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GROW is an established platform of online retail brands, technology providers, investors, agencies & eCommerce stakeholders. In 2018, 15 direct-to-consumer founders started sharing advice in a Slack group. Since then, 60,000 people have joined our network. 
Through our headline conference series, 1-1 meetings, VIP dinners, monthly events & a hugely popular weekly newsletter, GROW members learn about what’s next in eCommerce.
GROW ny
AUg 19, 2026
CLAIM TICKET + $500

GROW NY
AGENDA

900 eComm leaders. 1 day of panels, workshops & valuable networking.

APPLY TO ATTEND
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People at a registration table exchanging lanyards and event materials outdoors.Audience seated attentively in a theater or conference room with red chairs, focusing on a speaker or presentation.Group of people engaged in a discussion around a table in a meeting room.Three people sitting on black chairs on stage having a panel discussion with a product advertisement projected behind them.
People at a registration table exchanging lanyards and event materials outdoors.Audience seated attentively in a theater or conference room with red chairs, focusing on a speaker or presentation.Group of people engaged in a discussion around a table in a meeting room.Three people sitting on black chairs on stage having a panel discussion with a product advertisement projected behind them.

Presented by

PayPal brand logo in white.

40 deep-dive sessions on:

Scaling & Growth
AI Integration
Loyalty & Retention
Omnichannel
Advanced Email
Supply chain
SMS
Paid Ads
Connected TV
And More!

DAY 1

The rules are changing - are you keeping up or getting left behind?
19
AUG
open schedule
Close  schedule
08:00 AM

Check in & Breakfast

Breakfast ends at 8:55 AM

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Step inside for our first day of powerful insights, game-changing strategies & networking.

MAIN STAGE  (MORNING)
09:15 AM

Morning Kick-Off with Todd Gilchrist, Retail Analyst, GROW

Everything about how we grow brands is changing — fast. AI is buying on behalf of customers, discovery is shifting away from search, and profitability is harder than ever to protect. This morning, we’re diving straight into what’s real: how leading brands are adapting, where they’re winning, and what you need to do now to stay ahead.

09:20 AM

AI PANEL: Agentic Commerce at Scale - From Pilot to Infrastructure

Twelve months ago, agentic commerce was a talking point. Today, AI agents are completing purchases, comparing SKUs, and bypassing brand websites entirely — and the brands that treated it as an experiment are already behind. In this panel, leaders who've moved from pilot to production share what agentic commerce actually looks like inside their organisations: how they've restructured data, what it's done to their conversion economics, and the decisions they're having to make about pricing, brand visibility, and channel strategy as the buying journey moves off their own platforms. Leave with a clear picture of what 'agent-ready' means for a brand like yours as we get closer to BFCM 2026.

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Harry Roth, Director, eCommerce, CRO & Customer Journeys, AS Beauty Group + Juan Pellerano-Rendón, CMO, Swap Commerce + Suzy Davidkhanian, VP, Content, EMARKETER

09:40 AM

RETENTION PANEL: Turning First-Time Buyers into Lifelong Customers

Acquiring a customer is the beginning, not the win. The brands growing most efficiently today are the ones converting first purchases into second, third, and tenth — through better onboarding, smarter lifecycle programs, and loyalty mechanics that actually change behavior. This panel explores what retention looks like in practice: how to identify high-LTV customers early, what keeps people coming back, and where most brands are leaving money on the table after the first sale.

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Michelle Carrara, VP, Growth & Analytics, Boll & Branch + Suzie Waller, Sr. Director, Growth Marketing, Peloton + Kelly Walter, VP, eCommerce - North America, Medik8 + Interviewed by Ali Donaldson, Retail Reporter, Inc.

10:00 AM

Beyond the Feed: How Top Brands Are Scaling with Direct Mail

As digital acquisition costs climb and inbox fatigue sets in, leading brands are rediscovering a high-ROI channel hiding in plain sight: the mailbox. In this fireside chat, PostPilot CEO Michael Epstein joins top ecomm executives to discuss how direct mail has become a meaningful part of their growth playbook. From winback campaigns to new customer acquisition, they'll share real results, lessons learned, and how direct mail integrates with the modern omnichannel stack. Walk away with a practical framework for testing, or scaling, physical mail for your own brand.

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Dave Heaton, Founder, Steel Horse Leather + Michael Epstein, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, PostPilot + Todd Gilchrist, Retail Analyst, GROW

10:20 AM

The AI Experimentation Stack: Don't Guess at Your Growth

No brand wants to guess at growth. The problem has never been a lack of testing tools or ambition. It's bandwidth. In this fireside chat, Drew Marconi sits down with Cody Plofker to break down how he built a high-output experimentation practice, using AI to do the heavy lifting. Cody shares exactly how he's wired together Intelligems, Claude, and a handful of connected tools into a system that ideates faster, ships tests without waiting on a developer, and reports in real time. If you want to discover and validate your growth paths with AI, this session is for you.

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Cody Plofker, CMO, Jones Road Beauty + Drew Marconi, CEO & Co-Founder, Intelligems

MORNING BREAK
(10:40 - 11:30)
Kiosk Meet + Greet
11:30 AM

CRO PANEL: Moving at the Speed of AI

AI has collapsed the time it takes to generate hypotheses, build variants, and analyze results — but faster testing isn't the same as better testing. This panel brings together conversion leaders who are navigating what it actually means to run a rigorous CRO program when the pace of experimentation has fundamentally changed: which decisions still require human judgment, where AI is creating noise as much as signal, and how to build a testing culture that scales without losing discipline.

