Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Next month’s London trade show Pulse will include ‘ShopTalk’: a conference programme devised to provide practical insights to support and inform retail businesses.
Presented by events organisation 5X15, the agenda includes three keynote speakers from Skandium, Heal’s and MADE.com. The trio will each give a presentation on one day of the show, which runs from Sunday May 14 to Tuesday May 16 at Olympia in London.
On Sunday, Skandium and christinasinteriors.com owner and co-founder Christina Schmidt will discuss ‘Telling a Story Through Design’.
Skandium is a retailer and contract dealer of modern Scandinavian furniture, lighting and homeware, with stores in London and online. Since opening Skandium in 1999, Christina has also been working with interior design for clients via christinasinteriors.com using Scandinavian furniture as the main focus.
She will argue that storytelling is vital to help products stand out from the crowd and advise on how this can be achieved through the power of design.
On Monday, Heal’s product and design manager Kirsty Whyte will talk on the subject of ‘Designer Collaborations: Who? What? Why?’ Heal’s is a five-strong housewares and homeware chain with a long history of collaborating with prominent designers, as well as discovering stars of the future.
Kirsty will explore what a designer collaboration looks like and why it can be mutually beneficial for both retailers and designers.
On Tuesday, it’s the turn of Ruth Wasserman, Head of Design at MADE.COM. This brand designs and retails homeware and furniture online, with three showrooms in London, Liverpool and Yorkshire.
In a session entitled ‘Knowing Your Customer’, Ruth will give an exclusive insight into what MADE.COM does to understand its customer and how research about our lifestyles informs its product offering.
Other ShopTalk highlights include a talk by Rebecca Hossain. She is head of retail and publishing at The Design Museum in London, which is devoted to contemporary design in every form, from product, industrial and graphic to architecture and fashion.
With decades of experience working in retail for some of the world’s most famous museums and galleries, Rebecca will share her top ten tips for impactful visual merchandising – all of which can be replicated on a shoestring budget.
There will also be three panel discussions on the topics of using social media effectively, getting the media on your side, and the rise of personalised shopping – how it works and what the benefits are.
For the full ShopTalk line-up visit https://www.pulse-london.com/shoptalk-line-up
To register for a free trade ticket to Pulse, visit https://registration.n200.com/survey/3bdfunij8d7eu?actioncode=PS30
Pulse is billed as a ‘curated, boutique trade event for inspiring new gifts, modern living and fashion accessories’ with a strong emphasis on emerging designer-makers, unseen international brands and new launches.
Pulse 2017 ShopTalk speakers (l-r): Christina Schmidt, Kirsty Whyte, Ruth Wasserman
