Overview and themes for 2027

One festival day. Four stages. The senior, cross-sector room for the people who decide what AI is worth — not just what it can do.

Download the 2027 event brochure

Welcome

The event for people who decide what AI is worth. Not just what it can do.

CommerceAI is where commercial and technology leaders from different sectors — retail, travel, hospitality, leisure, media, entertainment and finance — gather to work out which AI initiatives are worth building, buying or backing. Each sector has different strengths, but all compete for a share of the same customer spend. Each has lessons for the others.

The result is one festival day across four stages. Think of it as the key to a senior, cross-sector room your sales team otherwise can't access.

800+Senior commercial & tech leaders in the room

73%Director level or above across the network

100%Core packages sold out at CommerceAI Summit 2026

What the festival is

Retail, travel, hospitality, finance and media. One AI conversation.

CommerceAI 2027 takes place at the new London Olympia ICC on 12 May — one day, four stages, and a curated cross-sector room of senior commercial and technology leaders.

150Pioneer room, June 2026

800+Senior professionals, May 2027

12Months for the conversation to move from early-adopter curiosity to board-level priority

The theme for 2027

Uneven AI

Not "more AI", but four different speeds running inside the same organisation at once.

01Off-the-shelf, pioneeringFast benefit, but real disruption in rollout — and in reconciling incompatible tools across teams.

02Specialist, built for usSlower and harder, but where the real competitive advantage now lives.

03AI in the enterpriseThe move to scale: deterministic, reliable systems a business can run on.

04Social contextRegulation, security and sovereignty are front and centre.

What is CommerceAI

AI stopped being a side project in 2026. Most leaders still don't know how to respond.

UK business use of AI nearly tripled in under two years, from 12% to 35%. But adoption is shallow: the average business uses only 1.4 to 1.6 AI technologies, and most of what's live today is borrowed, not built.

53.6%Of enterprises using AI rely on free tools — and only 5.9% have built anything in-house

70%Of leaders expect AI to fundamentally change their business model within five years

10%Think their business is ready for that today

55% / 35%Report using AI personally, versus formal business adoption

The CommerceAI Festival exists to close that gap with evidence, not hype.

The programme

Four content tracks, each answering the biggest questions commercial leaders are asking in 2027

The AI-Empowered Customer

What is our customer already doing with AI, and how do we respond to behaviour we don't control?

CMO · CCO · Director of Ecommerce · Head of Digital · Head of Search & Performance · Head of Brand · Head of Marketplaces

The AI-Empowered Enterprise

What should we build ourselves, and where does owning the experience actually pay?

CPO · CTO · CIO · Director of Product · Head of Personalisation & CRM · Head of Digital Experience · Head of Data Science

AI-Powered Operations

Where in our operation does AI make money: pricing, inventory, supply chain?

COO · CSCO · Director of Operations · Head of Pricing & Trading · Head of Merchandising · Head of Logistics · Head of Process Automation

The AI-Transformed Enterprise

Does AI change our business model, and what does the board need to decide now?

CEO · CAIO · CSO · COO · CDO · Head of AI / Digital Transformation · VP / Director of Innovation

The same five vectors run through every theatre, so the themes carry across the day instead of resetting each time a delegate changes rooms.

DataOwnership, access, monetisation.

GovernanceProcurement, internal controls, code and security.

SovereigntyCompany control and jurisdiction over where AI runs and whose rules apply.

Learning & skillsReadiness at individual, team and board level.

DifferentiationWhat can't be commoditised or easily copied.

Why it's different

Built around the buyer, not the vendor

AI events are everywhere now, and most are organised around who's presenting, not who's deciding. CommerceAI is built the other way round — around the commercial leader who has to make the call.

01Built on CustomerX's cross-sector networkRetail, travel, hospitality, finance and media all compete for the same discretionary spend yet rarely share insights. We put experts from different sectors in one room to learn from AI adoption elsewhere — and from how AI-driven companies compete across every sector.

02Organised by business function, not tech hypeFour theatres — External, Capability, Experience and Strategic AI — map to what a customer or marketing team, an operation, a product team and a boardroom actually need to decide.

03Senior by designThe room is curated for people who decide, not people who attend. Across the network, 73% sit at Director level or above, concentrated in companies with real AI budget to deploy.

04Built to leave with something realOur new Agent Academy and Digital Sherpa strand mean delegates build, or watch something built live, using real data. They leave with a blueprint, not a slide deck.

05Proven, not speculativeCommerceAI Summit 2026 sold out two months before the event opened.