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‍Jacqs Carroll, Director, Digital, Reebok | GUESS | Lucky Brand + Mike Jacobs, Chief Growth Officer, Jonathan Adler | Draper James | Outdoor Voices + Mike Potter, Co-founder & CEO, Rewind + Lou Cohen, Chief Digital Officer, Ernst & Young

11:50 AM

Turning Klaviyo Segments into Streaming TV Performance | Vibe.co x Klaviyo

CPMs keep climbing and everyone's retargeting the same 3% of shoppers. More performance marketers are turning to streaming TV for real growth.Vibe.co and Klaviyo work together in the same stack. This session gets into exactly how. A Klaviyo growth expert grills Vibe.co's Rachel McGovern and Shinesty's Head of Growth, Danny Hershey, on how Shinesty synced segments like cart abandoners, VIPs, and lapsed customers straight into premium CTV inventory. No managed service, no black-box reporting, no minimums. Campaigns launch in 24 hours, on channels people actually watch. Get the real play-by-play: what they synced, what converted, what's next.

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Danny Hershey, Growth Marketing, Shinesty + Rachel McGovern, VP Sales, Vibe.co + Corey Balint, Principal Product Lead, Partnerships, Klaviyo

12:20 PM

From Strategy to Store Floor: What Radical Alignment Actually Looks Like

The first question was whether AI could unlock growth. Mugsy answered it. Now comes the harder one: can that intelligence reach every corner of the business? Join Chris Happ and Mugsy's Director of Stores & Inventory, Mike McGee, for the next chapter — how BAIO's aligned intelligence moved from the boardroom to the buy floor, turning inventory decisions into a direct expression of company strategy. This is Radical Alignment in practice: where intent and execution are locked together so tightly that your stores, your stock, and your margins all pull in the same direction.

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Mike McGee, Director, Stores & Operations, Mugsy + Chris Happ, CEO, VirtuousAI

12:40 PM

An AI Agent Took Over My Google Ads Campaigns. Here's What Happened Next

What happens when you give AI full control of your ad budgets? George Kelly, Director of eCommerce at Vintage Tub & Bath, a DTC retailer of home fixtures, did exactly that. Facing ambitious growth goals with a small team, he gave a MAI agent full control to plan, optimize, and scale his Google Ads campaigns for maximum profitability. Rocket ship or bumpy ride? George shares the real results, surprises, and lessons. Hosted by Mark McMaster, Head of Partnerships at MAI and former eCommerce leader at Google and Snapchat.

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George Kelly, E-com, Retail Marketing Director, Vintage Tub & Bath + Mark McMaster, Head of Partnerships, MAI Agents

LUNCH + ROUNDTABLES
(1:00 - 2:30)
Roundtables 1-5
(1:05 - 1:35)
TABLE 1

Peak Performance Prep Session

Do you get nervous when you think about peak season? Do you have horror stories from BFCMs past? You're not alone. The goal for every Q4 is: Marketing loud. Ops quiet. Thankfully, there's still time to stress test your plans for BFCM. In this interactive session, we'll talk about peak season success stories, 'watch outs', and lessons learned to help you breeze through peak with confidence.

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Leighton Powell, Sr. Account Executive, Shipfusion + Mark Lozada, Sr. Account Executive, Shipfusion

TABLE 2

The Community Flywheel: How a Loyalty Program Can Turn Customers Into Repeat Buyers

Points alone won't get you there. Matias Marquez (CEO, ethos) sits down with Client Name to show how a loyalty program can become a community flywheel: customers become members, members enjoy early access, birthday rewards, and member-only perks, and those members turn into repeat buyers, advocates, and creators of UGC that fuels your marketing. We'll dig into the retention math behind community-led loyalty and the practical steps any Shopify brand can take to succeed. Leave with a playbook you can put to work immediately.

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Matias Marquez, CEO, ethos

TABLE 3

Loyalty That Learns: Building Emotional Retention That Compounds

Loyalty programs aren’t what they used to be. Today’s leaders are testing AI-driven strategies that learn, adapt, and deepen emotional connections with customers in real time. This roundtable will give you a front-row seat to what’s working—and what’s not—in using predictive modeling, dynamic rewards, and behavioral signals to keep customers coming back. If retaining customers is mission-critical for your business, this is where you’ll get unfiltered peer insights, practical frameworks, and real stories of success and failure you can put into play immediately

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Alessandro Desantis, Partner, Nebulab

TABLE 4

Your Automation Rate is Wrong. What Can You Do About it?

Most DTC brands deploying AI in CX are promised automation rates of 60–80% but running around 15% in production. My goal is to get operators to diagnose that gap. The thesis: the issue lies in the lack of human involvement in AI deployment and upkeep. From there, the conversation moves toward what closing that gap looks like in practice: what human agents do differently, and how they are supported beyond the ticket queue. Participants should leave with one question: not "do we need better AI?" but "do we have the right human model around the AI we already have?"

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Rachel Thaw-Steindel, VP, Customer Success & Advocacy, kim.cc

TABLE 5

Why Good Subscribers Go Cold: The Hidden Drivers of DTC List Degradation

Noticeable drops in open rates, rising spam complaints, and falling revenue per send usually trigger one instinct: add more segmentation. But slicing your list into complex sub-segments just creates more data maintenance for your team.The real fix isn't more rules—it’s a fundamental shift in audience management. In this short roundtable, we’re sharing the exact strategies we use to optimize high-growth and turnaround Klaviyo accounts. 

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Michael Zung, Advisor, CustomersAI + Arda Bulak, Director, Retention, Create Wellness

Roundtables 6-10
(1:40 - 2:10)
TABLE 6

Your Cheapest Acquisition Channel Is Also Your Best Retention Play

Why referral deserves a real line in the acquisition plan - and what signals suggest about advocates as a retention segment, not just a discount coupon.

