Recap: Latori and Shopify at the K5 Conference 2023 - our experience and learnings

The K5 Future Retail Conference is a must for e-commerce professionals every year. Together with Shopify, we were also present at K5 2023. Four of our Latori experts were there to answer all questions and concerns about Shopify and e-commerce.

Caroline Dohrmann, Head of Marketing at Latori, reviews the K5 conference and tells us about her impressions.

What could visitors of the K5 expect?

K5 2023 took place on June 20 + 21 at the ESTREL in Berlin. Visitors could look forward to 250 speakers, 200 exhibitors and 50 master classes. Thus, there was a suitable offer for each of the approximately 4,000 visitors. The expo covered 14,000 m2, divided into two halls.

Why it's worthwhile for retailers to visit the K5 Conference

The K5 Conference is THE event for e-commerclers! Big brands, selected audience with focus on e-commerce - these are just some of the reasons why retailers should not miss the event. Other important reasons why entrepreneurs should put the K5 Conference on their agenda:

1. Knowledge and Experience

Thanks to the extensive lectures and discussion panels, traders here have the opportunity to benefit from the experience of the experts. In addition, one stays up to date and is informed about current trends.

2. Marketing

The K5 Future Retail Conference is a perfect place to market your own company as well. It offers the opportunity to present products or services and thus get in touch with potential partners and customers.

3. Networking

Who better to network with than like-minded people? The K5 Conference is a perfect event to exchange ideas with other experts in the e-commerce industry. New partnerships and business relationships as well as contact with investors or potential customers are almost guaranteed here.

4. Inspirations

Every year, K5 brings together merchants from all sectors of e-commerce. Whether it's software development, logistics, invoicing or sales, the conference is a great opportunity to get inspired by successful entrepreneurs and thus develop new ideas for your own business. The K5 Conference presents visionary speakers and innovative technologies that will shape tomorrow's commerce.

Which speakers were on site?

Listing all 250 speakers would go beyond the scope of this article, but we have summarized a small selection for you here:

• Birk Angermann, Head of Revenue, Shopify

• Linda Hoffmann, DACH Agency Partnerships Lead, Shopify

• Dennis Wendt, Director Digital Sales, Sennheiser

• Gianluca Pollicino, Senior Solutions Engineer, Shopify

• Florian Bankoley, Executive Vice President, Bosch

• Johannes Kliesch, Co-Founder, Snocks

• Dr. Dennis Schmoltzi, Co-Founder & CEO, Emma-Matratze

• Astrid Reintjes, Co-Founder & CEO, Miss Pompadour

• Nina Weidenauer, Content Managerin, Startup Insider

• Steffen Christ, COO, Oda

• Knut Talman, VP IT - Logistic & Services, Otto GmbH & Co. KG

• Kirsten Patzki, CEO, nkm Naturkosmetik München GmbH

• Stephanie Vehrenkemper, Co-Founder & COO, Arrive GmbH

• u.v.m

What was it like at the Shopify Plus booth?

At this year's Shopify Plus booth, interested parties were able to learn about the brands that are currently already using Shopify Plus, talk to Shopify's launch and product experts, or get advice from agency partners like Latori - all while enjoying a good cup of in-house barista coffee. We at Latori met exciting people this year and talked to potential as well as existing customers and partners. The topics we encountered most often in conversation were upcoming store migrations, the development of our own apps, and omnichannel connectivity, e.g. to marketplaces. We are happy about the new contacts in our network!

Trend topics at K5: These topics are hot in 2023

The K5 conference program shows: E-commerce is a fast-growing market with a broad spectrum. This year, however, retailers are mainly talking about topics such as:

Artificial intelligence

AI is currently on everyone's lips - even among entrepreneurs. They should already be addressing the issue and offering employees the opportunity to use AI at work in order to increase efficiency by 20-30%. A good example of this is the company SNOCKS. Here, about 30% of all customer inquiries are already solved by a chatbot. They are also already working on a tool for creating titles, product descriptions with diverse number of characters or bullet points, and other content with AI.

Social Commerce & User Generated Content

Social commerce continues to be a trendy topic in e-commerce. Live shopping has established and proven itself and also strengthens brand loyalty. User-generated content also plays a major role. Brands such as Douglas are already relying on this and have brought UGC Creator in-house for this purpose. It has been observed that customers who interact with social commerce are more likely to return as buyers. It was also found that customers from live streams have a higher Average Order Value (AOV). The most important thing here is to take a data-driven approach and to cluster the target group precisely.

Personal Branding & Corporate Influencer

Personal branding and corporate influencers are also important topics in online retail. It is important for customers that companies have a face. In addition, there are advantages to having a public advocate. This ensures a positive brand image, generates sales and brings good connections in addition to new applicants. LinkedIn has proven to be the most useful platform here. If entrepreneurs invest about an hour of planning in 5 posts, it will bring them a good brand image, good job applications and super connections.

WhatsApp Marketing

WhatsApp has not been unknown for a long time - now e-commerce is also taking advantage of the app. Marketing via WhatsApp can be a significant revenue lever for D2C brands. Here, too, SNOCKS is setting a good example: in just 18 months, the company has made net sales of 2.6 million euros this way. Important tips here are:

• WhatsApp marketing should be used like a newsletter.

• The number can be collected via the checkout.

• It must be data protection compliant.

• Unlike classic e-mail marketing, the newsletter should only be sent out with WhatsApp when really good promotions are planned. That means, rather than sending out updates every week, share your best promotions once a quarter.

E-commerce 2.0

E-commerce 2.0 is a buzzword that retailers will be hearing more often in the near future. It's all about driving real innovation and getting very close to the customer. It is also about establishing entertainment and interactivity and creating brand relevance through storytelling and emotionality.

Take-aways for e-commerce merchants: These 7 tricks are directly implementable.

1. SEO, SEA & Referral Marketing: Complex topics and products sell best through SEO and implementing relevant keywords. By bidding on these keywords with SEA and referral marketing, merchants can increase sales of these complex products.

2. Unified commerce: shopping experiences need to be seamless. Here, retail stores and franchise partners must be involved so that services such as in-store ordering or click & collect can be implemented.

3. Omnichannel & Marketplaces: Both are good growth drivers and should be on retailers' agenda.

4. D2C commerce: A D2C strategy has become an absolute must-have. This helps build stronger customer loyalty and provides more understanding of customer needs.

5. Composable Commerce & Headless Commerce: Both composable commerce and headless commerce have become firmly established and standard in e-commerce. Enterprise companies that want to solidify their place in the market should bet on it.

6. Personalization: Personalizations remain one of the most important topics in e-commerce. These enable retailers to be close to their customers. Here, German online retail is currently still lagging behind and therefore offers the best opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

7. Brand building: Strong brands are winners! Companies that focus on brand building and storytelling lead their online stores to success. As a result, retailers can also compete with big players like Amazon & Co. because they generate more relevance with good storytelling and thus stand out.

Conclusion: Is the K5 conference worth it?

K5 was a complete success for Latori and our partner Shopify Plus, not only because of numerous exciting contacts and conversations, but also because we were able to experience first-hand the challenges retailers are currently facing. We had two very exciting days at the fair and would like to thank Shopify, our partners and customers, as well as all the visitors who came to see us at our booth, for eventful days in Berlin!

Our conclusion is that yes, K5 is worthwhile for every e-commercer!