Interview – DELIVER focuses on sustainable quality events for retail and logistics

Next week’s DELIVER Europe event in Amsterdam will maintain its ‘bigger and better’ quality focus for retail and logistics attendees – and once again operate as a CO2-neutral show with profits being re-invested into sustainability projects, founder and CEO Stephane Tomczak told CEP-Research in an interview.

Taking place on June 5-6, the event – for which CEP-Research is a media partner – will be the biggest-ever with about 1,500 participants, including 1,000 retail delegates from throughout Europe and beyond and more than 130 supply chain partners, including logistics, technology and other companies. The agenda includes more than 50 presentations and workshops while more than 4,500 pre-arranged one-to-one meetings are expected to take place.

But Tomczak, who founded DELIVER nearly a decade ago, stressed that his focus for the event remains on quality rather than quantity, based on a community of regular participants and with the aim of continuously “reinventing” the event with new content and new faces.

Interview

CEP-Research: How has DELIVER developed since its launch?

Tomczak: DELIVER started with humble beginnings in 2016, with the promise of putting together the decision-makers in e-commerce and logistics under the same roof at a European level. If we listen to our customers, this is what's been achieved and is what has allowed us to grow year after year to become the leader in Europe when it comes to e-commerce and logistics. There are many e-commerce shows but not focused on logistics. So I think our focus is really appreciated by both our delegates and our customers. We're very proud to be described by our customers as the ‘Davos of logistics’.

In-person and digital

CEP-Research: Industry events had to go digital and online during the pandemic but now they are back as in-person events again. Does that surprise you? Did you expect a mixture of online and in-person to stay?

Tomczak: Yes, we shifted totally online during the pandemic, which proved to be efficient because we had some customers telling us that they had made some very good deals. What we maintain from that era is that after the two very intense days in Amsterdam we keep the platform open for two weeks. So, everyone who has not been able to meet with somebody at the event will be able to still meet afterwards digitally.

A cool venue

CEP-Research: DELIVER Europe has taken place in Amsterdam for a few years now. Have you settled on Amsterdam as the permanent venue?

Tomczak: Amsterdam is a sweet spot for us and our homeplace for Europe. It’s a central location and allows many delegates to come by train, which is important to reduce the environmental impact. The Netherlands is also a country where the supply chain plays a great role. Many international retailers have European operations there. And we love TAETS as a venue. It’s such a cool place and not a boring conference hall.

Sustainability approach

CEP-Research: You have a strong focus on sustainability and try to operate DELIVER as a CO2-neutral event. How does this work in practice?

Tomczak: It's very straightforward. We have compensated all our emissions right since the first event in 2016. And we try to run our shows in the most CO2-efficient way. Our operations team always chooses a better solution in terms of CO2, even if it costs more, and doesn’t take the cheaper route regardless of the impact. For example, we don’t use throwaway carpets on the floors but reusable tiles. The stands have a structure that can be dismantled and used again. We also do a lot to encourage our delegates to travel by train.

CEP-Research: Do you have partnerships with specific organizations that you use for the compensation measures?

Tomczak: Yes, we work with the Carbon Neutral initiative. Since the beginning we've been contributing to projects in the Amazon forest and have planted 21,000 hectares of forest so far. What’s more, 100% of the profits from the business are re-invested into sustainability funds. We call ourselves a profit-neutral company. We don't keep any profits inside the company. Everything goes to those sustainability funds that are investing in those initiatives. We want to be part of the solution, not only part of the problem.

Reinventing the show

CEP-Research: Let’s return to DELIVER Europe 2024. What’s new this year?

Tomczak: Every year we try to reinvent the show. You will always see new speakers and new profiles of delegates. Of course, we have a lot of repeat exhibitors, which is a testament of our success. This year we've put a lot of emphasis on raising the bar with our speakers. We have a very impressive line-up of business executives from leading companies who will share their experience. With about 1,500 attendees and 130 exhibitors this is the biggest-ever show. However, we're really after quality and experience rather than quantity. We could easily have 200 - 300 exhibitors if we were to dilute the show but it's not something we are keen on doing. We want to remain a close-knit event with a community approach.

CEP-Research: You also have events in the Americas and Asia. How are they coming on?

Tomczak: In our view, we can play a good role there as there is nothing comparable to DELIVER in those regions. Our second US event will take place in October. We are aiming at 60-70 customers (sponsors) this year. We will take time to build it up, based on the value that we deliver to our customers. We will launch in Asia on March 5-6, 2025. We will expand the model of pre-scheduled meetings with very qualified decision-makers and focus on an Asian audience.

CEP-Research: Stephane Tomczak, many thanks for your time.

Further information about DELIVER Europe 2024 is available here.