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Haleigh Byrnes, Enterprise Account Executive, Friendbuy + MSara Kunin, Sr. Retention Marketing Manager, Petite Plume

TABLE 7

 Is Your Payment Stack Ready for Agentic Commerce?

 Agentic commerce is evolving rapidly. New AI shopping assistants, autonomous purchasing agents, emerging protocols, and collaborations between technology providers are reshaping how consumers discover and buy products. With so much innovation happening at once, it can be difficult to know where to start. As AI increasingly becomes part of the purchasing journey, retailers will need to rethink their e-commerce strategies and optimize for agent-driven transactions. But what does that mean practically for payment infrastructure? How can merchants verify that agents are who they claim to be? Who is authorized to make a purchase on a consumer's behalf? And when something goes wrong, where does liability reside? Join your peers and industry thought leaders for an interactive discussion on the evolving agentic commerce landscape. Together, we'll cut through the hype, examine the implications for retail payments, and discuss practical ways merchants can prepare for AI-driven commerce without overhauling their existing payment infrastructure.

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Jill Willard, Chief Technology Officer, IXOPAY

TABLE 8

You have SuperFans. How Are You Using Them To Grow?

Your most loyal customers can become your cheapest growth channel. Come ready to discuss data and trends, actions you've taken, or thought about taking, impediments to execution, and walk away with some ideas on using quizzes, challenges, and UGC, brands turn SuperFans into advocates.

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David Torres, Director of America Sales, Brevo

TABLE 9

What Separates High-Performing Shopify Brands From The Rest? 

Join Domaine for an interactive roundtable exploring the strategies leading commerce brands are using to drive growth. We'll discuss how to create product pages that convert, increase average order value through merchandising and bundles, improve site speed and mobile performance, capture more high-intent traffic through SEO, and build long-term customer loyalty with lifecycle marketing. Bring your questions, challenges, and experiences for a collaborative discussion focused on practical takeaways you can apply to your own business.

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Kim Samuelsen, Director, Delivery, Domaine Studio + Amanda Sannella, Sr. Solutions Engineer, Shopify

TABLE 10

What's Actually Working: A Growth Marketer's Roundtable

An informal conversation for senior growth and marketing leads to compare notes on what's actually working in their partner strategy, and what CTV can learn from it. We'll chat through tradeoffs, blind spots, and the stuff nobody's solved yet.

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Benjamin Hardy, Sales Manager, Roku Ads + Soraya Davari, Partnerships Manager, Ads Manager, Roku Ads

MAIN STAGE   (AFTERNOON SESSIONS)
MAIN STAGE
2:30 PM

Rethinking Reach: Media Mix and Customer Realignment

The channels that drove growth three years ago aren't the channels driving it today. Paid social costs have risen, search behavior is shifting with AI, and brands are being forced to rethink where and how they reach customers — and which customers are actually worth reaching. This panel examines how leading brands are rebalancing their media mix in real time: where budgets are moving, how customer segmentation is evolving, and what a sustainable acquisition strategy looks like when the old playbook no longer applies.

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Samuel Sternberg, Chief Growth Officer, Jomashop + Rebecca Fitts, Founder, The Wild West of Retail

2:50 PM

Transform Linear Strategy into an AI Discovery Framework

How to take your traditional Organic roadmap (SEO, Owned Content, 3rd Party Outreach) and transform it into a flywheel Discovery Framework that feeds back into itself for continued iteration and LLM visibility.
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Eric Hoover, Sr. Director, Organic Strategy, Journey Further

3:10 PM

Uninterrupted: How Brands Reach Customers in Moments Where Attention Already Exists

Customer acquisition has traditionally been built around interruption: stopping the scroll, breaking into the feed or competing for another click. But the most valuable attention may already exist. Leaders from ButcherBox, Swirl Wine Shop and Nift will explore how brands can reach new customers inside trusted, positive moments—when people are already engaged and open to discovery.

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Ricky Grenis, VP & General Manager, Swirl Wine Shop + Saket Mehta, CRO, Nift + Rebecca Fitts, Founder, The Wild West of Retail

3:30 PM

The Agent Placed the Order. Here's What Happens Next.

AI agents can now discover products, compare options, and complete purchases on behalf of shoppers—but far less attention has been paid to what happens after the transaction. In this fireside chat, ESW explores why the next phase of agentic commerce won't be defined by who owns discovery. The brands that win will be the ones that can stand behind the order after the agent clicks "buy" - with the confidence that it will be fulfilled correctly, delivered as promised, and supported end-to-end.

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Jordan Thompson, AI Commerce Product Leader, ESW + Suzy Davidkhanian, VP, Content, EMARKETER

3:50 PM

OPS PANEL: The New Era of Retail Operations

The back end of retail has never been under more pressure. Consumer expectations for speed, flexibility, and transparency have outpaced the infrastructure many brands were built on — and the cost of getting it wrong shows up immediately in returns, reviews, and churn. This panel digs into how operators are modernizing fulfillment, inventory, and logistics in a landscape where margin is thin and execution is everything.

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Lisa Lane, Shark Tanker & Founder, Rinseroo + Jordan White, Innovation Manager, Customer Success, GS1 + Lou Cohen, Chief Digital Officer, Ernst & Young

4:10PM

Your Budget Can't Buy Distribution in AI Search: How Challenger Brands Win the Answer Anyway 

Nearly every channel DTC was built on is an auction of sorts, and the brand with more money won more of it. AI search is built differently. No bid, budget lever, or arbitrage. Then the part nobody discusses: the answer in most categories is built from a small set of documents written before your brand existed. Influencing whether you show up changing costs a few well-placed sources instead of a media budget. Right now, a nine-figure competitor cannot outspend you into the consideration set. What to do about it, and why that window is closing.

