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.
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?
Getting Buy-in to tech investments
9th October 2025 -12:00 pm (BST)
It’s a commonly experienced situation: there is a transformational tech solution that you’ve scoped and explored, and that will create a step change. The groundwork is done, and the decision goes to your CFO, or CEO to sign off. But the proposal is blocked.
Join this Zoom discussion, under the Chatham House Rule, to compare experience with other retailers, pick up useful ideas, and make sure your proposals stand a better chance of success.
- Why do proposed tech investments not get signed off?
- Speaking the language of the CFO – couching your proposal so that it speaks to business priorities
- What does a proposal need to demonstrate and illustrate?
- How can you demonstrate ROI against a solution that makes the business more efficient and effective?
- Success metrics: what to emphasise
- Aligning with company plans
- How to illustrate importance and urgency, to ensure your proposals aren’t perceived as secondary priorities
- TCO and estimating the resources required for success