DELIVER 2024: Europe’s leading retail event provides face-to-face and real personal connections

Since 2015, DELIVER has fast become Europe's main and most sought-after retail event. Gathering the leading brands and businesses in the competitive retail sector, this event has provided companies from all over the world, with a keen understanding of Europe’s power player in the complex and everchanging retail sector. 

Chief among them is the face-to-face direct and personal approach this event has so strongly promoted, something that, after the COVID-19 crisis, most companies in Europe have left aside. That’s precisely why DELIVER bets on direct interactions as a way to engage and do business in a more efficient, powerful, and personal way. 

This year, DELIVER 2024 will be held in the beautiful city of Amsterdam, and we had the opportunity to speak directly with DELIVER to learn more about the opportunities, advantages, and benefits this event brings to all the brands dealing with retail in Europe. 

Please begin by sharing with our audience a little background on DELIVER, when and why it was founded? 

Founded in 2015, by Stephane Tomcsak, the first edition took place in Luxembourg in 2016. To bring together the elite leaders from retail, commerce and supply chain communities. We identified a gap where retail and commerce leaders were left to fend on their own to find supply chain solutions in an environment where consumption trends were evolving fast, online orders and one-day deliveries were becoming the norm and were expected from more demanding customers. 

But those retailers had to start adapting more to these realities but it’s a hard job to unpick habits and become agile to stay tuned to client expectations. At the same time the supply chain ecosystem was booming with tech innovations, making the impossible more and more possible. So, the idea was really to deliver a space where people can have meaningful connections and go beyond the superficial interactions made normally in other events to focus on real potential partnerships. 

From the get-go, matchmaking has been the central part of our DNA, and 9 years on, we’ve delivered tangible powerful value both for our VIP retailers and our supply chain partners. 

We understand that DELIVER is Europe's elite matchmaking event for the retail and commerce community, but could you give us three reasons why? 

1. Our precision matchmaking connects top-notch supply chain vendors with retail leaders who have active supply chain projects. We’ve developed our own matchmaking platform, and we constantly improve it to deliver the best experience for our attendees and the most precise matchmaking value for them. It’s always been important for us to empower our retailers and partners to find the people they need to meet the most.

2. We put such a focus on deeply understanding the projects of our retailers and the services of our vendors. Matchmaking only works with attention to detail and a focus on excellence. We’re here to serve our community.  We put a high volume of effort into understanding our retailers’ projects and partners’ solutions and play a very influential role by actively recommending matches.  

3. Vetting. Our focus is on bringing retailers who are actively looking for solutions. We vet their project, ensuring they have real priorities that match the services of the vendors we bring. We also always ensure to have decision-makers with us, with a high ratio of d- and c-suite level attendees, meaning that only decision-makers are in the room - allowing for the most productive of conversations to take place

Let’s talk a bit about the values that DELIVER promotes. Which ones are they, and what’s your personal take on these values and their relevance for the future of European e-commerce? 

DELIVER is a positive impact company. All our events are eco-conceived and hosted with a 100% carbon-neutral commitment. Sustainability has always been at the heart of everything we do. We painstakingly track the impact of any and every action we do in organizing events; we put careful efforts into selecting venues that can easily be accessed with public transportation, and we only offer vegetarian meal options, removing the presence of meat. We really are at the forefront of sustainable events. While other event organizers see it as a PR element and a way to cut costs, sustainability is ingrained in our ethos and daily practices. 

We also are a fully remote company, removing the impact on the planet by reducing emissions linked to commuting and office renting. 

We also fundamentally believe that business can be done sustainably. On the DELIVER side, we are profit neutral, which means that our exceeding profit is redistributed via sustainable funds to positive impact causes. With our partners we build long term partnerships where price hikes are not the norm, where we focus on delivering value rather than artificially bump our profit margin. 

Ultimately, we want to build powerful, future focused partnerships with our partners and attendees based on positive mutual values and trust. And our sustainability commitment is the cornerstone of this effort. 

Let’s talk a bit about the importance of networking. Is the physical connection with other industry leaders and captains still relevant? Please give us your personal take on the matter. 

The COVID-19 pandemic showed us the strong role technology can play in bringing people together, but in my opinion, there’s no better way to find meaningful, valuable connections. In a time of supply chain disruption like the Red Sea Crisis, retail and commerce brands need partners they can rely on, and in-person meetings help build that trust. 

There’s a real craving for personal connections. People want to meet, they want to engage, they want to trust and they want to do business. Our matchmaking event is a business accelerator where everyone comes with a common goal and is keen to meet and rub shoulders with one another. They take precious time out of the office, so they’re determined to make the most of it. Meeting face to face simply enhances relationship building: where it would take months of back and forth emailing, events can fast track decision making thanks to better communication. 

Complex issues are more easily resolved during face-to-face interactions. It’s really no surprise to read that a study by Forbes Insights identified that 84% of executives prefer in-person meetings for complex business decisions. Fundamentally, precise matchmaking leads to more relevant and lucrative business opportunities. Our interactions with attendees clearly show that engaging with vendors makes them more likely to purchase the company's products or services. Engagement levels are heightened, and the commitment to take action is much stronger. 