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Meenakshi Lala, CEO, UrbanStems + Peter Sloterdyk, Chief Marketing Officer, Gist

Roundtables 11-15
(4:30 - 5:00)
TABLE 11

Beyond Paid Media: How Brands Are Investing in Organic Growth and AI Search Discovery

Google, social platforms, creators, and AI-powered search, organic visibility is becoming a more important part of the growth strategy.This roundtable explores how brands are bringing SEO, content, organic social, digital PR, and AI search together as one connected system. We’ll compare where teams are investing, what is driving meaningful traffic and revenue, and how marketers are measuring channels that do not fit neatly into last-click attribution.Get the real operator perspective: what is working, what is not, how teams are improving their visibility in AI search, and how they are building the internal case for greater organic investment.

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‍DMike Krau, Sr. Director, Growth Marketing, Shutterstock

TABLE 12

Customer Intelligence in 2026: Faster, Sharper, and Built for Real Time

Surveys and focus groups can't keep up with today's shopper. AI is giving retailers a faster, sharper way to generate insights — from simulating consumer behaviour with synthetic data to analysing live sentiment at scale. In this workshop, you'll learn how brands across beauty, fashion, and homeware are using these tools to uncover what customers really want, test ideas before launch, and pivot campaigns in real time. Expect concrete examples of wins, failures, and practical playbooks for turning insight into action before your competitors do.

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‍Derek Sellhausen, Sr. Manager, Relationship Marketing, Athletic Brewing Company

TABLE 13

Agentic Commerce: What's Working and What's Next?

Everyone’s talking about AI - but what’s actually getting used day-to-day? This is a free, open roundtable with no host - just a group of operators sharing what’s working in real time. We’ll get into the tools, prompts, and workflows people are relying on across marketing, eCommerce, creative, and operations - from quick wins that save hours each week to deeper use cases that are starting to reshape how teams work. What’s genuinely useful? What’s overhyped? Where are you seeing real impact vs. just experimenting? Come ready to share, ask questions, and swap ideas - the goal is to leave with a few practical things you can start using immediately.

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‍Open Discussion - Bring your own questions for the group!

TABLE 14

The C-Suite Playbook: Leading Transformation When the Ground Keeps Moving

Retail executives are under pressure to innovate faster than ever — while keeping organisations stable, aligned, and financially healthy. This roundtable is your opportunity to hear from senior leaders making the hard calls: which AI bets are worth the investment, how they're managing board-level expectations, and how they're keeping teams motivated through constant change. You'll get candid, behind-the-scenes perspectives from peers navigating the same pressures — and walk away with hard-won lessons you won't find in a keynote

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Kelly Gardiner, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Care+Wear

HAPPY HOUR & VIP DINNERS!
(5:00)

DAY 2

AI Optimization & The Future of Retail
23
APR
open schedule
Close  schedule
08:30 AM

Registration and Check in Breakfast Hosted by Junip

Join us for the second day of powerful insights, game-changing strategies & networking.

MAIN STAGE  (MORNING)
09:25 AM

Morning Kick-Off

Our expert host sets the tone for an action-packed Day Two with opening insights and key industry trends. Let's go!

09:30 AM

Aligning Operations with Customer's Sustainability Expectations

This panel brings together three influential leaders—Svanika Balasubramanian, CEO of rePurpose Global; Leah Mann from Thrive Market's Mission & Partnerships team; and Ryan Zimmerman, Director of Communications & Partnerships at Grove Collaborative—who will share actionable strategies for transforming business operations to meet today's heightened customer expectations around sustainability and social impact. Attendees will discover how to identify and prioritize the operational changes that matter most to their customers, learn frameworks for measuring and communicating impact authentically, and gain practical insights on building partnerships and internal processes that deliver on brand promises while maintaining profitability. The session will provide concrete takeaways on navigating the balance between customer demands for transparency and sustainability with operational realities, offering attendees a roadmap for aligning their own organizations with the values-driven expectations that increasingly define customer loyalty and market success.
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Leah Mann, Mission & Partnerships, Thrive Market + Ryan Zimmerman, Director, Communications & Partnerships, Grove Collaborative + Svanika Balasubramanian, CEO, rePurpose Global

10:15 AM

Beyond the Click: How AI Is Powering the Next Era of Funnel Performance

In today’s performance-driven environment, high-growth brands are moving fast, not by spending more, but by personalizing faster. In this session, we’ll break down how brands like DRMTLGY are turning paid media, creators, and campaign insights into fully personalized landing experiences across the funnel. You’ll get a look at how Replo uses AI to generate entire funnels from ad creative, influencer lists, and product catalogs, helping marketers launch smarter, test faster, and convert more. Walk away with a practical playbook for scaling personalization, and a clear benchmark for where your team stands in the next wave of performance marketing.

