The Hive Café is our online only, drop in conversation format. Join informal chats on community hot topics and priority lists. Share stories, ask questions and collaborate for sustained change with a group of trusted peers. As always with our Hive Cafés, come armed with a cup of coffee and an open mind.
Check out our upcoming schedule and get involved below!
Your Peer Group Is Your Secret Source – Closed Doors, Open Minds, Chatham House Rule Applies.
How to Approach Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)
21st May 2026 | 12:00 – 13:00 pm (BST)
AEO is now seen as essential for retailers, as more shoppers come to rely on AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot to discover products and support purchase decisions. Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on ranking web pages, AEO is about ensuring your products and brand are selected, summarised, and recommended directly within AI-generated answers.
This discussion will allow you to dive into how to structure product data, FAQs, and content so it is easily understood and surfaced by answer engines. Topics will include:
- The changes required for structured data
- How to approach product feeds, reviews
- How to ensure your content improves visibility within AI responses.
- Marketplaces and platforms – how they influence AEO
- Measurement and strategy: how retailers track visibility in AI answers, adapt content strategies, and balance AEO with traditional SEO.
Scaling Authentic Content
4th June 2026 | 12:00 – 13:00 pm (BST)
In partnership with:
The demands for content generation are ever-increasing, whilst resource is more stretched. So how do you balance those demands, whilst keeping content on voice, authentic and engaging? What is the perfect balance between AI and real? How do you ensure you don’t lose the trust of your audience?
In this Retail Hive cafe discussion you’ll have the chance to discover how other brands are handling these demands and what strategies they’re pursuing to maintain and build on their content creation without sacrificing quality or authenticity.
How to balance AI and reality for authentic and engaging content
- What is authenticity?
- When and how should you use AI to create and enhance content?
- What do your customers engage with most? Is it brand dependent?
- How can you rapidly scale content across larger SKU ranges, all with less resource?
- Harmonising content with your brand perception, voice and positioning