What can you forecast for European e-commerce in the near future? Please give us three challenges and three opportunities.

Through DELIVER, we’re seeing a trend towards more cost-efficient supply chain solutions for the e-commerce industry. This trend is reflective of the rising cost of living across Europe, and businesses are responding to their customers' need for lower prices. 

In recent years, there has been a lot of disruption through COVID-19 and then the Red Sea Crisis, so more business leaders are looking for solutions that give them a higher level of visibility over their supply chain as a whole. 

That need, in particular, opens the door for truly innovative solutions and tech-centric solutions to drive the market forward. However, I know there’s a lot of talk about AI in this area, and I do think, eventually, that tool will transform the industry, but I’m not sure the technology is there to support businesses in the way they need at the moment. There’s still room for improvement and growth. 

Is the European e-commerce industry homogeneous? This means that all regions have the same level of e-commerce maturity? Please elaborate on your personal take on this.

The most exciting part of the European e-commerce industry is its sheer variety and diversity. We see this from the business leaders who attend DELIVER, each coming with a varied, active supply chain project - it’s a showcase of the industry's potential for innovation and creativity.

On a geographic level, this is echoed even further naturally as each region is influenced by its country’s political, economic, and social situations, among many other elements. 

Still, we believe that the e-commerce industry is homogeneous in its approach to finding dynamic solutions to supply chain challenges. No matter where it is headquartered or what sector of retail/e-commerce it operates in, there’s an impressive drive to find the most cutting-edge solutions. 

The DELIVER event gathers some impressive industry leaders. Could you explain to us how the selection process is done and what benefits we could expect to get an attendee from these leaders' presentations or conferences? 

We are very rigorous with our speaker selection because we acknowledge that attendees take time out of the office. So we want to make sure to deliver the best experience. Our speaker selection focuses on inspiration. 

Who are the people who genuinely are trailblazers in their fields? What kind of common challenge did they overcome creatively, or what opportunity did they create for their business? The focus is on bringing innovative thinkers who can deliver tangible takeaways for our senior audience. It’s about creating a safe where presenters will showcase their wins, but also listen to the audience to help them identify their own path to success more rapidly. I think this is really the key value of our conference. That exchange of ideas and practical takeaway lessons and strategies that leaders can reapply and test in their own environment. 

How can a business participate in DELIVER? 

We offer a number of high-value partnerships for businesses within the supply chain industry, allowing them to showcase their brands in front of top retailers. Our focus really is on a full mix of services, from warehousing solutions and automations to 3PL, WMS, OMS, click and collect, one day delivery, return and more! 

We welcome businesses within the retail industry through VIP guest passes. All attendees, whether on the buyer or vendor side, can benefit from our elite matchmaking service, which allows for meetings to be pre-booked. 

Currently, businesses can partake in the upcoming events DELIVER America which will be held in Las Vegas on the 10th and 11th of October 2024, and DELIVER Asia which will be the first DELIVER event on the 2025 calendar, and will be held on dates 5th and 6th of March at Singapore.  

Also, keep in mind that the upcoming DELIVER Europe 2025 will be the 10th-anniversary edition of this event,  and will offer especial plans and opportunities you don't want to miss on! 

Why was Amsterdam selected as the home city for this edition of DELIVER? Has it always been Amsterdam? Is there a rotation through other European e-commerce powerhouse cities? Please explain the venue selection to us a bit. 

Amsterdam was selected as the home city for this edition of DELIVER due to its strategic central location in Europe, excellent public transport infrastructure, and status as a hub for retail innovation and supply chain logistics. The city’s commitment to sustainability, with green transportation and support for sustainable development goals, aligns perfectly with DELIVER’s values. 

While DELIVER has not always been held in Amsterdam, the city’s combination of accessibility, business-friendly environment, and focus on sustainable practices makes it an ideal choice for the event. We also have found a home in Taets Park for the last four years, as it’s a highly unusual venue within the urban space, offering us the space to deliver outstanding experiences to our attendees, whilst also expanding whilst keeping our delegates connected and close together. 

Tell us a bit about the DELIVER awards, what do they mean, and what commitment they represent for the awardees? 

The DELIVER Vendor Awards are an important feature of our DELIVER events. They aim to put our very own vendors under the spotlight by highlighting excellence in 5 key supply chain fields, namely sustainability, innovation, excellence, customer service, and disruption. This year, we’ve really put the emphasis on increasing the spotlight for our awards. 

We’ve opened applications for our awards much earlier than usual, giving our vendors the time to craft compelling stories whilst keeping the application process free of charge: no matter the size of the business, vendors have an equal opportunity to shine and we remove any barrier to success. 

We’ve also brought for the first time a panel of judges to review our vendor applications and select the awards finalists across five highly contended categories. But the heart of our awards remains the same: our very own retailers who attend the event will pick the winners based on their on-site experiences!