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Joe Wool, Director, eCommerce, DRMTLGY + Sanjay Jenkins, GTM Lead, Replo

10:35 AM

Incremental, Impactful, Creative: Rethinking Advertising for Retail Growth

As retail marketing grows more complex with CTV, Snap, TikTok, OOH, and retail media, understanding true incremental impact has become the backbone of measurement. But as channels multiply, so do the challenges of keeping analytics simple, actionable, and connected to real growth. In this session, Triple Whale and Vibe.co will explore how modern brands can combine incrementality, creativity, and performance branding to measure what really matters. We’ll share how retailers can cut through complexity, prove impact across channels, and unlock smarter paths to growth.
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Arthur Querou, CEO & Co-founder, Vibe + Bryant Garvin, Operator in Residence, Triple Whale

10:55 AM

From Anonymous to Engaged: Shopper Enrichment for Efficient Top-of-Funnel Growth

‍Your analytics show thousands of visitors, but 70% are complete ghosts—no email, no purchase history, just expensive traffic that walks away forever. While you're obsessing over email capture pop-ups, smart retailers are using AI to instantly de-anonymize anonymous browsers and convert them into buyers within minutes of arrival. Real-time shopper enrichment technology is matching mysterious visitors to existing customers, creating personalized experiences for the majority of visitors, and turning your biggest revenue leak into your most profitable channel.
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Ben Bolognin, VP, eCommerce, Olukai + Michael Diesu, Co-Founder & CEO, Tie

1:1 MEETINGS
(10:50 - 11:50)
11:15 AM

AI-Powered Micro-Influencer Matchmaking for BFCM Impact

In the BFCM countdown, every dollar and every impression counts, and while most brands are still throwing budgets at macro-influencers with questionable engagement rates, the smartest retailers are using machine learning to systematically identify micro-creators who deliver authentic influence and measurable conversions at a fraction of the cost. This intensive tactical session reveals exactly how leading brands are leveraging AI-powered creator discovery platforms to cut through millions of potential partnerships and pinpoint the right micro-influencers in days rather than months, using advanced sentiment analysis to evaluate audience quality, engagement authenticity, and brand alignment before outreach even begins. You'll discover the specific data points and algorithmic approaches these companies use to predict creator performance, from analyzing comment sentiment patterns and follower growth trajectories to identifying creators whose audiences overlap with your highest-value customer segments. Learn the proven frameworks for structuring performance-based partnerships that protect your budget while incentivizing creators to deliver results, including dynamic commission structures, milestone-based bonuses, and hybrid payment models that reward both reach and conversion metrics. You'll gain access to the automation tools and workflows that streamline creator onboarding, content approval, and performance tracking, plus the specific contract templates and negotiation strategies that prevent common pitfalls like content ownership disputes, exclusivity conflicts, and attribution challenges. Most importantly, you'll walk away with immediately actionable playbooks for rapid creator identification, outreach sequences that achieve 40%+ response rates, campaign optimization tactics that maximize ROI during peak shopping periods, and emergency pivot strategies for when partnerships underperform, ensuring your influencer strategy fires on all cylinders in time for the holiday surge.

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Jean Dees, Head of Influencer Marketing, The Perfect Jean

11:35 AM

AI-Enhanced A+ Content: Last-Minute Tweaks That Drive BFCM Conversions

When it comes to Black Friday, speed and precision matter more than perfection. In this session, you’ll see how leading brands are using AI to quickly test and optimize copy, imagery, and product descriptions in the final days before launch. From swapping out underperforming headlines to generating new visuals that align with shopper intent, you’ll hear real-world examples of what’s moved the needle for peers under BFCM pressure. Walk away with a playbook of AI-driven adjustments you can still make in the eleventh hour — to capture attention, increase conversions, and maximize revenue on the biggest weekend of the year.
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Bryan Welker, Head of Marketing & Growth, L-Nutra + Lisa Bratkovich, Founding Partner & Fractional CMO, The CMO Syndicate + Josh Payne, CEO & Founder, Coframe interviewed by Poonam Goyal, Sector Head & Sr. eCommerce Analyst, Bloomberg Intelligence

11:55 AM

Brand as Your Strategic Advantage: How Authentic Brands Win Markets and AI Amplifies Victory

In an era where competitors can copy your product overnight, brand remains the one unassailable competitive moat. Join Donny Jensen, CMO of Black Rifle Coffee—who transformed a veteran-founded startup into a cultural phenomenon generating hundreds of millions in revenue—as he reveals why authentic brand building is your ultimate growth accelerator. Drawing from scaling one of America's most recognizable coffee brands, Jensen will show how mission-driven identity creates fanatically loyal customers who become unpaid evangelists. You'll discover how to craft brand narratives so compelling that price becomes irrelevant and competition becomes noise, plus cutting-edge tactics for leveraging AI to amplify messaging and personalize experiences without losing authentic human connection. Walk away with a proven framework for your brand's unfair advantage, strategies for turning customers into evangelists, and a roadmap for brand-first growth in the AI-powered future.

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Donny Jensen, CMO, Black Rifle Coffee

LUNCH + CLOSING ROUNDTABLES
(12:20 - 1:00)
Roundtables 9-12
(12:25 - 12:55)
TABLE 9

AMA: Ad Strategies That Actually Convert: Real Tactics From High-Growth Brands

‍Ad costs are climbing across all platforms while customer acquisition gets more competitive, but the merchants hitting their growth targets have mastered the art of diversifying their marketing mix to control costs and reach customers wherever they spend time. Leading retailers are discovering emerging ad networks and promotional channels that complement their existing strategies, while building direct customer relationships that reduce overall acquisition costs and improve lifetime value. The biggest winners aren't just optimizing individual campaigns—they're creating integrated marketing experiences that turn every customer touchpoint into a revenue driver. Join Amanda Engleman (Product Director, Shopify) and Carney Nir (VP Global Ecommerce, Orveon) for a tactical deep-dive into where smart merchants are actually spending their ad dollars, which emerging channels are delivering measurable ROI right now, and how to build advertising resilience that protects your margins when the next platform shakeup hits.

