Grow Your Business – From Local to National Brands
Conferences like Retail Fest aren’t just about the presentations and exhibition floor. They’re a golden opportunity for businesses and business leaders of all sizes to network, strategise, and build relationships.
It’s a perfect setting for local businesses to interact with national brands and forge partnerships that can lead to meaningful growth in the long term.
Whether you’ve previously attended a Retail Fest or are considering attending our 2025 event in May, here are some tips to keep in mind if you’re a local business looking to grow and expand.
Expose Your Brand to More Companies and Industry Leaders
Attending Retail Fest gives you and your business several avenues to increase its exposure and make a case for its importance within the industry. You can do this through general networking with others at the event, attending the many presentations and educational sessions, and exhibiting your business in our exhibition hall.
By being present in various capacities, you enable several touchpoints where you can engage with prospective customers and partners. It’s also one of the most effective ways of expanding your reach within the industry by engaging with other local businesses and larger national brands.
Focus On the Right Brands & People
Now, as you work on building your brand and reaching more people during a conference, it’s worth doing research beforehand to ensure you’re focused on connecting with the right brands and professionals.
You can do this by viewing who key speakers will be when they’re announced for 2025, as well as those who’ll be exhibiting. Along with viewing this information on the Retail Global website, you can search conversations on social media in the leadup to see who’s discussing the event and noting their attendance.
The better aligned you are with specific national brands or those who represent them, the better your chances will be of sparking conversation and opening up potential opportunities.
Does Your Local Business Have Something to Offer in Return?
While you shouldn’t feel deterred from speaking with someone if your business isn’t a direct match or complementing service to theirs, there is an undeniable benefit in being able to offer something in return.
This could be as simple as a local insight that a national brand or representative could find beneficial to their own operations, or perhaps your local business specialises in a specific niche within the same industry that the national brand does not.
These gaps in products or services can lead to interesting discussions and even open the door to potential collaborations or reciprocal partnerships. For example, your local business sells or even manufactures a more special-interest product that a national brand has been interested in investing in or trialling in-store.
These conversations are important as they can be the doorway to forming partnerships or broader connections that can lead to long-term benefits
Learn Growth Strategies Through Workshops, Presentations and Meetings
Every Retail Fest is about helping businesses of all sizes develop strategies and processes that assist in growing and maintaining healthy operations. You can learn a range of valuable strategies and solutions that, in and of themselves, will help you grow your business in positive ways.
They’re also an opportunity to get actively involved in the workshops, presentations and keynotes, where your input can help you stand out and potentially catch the interest of other business owners and brands.
After all, you’re at a conference among passionate peers who mostly want the same things: to experience positive growth, to expand, and to go from strength to strength every year. So, chances are the people you’ll be talking to will be interested in talking shop and looking for their growth opportunities, as well.
Key Takeaways from Retail Fest 2024 Conference for New Businesses and Startups
Many valuable lessons can be learned and insights can be gained from attending Retail Fest.
During Retail Fest 2024, focus was placed on growth, e-commerce solutions, service diversification, and much more. These were delivered in keynotes and workshops, discussing common challenges as well as notable success stories in business growth, such as with the streetwear brand Culture Kings.
Every presentation, workshop and keynote was value-packed, and just some of the most notable included:
Workshop: 10 Essential Ingredients of E-commerce
This workshop focused on helping businesses optimise their e-commerce processes so they’re set for success on the digital stage. For local brands that want to grow and expand, e-commerce stands as a core pillar of extensive growth.
The workshop, hosted by Tim Davies of e-commerce solution provider ZELLIS, offered extensive and actionable insight that local businesses could utilise to expand their services and foster growth.
Know and Grow: The 2024 Australia & New Zealand Commerce Playbook
This was one of the keynotes that took place during Retail Fest 2024 and provided key tips to help businesses of all sizes adapt and grow within the ever-evolving marketplace across Australia and New Zealand.
The keynote was presented by Carter Lassy, the CPO of Maropost, a company that provides a range of commerce solutions for businesses around the world.
It touched on various facets of commerce growth, including how to adapt to rising consumer expectations, effectively implementing cross-channel commerce efforts, delivering omnichannel experiences that feel seamless to your customers, and more.
Whether you’re a smaller new business looking to expand your operational capabilities or you just want to learn how other brands (including national and global companies) manage the commerce needs of their customers at scale, this was a particularly eye-opening keynote.
The Culture Kings Journey and the Epic Tale of Business Growth
For any business starting small but looking to grow to a national and even international level, the keynote presented by Culture Kings’ Simon Beard was invaluable.
From humble beginnings as one store located on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Culture Kings has since grown into an international brand with stores around Australia, one in Auckland, NZ, and one in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Simon Beard shared the story of Culture Kings’ growth and how its successful evolution from a local business into a multinational brand came about. For any local business or startup aiming for national growth, this was another keynote that provided ample inspiration and valuable insights.
There are ample opportunities for your local business to forge key partnerships and learn indispensable tips on how to grow to a national level through Retail Fest. If you’re interested in amplifying your growth journey and would like to attend Retail Fest 2025, you can buy tickets now.