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.
Please pay here: the changing role of instore POS…
3rd July 2025 -12:00 pm (BST)
POS – phasing out? Part of the brand engagement? Or a necessary evil?
The role of POS is changing. For some stores, it’s a chance to upsell and to capture and link purchases to the shopper. For other brands, POS is outdated, and a source of frustration for customers who don’t want to wait. Technology has unlocked the opportunity to identify shoppers and build a better view of the customer. It has also opened up the opportunity to have mobile checkout! Join a group of retailers and brands who’ll share their thinking on
- Their view of POS, and what it means to their customer base
- How they see POS in future, and what’s motivating them to change
- Mobile checkout: the pros and cons
Retail media: strategies for brand visibility in the right places!
10th July 2025 -12:00 pm (BST)
Which marketplace sellers can exponentially increase brand visibility? What marketing strategies present the best fit for you? What is the ROI on retail media?
Here’s a chance to find out what other brands are thinking, and what results they’re seeing from investing in visibility on marketplaces.
- Top tips shared on selecting the right partners
- Cracking attribution to guide future strategy
- Dos and don’ts – where it pays to be seen
Loyalty Schemes: Just rewards!
17th July 2025 -12:00 pm (BST)
Loyalty schemes can keep shoppers coming back, make more regular purchases, and get you closer to your customers. But get it wrong and your customers can also quickly feel that you’re out of touch, disenfranchising them. Join this discussion to find out what others think, what they’ve discovered, and the golden rules of loyalty and reward schemes:
- What do loyalty schemes actually deliver
- What makes a successful loyalty programme?
- ROI: do loyalty schemes keep customers coming back or are they a chance to market to customers more accurately?
Fraud & Cyber – Reducing risk and exposure
24th July 2025 -12:00 pm (BST)
Outtages can be devastating, and threats are ever-present. What are the new rules for fraud and cyber crime prevention, and how do you ensure your precautions are the best they can be? Join a small group of leaders from retailers and brands to learn more about:
- What has changed this year – do we need to increase investment in security tools or tighten and reinforce best practices?
- Where are the current areas of exposure?
- What tools are others using to ensure there are no unseen loopholes?
Don’t leave us! Reducing cart abandonment
31st July 2025 -13:00 pm (BST)
Whatever your rate of cart abandonment, it’s a massive frustration. You’ve done the hard work of attracting the shopper, they’ve almost purchased, and something then causes them to pause…. What are the current trends in abandonment? What are the ways others are addressing this, and how much could you reduce cart abandonment? Join this private discussion with other like-minded retailers, to find out:
- Are there common friction factors that cause shoppers to change tack?
- What tactics can you employ to ensure transactions are completed?
- Checkout optimisation vs. improvement: what’s the balance of process ease vs. conducive language?
Don’t call us…Using data to understand and reduce customer contact
7th August 2025 -12:00 pm (BST)
Rising wages have meant customer support teams have become more costly. The best way to reduce the customer service burden is to reduce the need for enquiry in the first place. In this discussion we’ll look at how smart practice can enable you to provide information upfront, communicate effectively post-purchase, and most importantly, pinpoint the reasons for customer enquiries in order to reduce and prevent the need for contact. We’ll be sharing smart thinking around:
- What the data tells us: work out what’s causing the problem
- How AI and chatbots can reduce the burden on CS teams
- What customers expect, and how to ensure a positive CX
TikTok selling: Social is the new search!
21st August 2025 -13:00 pm (BST)
Online behaviours are changing rapidly. There’s much talk of ‘the death of search’ and even the possibility that brands may not need a website in future. What’s the reality behind these statements, how do younger generations discover products? Is TikTok the biggest opportunity to reach younger customers? How can you attribute value to TikTok?
Join this call to find out:
- What are other brands finding from investing in TikTok?
- How should you take your first steps into TikTok?
- What are the lessons others have learned?