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‍Carney Nir, VP, Global eCommerce, Orveon + Amanda Engleman, Product Director, Shopify

TABLE 10

AMA: How to Use Behavioral Data to Drive Repeat Revenue

‍Your data is full of clues about how to earn the next order — if you know how to use it. In this AI-focused roundtable, brands that have cracked the code will share exactly how they’re turning browsing behavior, purchase history, and engagement signals into repeat sales and higher lifetime value. This is your chance to hear the wins, mistakes, and tactical takeaways directly from peers who’ve done it — so you can walk away with proven strategies to plug into your own retention playbook right now.

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‍Ahmed El Naggar, Co-founder & CEO + Jon Fox, Head of Education, GoAudience

TABLE 11

AMA: From Spikes to Systems: Building Always-On Customer Journeys with AI‍

Seasonality creates massive demand spikes, but most brands struggle with the gaps—inconsistent planning, generic experiences, and performance dips between peak moments. Join this interactive AMA to discover how top retail brand Reef transformed their customer journey from reactive seasonal pushes to a sophisticated, always-on growth engine that delivers sustained results year-round. Through real-world case studies and open discussion, we'll explore how to identify early signals of customer intent before competitors notice, create seamless strategies that work across both DTC channels and major marketplaces, and leverage AI to shift from scrambling during peak seasons to optimizing in real-time every day. Whether you're battling holiday rushes, back-to-school chaos, or summer surges, you'll leave with actionable frameworks for building customer journeys that drive consistent growth—not just short-term wins when demand naturally peaks.
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Elyse Shaefer, Sr. Director, Digital Marketing, Reef + Allie Newman, Sr. Account Manager, Realtime

TABLE 12

AMA: The New Retention Playbook: Slash Klaviyo/ESP Costs by 65% While Boosting Deliverability and Email Revenue by 30%

‍Retention marketing should be the most profitable channel in eCommerce, yet escalating Email Service Provider (ESP) costs continue to erode margins month after month. This roundtable session reveals how CustomersAI discovered and eliminated hidden inefficiencies within their retention marketing stack through innovative AI-powered strategies. Participants will learn about deploying an AI "list transfusion" agent that systematically removes unengaged, lifeless contacts while simultaneously replenishing email lists with fresh, high-intent subscribers who are more likely to convert. The session covers proven tactics for growing email revenue by maximizing deliverability rates and improving inbox placement, ultimately creating a streamlined system that generates consistent orders with minimal manual intervention. Attendees will walk away with a repeatable roadmap that demonstrates how to reduce ESP costs by 50% while simultaneously boosting deliverability metrics and increasing email revenue by 30%, transforming retention marketing from a cost center into a true profit driver.  
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Phil Ross, DTC Operator, Catalyst Pet + Larry Kim, CEO & Founder, CustomersAI

ROUNDTABLES 13-16
(1:00 - 1:30 )
TABLE 13

AMA: How DUDE Wipes Built a 7 figure TikTok Shop (without Ads)

In this interactive session, you’ll learn how DUDE Wipes built a 7 figure TikTok Shop by enlisting 14,000+ unpaid hype people (aka affiliates), running 50+ hours a week of chaotic livestreams, and repurposing every weird video we could get our hands on. We’ll cover how AI helps us make content at scale, why we pay our ambassadors in gas money and good vibes, and how being an absolute menace in the comments has become our most effective growth hack. Come for the strategy, stay for the poop jokes.

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Joey Thomas, VP, Sales, DUDE Wipes

TABLE 14

AMA: The Authenticity Paradox: When AI Creates Your 'Authentic' Brand Story

Today's consumers crave authenticity more than ever, yet many brands are increasingly turning to AI to craft their "authentic" narratives. This creates a fascinating paradox: can a story generated by artificial intelligence truly be authentic? And does it matter if it resonates with your audience? Join Andie Swim's leadership team as they host this candid roundtable exploring the complex relationship between AI-generated content and brand authenticity. Through real case studies from DTC brands that have successfully integrated AI storytelling while maintaining customer trust, plus cautionary tales from those who learned hard lessons about transparency, we'll dive deep into how modern retailers are navigating this challenge. You'll walk away with a practical framework for evaluating when AI-generated content aligns with or undermines your brand values, actionable strategies for maintaining human connection in an AI-enhanced content strategy, clear guidelines for disclosure and transparency that build rather than erode customer trust, and tools to measure authentic brand perception versus AI efficiency gains. Drawing from Andie's own journey building an authentic swimwear brand in the digital age, this roundtable is perfect for brand marketers, content strategists, and founders wrestling with how to scale storytelling without losing their brand's soul, because this isn't about whether to use AI, it's about using it authentically.
‍

Alda Leung, VP, Creative, Andie

TABLE 15

Scaling Smarter: Budget Management Strategies for Sustainable Growth

Discover how to balance growth ambitions with financial discipline. This session explores practical approaches to managing budgets while scaling, identifying key metrics to track, and prioritizing investments that drive long-term, sustainable success.

