New daily breakfast briefings. Held between 8am-9am at The Bridge restaurant within ExCeL, retailers can tuck into a complimentary breakfast and learn about that day’s highlights while the BLE team will be on hand to answer questions and queries.

New Retail Trends Lounge: Retailers will have exclusive access to the lounge to hold meetings, catch up with colleagues or just take a breather and enjoy free refreshments. The Retail Trends Lounge will feature a brand-new theatre with content designed specifically and solely for retailers.

New Trends Programme: Featuring five sessions over three days delivered by four of BLE’s partners – Trend Bible, IMRG, GfK and The Insights People – the programme ties into themes and activations at BLE 2019.

Tuesday, October 1, 11am to 11.45am and Wednesday, October 2, 3.15pm to 4pm: Why Trends Matter for Licensing. A panel session featuring speakers Joanna Feeley, founder & CEO, and Lauren Zayya, senior trend strategist, Trend Bible

Tuesday, October 1, 2pm to 3pm: The Future of Retail: The impact of eCommerce and tech on the high street, featuring Andy Mulcahy, strategy and insight director, IMRG

Wednesday, October 2, 1.30pm to 2.40pm: SVOD and its impact on consumer behaviour featuring Sam Tuck, associate director.

Thursday, October 3, 10.45am to 11.15am: Social Shopping and the rise of In Experience Purchase with Nick Richardson, CEO, The Insights People

Of this year’s educational programme, IMRG’s Andy Mulcahy commented: “I’m excited to be showcasing the unique insight IMRG provides and talking to retailers about how to identify when buzz and hype evolve into genuine customer demand, easy-win improvements to a website that aren’t dependent on expensive new technologies and how to know which new tech to invest in.”

On top of this, visitors will find a raft of new initiatives, including exclusive group tours, in which retailers are invited to join a group tour of BLE’s new Gaming and eSports Activation led by co-creator PowerStation Studios, a VIP Matchmaking Service that helps retailers get in front of leading brands, and a Retail Mentoring Programme in which 68 buyers from 21 retailers are taking part. New delegates for 2019 include Moonpig, Amazon, Next and Cool Clobber.