What happens on the day

Beyond the main stage: how delegates engage

1:1 MeetingsPre-qualified, double opt-in meetings with experts in every aspect of commercial AI.

Innovation ZoneA dedicated space to meet start-ups genuinely pushing new ground in commerce AI. Innovation partners apply — just eight spots available.

Learning LabsDemo and craft sessions on the show floor, each with a one-page brief — what you'll see, key takeaways — in the event app.

Agent Academy / Digital SherpaNew for 2027, and the most direct answer to the "uneven AI" theme. Two lanes: Agent Academy, a 30-minute drop-in where delegates launch a working AI agent from a pre-wired template using live MCP-connected data, repeated through the day; and Digital Sherpa, the slow lane, where senior delegates watch a practitioner build.

Who's in the room

800+ senior professionals, across every sector

Two numbers matter here, and they aren't the same thing. 800+ professionals will be in the room on 12 May 2027; 100,000+ is the combined reach of the newsletters and channels CommerceAI can promote your involvement into, before and after the event.

800+Expected in the room on 12 May 2027

100k+Reach through CommerceAI, CustomerX, RetailX and Internet Retailing channels

73%Hold Senior Management, Director, VP or C-suite roles

77%Based in the UK & Ireland

By industryRetail & DTC brands 52% · Leisure, travel & hospitality 22% · Media & entertainment 11% · Agencies 8% · Finance 7%

By job function / senioritySenior Management 24% · Head of / Director 24% · VP / SVP 19% · Manager 17% · C-suite 5%

Job titles in the roomA sample of real attendees from CommerceAI Summit 2026: Global Head of Digital Analytics and Optimisation, Fossil · Director of Marketing, Blackcircles.com · Head of Performance Marketing, Diageo · Head of Commercial Brand Programmes, Dr. Martens · Marketing & DTC Director, Bacardi · Global Director, eBay · CDO, Ghost Fashion & Finery London · Digital Strategy and Transformation Lead, Mars Petcare · Data & AI Director, Mars Snacking · Performance Marketing Lead, Oliver Bonas · VP of International Technology, Papa Johns · Global Commerce Business Director, Publicis · Chief Product & Data Officer, Roman Originals · Head of AI Projects, Tesco · Senior Manager, Global Ecommerce, The LEGO Group · Head of eCommerce EMEA, TOMS · Associate Director AI, Tripadvisor · Chief Technology Officer, Back Market

The proof

CommerceAI Summit 2026 sold out every core sponsorship package two months before the doors opened

Here's what partners and attendees had to say.

"I've been really impressed with the event. One of the things that's really struck me is that people are here to learn, to network, to discuss."
Tim YoungCMO, Vespa.ai

"At a lot of these events you find yourself sitting and listening to talk after talk after talk. This has been really engaging — it's given us a great chance to talk to people in other industries and other businesses, and understand whether they're facing the same problems and finding the same solutions as we are. That interaction with a community beyond our sector is hugely beneficial."
Stephen DewarDirector of Marketing, Blackcircles

"The event is a great mix of panel discussions and round tables. We've had some great conversations and the chance to do some good networking and share ideas with other professionals. We'll definitely be coming back next year."
Ben LiddellGeneral Manager UK, Imagino

"Loved this format! Been really impressed with the number of people who are very willing to share."
Dawn BakerChief Technology Officer, Back Market

The opportunity

Who should sponsor

One AI budget line, several events asking for it. If your buyer is a senior commercial or technology leader deciding what AI to build, buy or back next — across any sector, not just retail — they are in this room.

01AI, ML & data platformsBuyers are working out "build or buy" live, on stage and in the Agent Academy / Digital Sherpa strand.

02Personalisation, CX & martechEvery brand here is competing for the same discretionary spend your platform helps them win.

03Retail & commerce mediaThis audience is already primed for the conversation — they own the customer relationship.

04Cloud, infrastructure, security & governanceSovereignty and governance are named themes in every theatre. This is a board-level audience asking who controls their AI stack.

05Systems integrators & consultanciesTrusted-advisor positioning in front of the people who will fund a 2027 AI transformation programme.

06Payments & commerce platformsPricing, inventory and commercial optimisation are the proven weak spots in AI adoption today — the whitespace is the pitch.

07Agencies, analysts & researchOwn the narrative before the room does.

08Early-stage / start-up vendorsYou need the room but not the enterprise price tag.

The full brochure sets out all 16 partnership packages — headline, track and panel sponsorship, exhibition stands, 1-2-1 meetings, the report and pre-event dinners — with what's included and what each costs.

PDF download

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