Rick Cadotte, CMO, Legacybox

TABLE 16

AMA: The Loyalty Loophole: How Smart Retailers Make Their Best Customers Spend More This BFCM

While you're discounting everything for everyone, your VIP customers are getting the same generic 25% off as random bargain hunters—and wondering why they bothered staying loyal all year. Leading retailers discovered that AI-triggered loyalty upgrades during peak shopping moments don't just reward customers, they create spending frenzies that generate massive incremental revenue in 72 hours or less. You'll walk away with the AI loyalty boost framework that automatically identifies your highest-potential customers mid-BFCM and surprises them with exclusive tier upgrades (driving one retailer's top segment to spend $2,400 more per customer in one weekend), the exact surprise reward triggers that create urgency without cheapening your brand—including the "48-hour VIP window" that generated 290% higher AOV, the automated perk stacking system that makes customers feel truly special while protecting your margins, and the critical timing algorithms that deploy upgrades at the precise moment customers are most likely to splurge big. Your competitors are treating their best customers like strangers during the biggest shopping weekend of the year—while you're turning loyalty into a profit multiplier that compounds long after BFCM ends.
‍

Kerri Mason, CMO, CAMP

OFFICIAL AFTER PARTY
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SPEAKERS

GROW Speakers have been there, done that. During main stage talks, panels & interactive workshops, you’ll hear from senior executives & operators from:

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Michelle Carrara

Vice President of Growth and Analytics, Boll & Branch

RETENTION PANEL: Turning First-Time Buyers into Lifelong Customers

Acquiring a customer is the beginning, not the win. The brands growing most efficiently today are the ones converting first purchases into second, third, and tenth — through better onboarding, smarter lifecycle programs, and loyalty mechanics that actually change behavior. This panel explores what retention looks like in practice: how to identify high-LTV customers early, what keeps people coming back, and where most brands are leaving money on the table after the first sale.

‍

Samuel Sternberg

Chief Growth Officer, Jomashop

Rethinking Reach: Media Mix and Customer Realignment

The channels that drove growth three years ago aren't the channels driving it today. Paid social costs have risen, search behavior is shifting with AI, and brands are being forced to rethink where and how they reach customers — and which customers are actually worth reaching. This panel examines how leading brands are rebalancing their media mix in real time: where budgets are moving, how customer segmentation is evolving, and what a sustainable acquisition strategy looks like when the old playbook no longer applies.

‍

Cody Plofker

CMO, Jones Road Beauty

The AI Experimentation Stack: Don't Guess at Your Growth

No brand wants to guess at growth. The problem has never been a lack of testing tools or ambition. It's bandwidth. In this fireside chat, Drew Marconi sits down with Cody Plofker to break down how he built a high-output experimentation practice, using AI to do the heavy lifting. Cody shares exactly how he's wired together Intelligems, Claude, and a handful of connected tools into a system that ideates faster, ships tests without waiting on a developer, and reports in real time. If you want to discover and validate your growth paths with AI, this session is for you.

‍

Jacqs Carroll

Director, Digital, Reebok | GUESS | Lucky Brand

CRO PANEL: Moving at the Speed of AI‍

AI has collapsed the time it takes to generate hypotheses, build variants, and analyze results — but faster testing isn't the same as better testing. This panel brings together conversion leaders who are navigating what it actually means to run a rigorous CRO program when the pace of experimentation has fundamentally changed: which decisions still require human judgment, where AI is creating noise as much as signal, and how to build a testing culture that scales without losing discipline.

‍

Mike Jacobs

Chief Growth Officer, Jonathan Adler | Draper James | Outdoor Voices

CRO PANEL: Moving at the Speed of AI

AI has collapsed the time it takes to generate hypotheses, build variants, and analyze results — but faster testing isn't the same as better testing. This panel brings together conversion leaders who are navigating what it actually means to run a rigorous CRO program when the pace of experimentation has fundamentally changed: which decisions still require human judgment, where AI is creating noise as much as signal, and how to build a testing culture that scales without losing discipline.

‍

Danny Hershey

Growth Marketing, Shinesty

Turning Klaviyo Segments into Streaming TV Performance | Vibe.co x Klaviyo ‍

CPMs keep climbing and everyone's retargeting the same 3% of shoppers. More performance marketers are turning to streaming TV for real growth.Vibe.co and Klaviyo work together in the same stack. This session gets into exactly how. A Klaviyo growth expert grills Vibe.co's Rachel McGovern and Shinesty's Head of Growth, Danny Hershey, on how Shinesty synced segments like cart abandoners, VIPs, and lapsed customers straight into premium CTV inventory. No managed service, no black-box reporting, no minimums. Campaigns launch in 24 hours, on channels people actually watch.

Suzie Waller

Sr. Director, Growth Marketing, Peloton

RETENTION PANEL: Turning First-Time Buyers into Lifelong Customers‍

Acquiring a customer is the beginning, not the win. The brands growing most efficiently today are the ones converting first purchases into second, third, and tenth — through better onboarding, smarter lifecycle programs, and loyalty mechanics that actually change behavior. This panel explores what retention looks like in practice: how to identify high-LTV customers early, what keeps people coming back, and where most brands are leaving money on the table after the first sale.

‍

Harry Roth

Director, eCommerce, CRO & Customer Journeys, AS Beauty Group

AI PANEL: Agentic Commerce at Scale - From Pilot to Infrastructure
‍

‍Twelve months ago, agentic commerce was a talking point. Today, AI agents are completing purchases, comparing SKUs, and bypassing brand websites entirely — and the brands that treated it as an experiment are already behind. In this panel, leaders who've moved from pilot to production share what agentic commerce actually looks like inside their organisations: how they've restructured data, what it's done to their conversion economics, and the decisions they're having to make about pricing, brand visibility, and channel strategy as the buying journey moves off their own platforms. Leave with a clear picture of what 'agent-ready' means for a brand like yours as we get closer to BFCM 2026.

