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SubscriptionX Executive Brief – Previous Agenda

SubscriptionX Executive Brief
October 8th 2025
CONVENE – 133 HOUNDSDITCH | LONDON
In partnership with

Internet Retailing 37a54c22 6557 4957 Ab5e 6215b5ecd6dc

For Leaders in The DTC Subscriptions Marketplace

REGISTER

Agenda

08.30 – 09.25

Registration

09.25 – 09.30

Chair’s Welcome & Introduction

Speaker

Katie Searles
Katie Searles
Katie Searles
Editor
INTERNETRETAILING

Katie Searles

Editor, INTERNETRETAILING

Katie Searles is Editor of InternetRetailing and DeliveryX and a B2B journalist who has covered topics including the last-mile, urban logistics, zero-emission trends and technology, as well as robotic innovations. Katie also worked as a broadcast journalist for radio stations covering the east coast of Scotland and BBC London. Additionally, she has chaired both in-person and virtual conferences.

09.30 – 10.00

Retention is the New Acquisition

Acquisition at any cost is no longer sustainable. Subscription brands are now focusing on their retention curve as the key driver of sustainable growth and profitability. But there’s no simple fix. Brands need to build a clear understanding of their customer base and identify when and why customers churn in order to develop robust, responsive retention strategies that can enhance loyalty and enable long-term growth and profitability.

Discover how leading subscription brands are looking at key factors including pricing and incentives, personalisation, customer value and engagement to fuel their retention strategy and how they identify at-risk subscribers and deploy proactive, targeted interventions to minimise churn. Explore how to measure and evaluate the impact of retention strategies on churn rates, customer life-time value and profitability, in order to understand what’s really working.

Sponsored by

Speakers

Sam Smith
Sam Smith
Sam Smith
Founder
POT GANG

Sam Smith

Founder, POT GANG

Set up Pot Gang back in 2020, delivering gardening kits across London during lockdown weekends in a rent-a-van. Almost 4 years later, we’ve got gang members in all corners of the UK, delivering 10,000+ of our fruit, veg and herb growing boxes to customers each month.

We do this direct-to-consumer, largely on a subscription basis, and business-to-business, working with corporate wellbeing teams and also children via the public sector.

Our sole aim is to help anyone successfully grow fruit, veg and herbs from home. Our monthly boxes contain absolutely everything beginners need to grow seasonal produce, with step-by-step instruction guides and personal support on WhatsApp. Done in a way that’s the total opposite to what you expect from the gardening industry.

It’s led to us being named The Sunday Times Best Gardening Subscription, being presented to King Charles, plus even collabing with Nike for Air Max Day.

Nick Anderdon
Nick Anderdon
Nick Anderdon
Chief Commercial & Financial Officer
FREDDIE'S FLOWERS

Nick Anderdon

Chief Commercial & Financial Officer, FREDDIE'S FLOWERS

Proven business leader (CCO / CFO / COO) and board member with a highly commercial / growth mindset and diverse functional expertise, having managed multiple departments and teams in the UK and internationally. Experience in scaling and restructuring businesses, as well as successfully marketing to and securing investment from private equity/venture capital partners to fund growth. Highly effective at engaging with and managing multiple stakeholders including shareholders/investors, board, leadership team and wider business.

Stephan Ariesen
Stephan Ariesen
Stephan Ariesen
Director of EMEA
CHARGEBEE

Stephan Ariesen

Director of EMEA, CHARGEBEE

Stephan Ariesen is a seasoned enterprise tech leader with extensive experience in driving growth and innovation. He currently leads the EMEA team at Chargebee, the top provider of revenue management for subscription businesses. Stephan excels in enhancing subscriber retention, helping companies achieve long-term success.

Katherine Lucas
Katherine Lucas
Katherine Lucas
Retention and CRM Lead
ABEL & COLE

Katherine Lucas

Retention and CRM Lead, ABEL & COLE

Katherine Lucas is the CRM & Retention Lead at Abel & Cole, where she heads up strategies to enhance customer loyalty and engagement for the sustainable food delivery service. With 10 years’ experience in marketing and CRM, Katherine leverages data-driven insights to create personalised experiences that drive retention and long-term customer satisfaction.

10.00 – 10.30

Debrief Discussion: One

In-depth practitioner-chaired peer conversations (held under Chatham House Rule) at round tables

10.30 – 10.40

Refreshment Break

10.40 – 11.10

Harnessing Data to Drive Sustainable Growth

As consumer expectations and the subscriptions landscape evolve, it is vital that brands focus their resources on the factors that actually drive customer acquisition and retention, and ultimately enable them to scale sustainably. Regularly collecting and analysing the right data and experimenting and testing new approaches enables brands to gain actionable insights and build their understanding of customer behaviours, emerging trends and key areas for optimisation and improvement.

Join us to explore how leading subscription brands are harnessing the power of data to streamline their proposition, strengthen customer relationships, optimise payments and better predict customer needs and behaviours.

Discover how a data-led strategy drives agility and responsiveness in customer marketing, communications and payments, and allows retailers to react and adapt at speed.

Hear how AI technologies can support more effective data analysis, better insights and more accurately predict future customer behaviours, enabling brands to react accordingly.

