Ecomm Live 2025 has recently wrapped up. This conference is always one of the most notable events in our calendar. Spread over 2 days, the first day mainly focused on the Ecomm Founder Sessions, where entrepreneurs share their personal experiences of building and scaling successful online businesses. Day 2 of this conference concentrated on the theme, “The 2025 Playbook for Success” exploring innovations, trending topics and actionable strategies across the ecommerce sector.
In this blog, we have sorted through the sessions we attended and compiled our top 10 panels and fireside chats packed and why they made our top 10:
1. Building a Movement: Niall Horgan on Scaling Gym+Coffee:
Ever wondered how a local brand explodes onto the international scene? Niall Horgan's fireside chat revealed the secret behind Gym+Coffee's success: building a passionate community. Niall also highlighted that global growth requires building an adaptable strategy, when pursuing international expansion isn't a simple replication of what you have already done domestically. It, in fact, requires understanding and catering to the nuances of each new market individually.
Why This Keynote Made Our Top 10: Gym+Coffee is a relatively new business that shows how focused strategies like building communities can help a brand become successful. A worthy example to highlight and looking forward to watching their expansion in the near future.
2. Partner Spotlight: GoKwik:
Abhishek Chandra from GoKwik shone a light on a powerful tool often overlooked: WhatsApp. He demonstrated how these key aspects of WhatsApp such as image sharing can create more a personalised, direct channel to enhance customer engagement and drive conversions. Abhishek also highlighted that Whatsapp facilitates better 2 way conversation with customers.
Why This Keynote Made Our Top 10: SMS marketing has been around a while, but GoKwik has taken an application that many of us are using daily and turned it into a creative marketing tool based on the knowledge it hits a 90% open rate. We're excited to watch the growth of this tool.
3. Changing Period Care for Good: The Riley Story with Fiona Parfrey:
Fiona shared how her ambition to disrupt the period care market with organic products began. She offered insights into the challenges of raising capital and the strategic balance between D2C and B2B approach for effective scaling.
Why This Keynote Made Our Top 10: Fiona saw a gap in the market — women are seeking alternatives to the sub-par period care market that have direct effect on their bodies. This startup fireside chat shows how keeping it simple and understanding your customers' needs and building a strong product proposition are fundamental to a solid business venture — as Ger and Gordon would say - "The Brilliant Basics"
4. The Outlook for Retail and Top of Mind Disruptions:
Richard Lim's keynote explored the joined up thinking of online and offline retail into a unified omnichannel experience, the rapid growth of social commerce, specifically highlighting TikTok Shop's success in beauty. The discussion also looked at Generative AI (GenAI), highlighting its current use in search and the emerging concept of “Agentic Retail” where AI acts as a consumer advocate.
Why This Keynote Made Our Top 10: This wasn't just another talk about trends; it was a literal wake-up call on the pace at which the retail landscape is evolving. The speaker cut through the noise on AI, social commerce, and marketplaces with a direct message: adapt – and do it fast. This session earned its spot in our Top 10 because it laid bare the urgent need for businesses to embrace change and the potential consequences of standing still.
5. Product First: The Inside Track on Building Winning Products:
This panel, featuring Adrian Gilbane (Sons), Niall Harty (All Real Nutrition), and Yolanda Cooper (We Are Paradoxx), brought the focus back to the basic importance of a compelling product. They shared the origins of their ideas for products and the process of developing them, emphasising the crucial need to listen to your customers over chasing the latest fads and navigating regulatory environments.
Why This Panel Made Our Top 10: This panel cut straight to the core of what really makes growth sustainable. Their standout message, delivered with refreshing honesty? Long-term product success relies on genuinely solving real customer problems.
6. CRO – The how-to guide for what to do, when to do it and what to expect:
Adam Pearce provided a thorough, data-led framework discussion on Conversion Rate Optimisation. His emphasis on understanding the current state, using analytics to identify opportunities, prioritising tests with the PECTI model. This simple framework is an acronym that stands for Proof, Ease, Cost, Time, and Impact. By evaluating each potential action against the criteria, retailers can gain clarity and make decisions about where to invest time and resources for the biggest payoff.
Why This Session Made Our Top 10: Adam Pearce delivered a tangible framework – his PECTI model (Proof, Ease, Cost, Time, Impact) – for effectively prioritising actions. The PECTI model offers a logical way to decide where to focus efforts for maximum impact.
7. Unpacking Amazon.ie – What Every Irish Brand Needs to Know
This panel featured 3 key retailers sharing their experiences on Amazon, noting its initial use for testing product viability and gaining reach. It highlighted key considerations about what brands should consider, from product size and weight, the critical role of customer service plays on account health and visibility. And of course, it approached the burning question — Is Amazon.ie worth it? The panellists suggested that Amazon.ie is still in its early stages and recommended starting with more established Amazon marketplaces like the UK or US initially.
Why This Session Made Our Top 10: It's clear why this one resonated so strongly and earned its place in our Top 10: it tackles a timely subject that's front and centre for many retailers across Ireland. This session offered insights directly from brands who are already navigating this journey.
8. Inside Boden’s Digital Transformation with Shopify
A detailed discussion following Boden's successful migration to Shopify, emphasizing the seamless transition for customers. The speaker highlighted the benefits of improved SEO and platform stability, while also sharing lessons learned, such as the importance of integrating theme development with product migration.
Why This Session Made Our Top 10: Maybe this is a little of a guilty pleasure, after all, it’s what we do! But we believe there is always space to take in from other people's experiences and Boden's Shopify migration demonstrates a successful example in a platform migration, prioritising the customer experience above all else. Want to know more about migrations, check out our webinar with Intersport Elverys on this topic.
9. Breaking Into The U.S. Market: What Every eComm Brand Needs to Know:
Lauren Orlicky offered invaluable advice for brands eyeing the US market. Her guidance on initially trading as an international seller to simplify tax and legal complexities, alongside practical tips on compliance, insurance, fulfilment and marketing, providing a clear roadmap for navigating the US market.
Why This Session Made Our Top 10: Lauren Orlicky's session was a refreshingly honest and detailed guide on what not to do. Her straight-forward advice, particularly the contradictory wisdom of delaying US entity setup and starting as an international seller, has the potential to save countless businesses time and money. Beyond the practicalities, Lauren gave advice on localisation – exemplified by the memorable “embrace the cheese!” point – served as a crucial reminder that even fundamental brand tone needs to adapt to connect with a new audience.
10. Live Shopping Isn’t a Trend—It’s a Revenue Machine:
Macdara Duncan made a compelling case for live shopping as a powerful tool for engagement and sales. He highlighted its potential to drive significant conversion rates and new customer acquisition, offering practical strategies for implementation and emphasising its evolution as a core ecommerce channel.
Why This Session Made Our Top 10: Macdara Duncan didn't just discuss live shopping; he deconstructed the “just hype” misconception. Backed by the impressive results that his platform Sprii delivers — including to major players like JYSK — his message was loud and clear: live shopping is a serious revenue driver. What truly stood out was the emphasis on making it fun and fostering a strong sense of community. He painted a picture where engagement and sales feed each other — A must-consider strategy for future growth.