‍

Mike McGee

Director, Stores & Operations, Mugsy

 From Strategy to Store Floor: What Radical Alignment Actually Looks Like

The first question was whether AI could unlock growth. Mugsy answered it. Now comes the harder one: can that intelligence reach every corner of the business?Join Chris Happ and Mugsy's Director of Stores & Inventory, Mike McGee, for the next chapter — how BAIO's aligned intelligence moved from the boardroom to the buy floor, turning inventory decisions into a direct expression of company strategy. This is Radical Alignment in practice: where intent and execution are locked together so tightly that your stores, your stock, and your margins all pull in the same direction.

George Kelly

E-com, Retail Marketing Director, Vintage Tub & Bath

An AI Agent Took Over My Google Ads Campaigns. Here's What Happened Next

What happens when you give AI full control of your ad budgets? George Kelly, Director of eCommerce at Vintage Tub & Bath, a DTC retailer of home fixtures, did exactly that. Facing ambitious growth goals with a small team, he gave a MAI agent full control to plan, optimize, and scale his Google Ads campaigns for maximum profitability. Rocket ship or bumpy ride? George shares the real results, surprises, and lessons. Hosted by Mark McMaster, Head of Partnerships at MAI and former eCommerce leader at Google and Snapchat.

‍

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MEET YOUR
SPEAKERS

GROW Speakers have been there, done that. During main stage talks, panels & interactive workshops, you’ll hear from senior executives & operators from:

Cartoon blue microphone with a happy face and arms raised in excitement.

Michelle Carrara

Vice President of Growth and Analytics, Boll & Branch
Show Profile

RETENTION PANEL: Turning First-Time Buyers into Lifelong Customers

Acquiring a customer is the beginning, not the win. The brands growing most efficiently today are the ones converting first purchases into second, third, and tenth — through better onboarding, smarter lifecycle programs, and loyalty mechanics that actually change behavior. This panel explores what retention looks like in practice: how to identify high-LTV customers early, what keeps people coming back, and where most brands are leaving money on the table after the first sale.

‍

Samuel Sternberg

Chief Growth Officer, Jomashop
Show Profile

Rethinking Reach: Media Mix and Customer Realignment

The channels that drove growth three years ago aren't the channels driving it today. Paid social costs have risen, search behavior is shifting with AI, and brands are being forced to rethink where and how they reach customers — and which customers are actually worth reaching. This panel examines how leading brands are rebalancing their media mix in real time: where budgets are moving, how customer segmentation is evolving, and what a sustainable acquisition strategy looks like when the old playbook no longer applies.

‍

Cody Plofker

CMO, Jones Road Beauty
Show Profile

The AI Experimentation Stack: Don't Guess at Your Growth

No brand wants to guess at growth. The problem has never been a lack of testing tools or ambition. It's bandwidth. In this fireside chat, Drew Marconi sits down with Cody Plofker to break down how he built a high-output experimentation practice, using AI to do the heavy lifting. Cody shares exactly how he's wired together Intelligems, Claude, and a handful of connected tools into a system that ideates faster, ships tests without waiting on a developer, and reports in real time. If you want to discover and validate your growth paths with AI, this session is for you.

‍

Jacqs Carroll

Director, Digital, Reebok | GUESS | Lucky Brand
Show Profile

CRO PANEL: Moving at the Speed of AI‍

AI has collapsed the time it takes to generate hypotheses, build variants, and analyze results — but faster testing isn't the same as better testing. This panel brings together conversion leaders who are navigating what it actually means to run a rigorous CRO program when the pace of experimentation has fundamentally changed: which decisions still require human judgment, where AI is creating noise as much as signal, and how to build a testing culture that scales without losing discipline.

‍

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GROW is built different to other conferences; speaker expertise is unmatched, and attendees are deeply committed to learning.
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GROW feels less like a conference and more like a catalyst. The energy, the people, the ideas—it all pushes you to think bigger and move faster.
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You can feel the difference at GROW—this isn’t just another industry event. The speakers bring unparalleled depth, and every attendee is there to genuinely level up.
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The energy at GROW is different. You walk in and instantly feel part of something bigger, smarter, and faster-moving.
Lululemon Athletica logo.
GROW is built different to other conferences; speaker expertise is unmatched, and attendees are deeply committed to learning.
Black and white close-up portrait of a bald man with a beard wearing glasses and a dark shirt against a light background.
Word 'pressed' in lowercase white font on a transparent background.
GROW feels less like a conference and more like a catalyst. The energy, the people, the ideas—it all pushes you to think bigger and move faster.
Smiling man with short hair and glasses standing in front of a large abstract black and white wall art.
Stylized text logo reading 'MeUndies' in a white font.
You can feel the difference at GROW—this isn’t just another industry event. The speakers bring unparalleled depth, and every attendee is there to genuinely level up.
Black and white portrait of a smiling woman with long dark hair against a dark background.
Glossier brand logo in white text.
The energy at GROW is different. You walk in and instantly feel part of something bigger, smarter, and faster-moving.
Lululemon Athletica logo.
GROW is built different to other conferences; speaker expertise is unmatched, and attendees are deeply committed to learning.
Black and white close-up portrait of a bald man with a beard wearing glasses and a dark shirt against a light background.
Word 'pressed' in lowercase white font on a transparent background.
GROW feels less like a conference and more like a catalyst. The energy, the people, the ideas—it all pushes you to think bigger and move faster.
Smiling man with short hair and glasses standing in front of a large abstract black and white wall art.
Stylized text logo reading 'MeUndies' in a white font.
You can feel the difference at GROW—this isn’t just another industry event. The speakers bring unparalleled depth, and every attendee is there to genuinely level up.
Black and white portrait of a smiling woman with long dark hair against a dark background.
Glossier brand logo in white text.
The energy at GROW is different. You walk in and instantly feel part of something bigger, smarter, and faster-moving.
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