Ecommerce Director, Unilever
  • Nina Tatsiy, Chief Information Officer, BAT
  • Stuart Heffernan, Global Head of eCommerce, Pernod Ricard
  • Johanna Widomski, Director Digital, Fazer Group
  • Ben Higginson, Head of D-Comm Operations, Britvic
  • Kevin Yu, Founder & CEO, SideChef
  • Irina Kremleva, Head of Revenue Management DACH & Benelux, PepsiCo

These are just a handful of the brilliant speakers we heard from at Digital Food & Beverage Connect 2023.

Take a look at the full speaker line up and topics discussed by downloading our agenda here.


"Digital Food & Beverage delivered! 2 Days packed with great presentations, roundtables, 121 sparring and benchmarking with global FMCG eCom & digital leaders." - Johanna Widomski, Digital Director, Fazer Group


Social Media was Buzzing

There was a great buzz on social media whilst Digital Food & Beverage Connect was taking place. Here’s a look at some of our favourite posts on LinkedIn:

Christina Howell (Pyke), VP Client Strategy & Growth, Circus Street - “Another great year sponsoring and attending the Digital Food & Beverage conference… Retail Media was definitely the theme. It was great to hear different POV’s from brands on how this is driving category growth and impacting data analysis and attribution modelling. No surprise this is one of Circus Street’s most popular lessons. Great to meet so many key industry leaders and see some familiar faces.”

Christine Thatai, Large Merchant Sales Manager, PayPal - “Such a fun time meeting with digital and e-commerce leaders in the F&B sector and sharing how PayPal can help to improve online B2B and D2C customer experiences. Thank you for having us!”

"Great event! Heard some really interesting thoughts and ideas, lively debate and great conversations. Well done WBR!" - Darren Thompson, Senior Client Partner - Consumer Products, Publicis Sapient


SAVE THE DATE

Digital Food & Beverage Connect 2024: October 2024

Digital Food & Beverage Connect 2024 is already starting to take shape. Sponsorship opportunities are available now. If you want the chance to be introduced to your next client – get in touch with our team!

Get in touch here.

Return to Blog