Hi! I'm Elina, Head of Operations at Bïrch. Let me start with a confession: I’m not a fan of conferences. I haven't been to any big ones since Covid. I tend to believe that all useful information can be found online.
As Head of Operations, I'm usually on the back-end of things. However, increasing our offline presence this year became part of Bïrch strategy. So I thought: if we're committing to this, I must immerse myself in what's happening in the brave new world of digital marketing conferences.
That's why I decided to attend the E-Commerce Berlin Expo — the largest professional conference in Europe, with 14 000 participants. My teammates asked me to share my thoughts and observations with them—so I kept a diary. Looking at it afterward, we thought, why not share it on our blog? You might find it interesting if you’re looking for raw conference experience mixed with e-commerce trends and insights.
So here we go.
First impressions: flying from strategy to discovery
Wednesday, 10:09
I’m flying from Barcelona to Berlin after an intense two-day strategy session. One of our main focuses for 2025 is increasing our offline presence, so back in January, I registered for several conferences around Europe. The first one is starting… today. As I was leaving the office at half past ten last night, the last thing our CEO Mike said to me was: “Do you remember the pitch? NEW. FACEBOOK. PIXEL!”
I laughed and headed to the hotel, squeezing in a revitalizing six hours of sleep.
Now, mid-flight, his words don’t seem so funny anymore. Does he expect me to pitch our latest release? I thought I was attending to explore the operational side of digital commerce. Was I going there for the talks? Or something else entirely? Okay, let’s try not to overthink it…
Sessions I’m interested in
Wednesday, 16:27
Going through the agenda, a few sessions spark my curiosity:
- UGC on Steroids: In-House Automation and Scaling at Snocks. Speaker: Edvin Dizdaric, Head of Internationalization and UGC @ Snocks. This caught my attention because automation and content production workflows are within our main product areas. Snocks is smaller compared to other speakers, so their perspective could be particularly relevant for a new product we’re developing for content teams.
- From Data to Decisions: Unlocking the Power of Customer Insights. Speaker: André Pavic, Global Head of Growth Marketing @ waterdrop®. With the possibility of hiring a growth marketer soon, I need to get familiar with the context of that role.
- The New Luxury: Experience — How to Create Meaningful Emotions in a Digital World. Speaker: Jasmin Deniz Karatas, Founder & Gamification Expert @ RAW-R. We value human-first, meaningful communications and events. This session seemed promising for gathering ideas—plus, they seem to be a bold, female-led business, which I always love to hear about.
- From Products to People: Elevating On’s Community Through Testing, Tailoring, and Storytelling. Speakers: Lena Hauck & Ludovic Wolff @ On. Given our strategic focus on community and offline presence, this topic feels relevant.
On the day
Thursday, 08:30
What should I wear? Something comfy since I’m going to be out all day? Or go for a more formal look? Maybe throw on our branded T-shirt? But I don’t want to be selling anything…. I go for my favorite casual dress and comfy boots, ignoring voices in my head suggesting I should look more professional. Hey voices, can I just be myself for once?
Our designer Stas came up with a merch idea tailored for the e-commerce audience:
Let’s see if it resonates.
09:00
This is how Berlin looked like this morning.
10:30
Badge collected, coffee in hand, I’m putting my phone aside and just people watch for a moment. Someone is on stage talking about AI. All the buzz coming from the expo booths merges into ambient white noise.
Sunbeams are drawing geometrical patterns on the floor, striking through the rooftop of an old industrial building. My flat white doesn’t taste great, but I forgive it, given the size of the event.
Sessions takeaways
Snocks’ UGC ads process gave me a new perspective on where our focus on creative and performance teams within marketing could evolve.
Waterdrop®’s dedication to customer feedback made me consider buying their product. They shape it through a considerate, thoughtful, and analytical approach that makes me trust them. I also loved how, at one point, looking at another example of data, Andre said:
“I think the real beauty of this table is…”
Let us all appreciate and embrace the beauty of data tables!
On’s playful, community-driven approach made me think deeper about how we segment customer communications. I also noted some things about their presentation: They give a warm feeling. The way they introduce themselves, exchange smiles, and mention some inside jokes:
“We call our anniversaries onniversaries, we know it’s cheesy, yes, but we like it!”
They address each other as “my friend and colleague”. They use their profiles as an example when explaining customer verticals. They also prepared a game to guess the results of their product experiments and get people to move a bit. I felt like their internal culture shined through this.
Random observations
I’m having lunch. A woman comes to my table. She’s dressed in confedence.
— Do you mind if I join you?
— No, not at all.
— What brings you to the conference?
— E-commerce is one of the main segments of my company. So, I’m here to immerse myself in the context, learn about the new vendors, and see what’s happening. What about you?
— I am an attorney for small business owners. I’m here to learn more about my client’s perspectives.
Wow. Do lawyers come to these events, too? To learn more about the world of their clients? Great job, E-commerce Berlin Expo, making the event accessible and attracting diverse industry specialists!
One booth at the expo boldly stated: “Fire your CRM Manager. Hire Avis, your AI CRM Agent.” I take a picture to share with the team on Slack later. It makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. Have we really started replacing people with AI?
Walking through the expo, I’m noting ideas for merchandising. EBay has set up a candy bar. Amazon is giving away lip balm. There are cupcakes, rubber ducks, coffee in exchange for your email address, and vitamin drinks in mini bottles. Abundance breeds boredom.
Final thoughts: was it worth it?
Friday, 09:00
Looking through my notes from yesterday:
I got a few ideas for different areas of my work: events, strategy, and hiring. The conference agenda and expo suggest that the hottest topics for e-commerce in 2025 are AI, gamification, and data-driven personalization. There are a couple of people on LinkedIn with whom I’d like to stay in touch and new software I’d like to play with.
Don’t get me wrong: I can’t say I’ll be thrilled to attend conferences regularly. Even after nine hours of sleep, I feel a bit drained. But there’s one thing I found that no online experience can replicate: the raw, electric energy of thousands of human beings united by a common interest. And the unexpected ways in which this energy can boost my everyday thinking. It’s the one thing the digital world can’t stream, develop, or recreate yet.
