Main Stage 2027
The senior leadership stage of Retail Summit
Main Stage brings together CEOs, board members, owners, founders and other senior leaders to examine the most important changes shaping retail and consumer goods.
Each conversation begins with one recognisable current development and asks:
What does it really mean for the industry?
Main Stage looks beyond any single function or specialisation. One development may affect several parts of the business at the same time. Across the sixteen specialist stages, those different effects are explored in greater depth and translated into concrete decisions.
THREE BLOCKS, EIGHT AREAS OF CHANGE
Main Stage runs across both days of Retail Summit. Day 1 and Day 2 follow the same three-block structure, while the developments, sessions and speakers within those blocks are different.
CHANGING MARKETS → CHANGING BUSINESS → CHANGING CONDITIONS
The three blocks contain eight Areas of Change. These are not session titles. They define the broad areas in which the most relevant current developments are identified and discussed.
The three blocks organise the Main Stage programme on both days. The structure remains consistent, while the content changes with the developments that matter most at the time.
HOW MAIN STAGE CONTENT IS IDENTIFIED
A development belongs on Main Stage when it affects, or is likely to affect, several parts of retail and consumer goods and creates a question requiring senior industry judgment.
The 369 Advisory Committee, specialist-stage communities, senior industry leaders and current market evidence help identify and test those developments. The strongest signals are brought together to shape a Main Stage programme grounded in the changes the industry is genuinely facing.
WHAT MAIN STAGE SPEAKERS BRING
Main Stage speakers bring senior judgment shaped by real responsibility. They help assess whether a change is temporary or structural, explain the choices it creates and consider its wider effects on the industry.
Each speaker contributes from the responsibilities, decisions and experience they know best. Together, these perspectives create a broader understanding of what the change may mean across retail and consumer goods.