Sponsored by

Speakers

Rory Armitage-Burns
Rory Armitage-Burns
Rory Armitage-Burns
Head of Growth
HAIRBURST

Rory Armitage-Burns

Head of Growth, HAIRBURST

Rory Armitage-Burns is an e-comm pro with 10 years of experience in online beauty. As Head of Growth at Hairburst, he brings a data-driven approach to web, CRM, CX and performance marketing. Rory loves finding new ways to engage and connect with buyers and using data to drive real business impact.

Lisa Stevens
Lisa Stevens
Lisa Stevens
Head of Subscriber Engagement and Retention
THE TIMES

Lisa Stevens

Head of Subscriber Engagement and Retention, THE TIMES

Engagement and retention specialist with a broad cross disciplinary background from 13+ years working in media and technology at large multinational brands like BBC, News UK, Seven West Media and early stage tech start-ups covering all things customer and business operations. Passionate about developing performance whether that be as a business coach or finding creative solutions to complex problems and pockets of innovation that drive growth.
Ben Lebus
Ben Lebus
Ben Lebus
Co-Founder & CEO
MOB KITCHEN

Ben Lebus

Co-Founder & CEO, MOB KITCHEN

Ben Lebus is the CEO and founder of Mob. Ben has always been passionate about food and learnt to cook from his father, who ran an Italian restaurant for a number of years. You can regularly find him cooking (and eating) some sort of puttanesca.

Lucy Sharma
Lucy Sharma
Lucy Sharma
Head of Digital Sales, UK&I
ADYEN

Lucy Sharma

Head of Digital Sales, UK&I, ADYEN

Lucy has worked in the payments industry for over 8 years, with a focus on optimising digital and subscription set ups for merchants across a range of industries. Coming from a background in Economics and Finance, she really focuses on ROI and value of spend when merchants are evaluating tech partners such as Adyen, and enjoys digging into customer data to discover potential revenue gains. In her current role she manages the UK Adyen Digital Sales team, and enjoys getting to know potential new partners looking to optimise their payments offering.

11.10 – 11.40

Debrief Discussion: Two

In-depth practitioner-chaired peer conversations (held under Chatham House Rule) at round tables

11.40 – 11.50

Refreshment Break

11.50 – 12.20

Delivering Enhanced Customer Experience to Optimise Lifetime Value

In the current climate, exceptional subscriber experiences are key to growing customer lifetime value and reducing churn. As competition increases, DTC brands are focussing on their value proposition and investing in enhanced customer experiences to build brand loyalty, customer engagement and sustainable growth.

Join the discussion to explore the innovative strategies and practical approaches that brands are using to enhance customer experience at every point in the subscription lifecycle from acquisition to onboarding and even at the point of cancellation.

Discover how to harness data analytics, personalised content and customer feedback to create tailored experiences that foster loyalty and long-term subscriber engagement. Learn how seamless operational execution, a focus on customer support and surprise and delight marketing are key to creating dynamic subscriber experiences which drive retention and increase customer value.

Sponsored by

Speakers

Ebru Bircan
Ebru Bircan
Ebru Bircan
Marketing and Brand Director
PASTA EVANGELISTS

Ebru Bircan

Marketing and Brand Director, PASTA EVANGELISTS

International marketing strategist with 10+ years of experience in Europe and the Middle East. Passionate about brand building and deeply understanding consumer insights, strategic go-to-market plans, digital marketing, media, and customer experience across sales channels.

Chris Forbes
Chris Forbes
Chris Forbes
Co-Founder
THE CHEEKY PANDA

Chris Forbes

Co-Founder, THE CHEEKY PANDA

Co-founder of The Cheeky Panda along with his partner Julie Chen. Cheeky Panda is a Fast Track 100 company, Ranked 13th in the UKs top 100 start-ups the 8 th most recognisable sustainable brand in the UK. Chris is passionate about delivering change for good and has been a public speaker with regular features in press and radio helping share the journey and inspire others to become environmental entrepreneurs.  Passionate about building sustainable 21 st century companies that have purpose over profit but are still commercially viable entities. He has been a mentor to several high growth businesses over the past 5
years.

Orla Weir
Orla Weir
Orla Weir
Head of E-Commerce
DENZELS

Orla Weir

Head of E-Commerce, DENZELS

Orla is a brand and growth marketeer with over 8 years of experience building digitally-native international brands. This includes growing seltzer company Ugly Drinks from birth to a global, award-winning brand and thereafter joining multinational CPG company Reckitt’s incubation and investment hub. Currently, Orla is Head of E-Commerce at the UK’s fastest-growing dog treat brand, Denzel’s.

Maria Shaw
Maria Shaw
Maria Shaw
Head of Card Payment Sales
LLOYDS BANK

Maria Shaw

Head of Card Payment Sales, LLOYDS BANK

Maria has worked in financial services for 24 years in both consumer and corporate roles covering the end to end payment cycle.  She spent 7 years working in SME payments before moving to lead the Corporate Payments business for Lloyds.  Maria is passionate about building relationships with clients and ensuring we are providing them with a proposition which adds value to their business and helps them to provide an even better service to their end consumers.

12.20 – 12.50

Debrief Discussion: Three

In-depth practitioner-chaired peer conversations (held under Chatham House Rule) at round tables

12.50 – 13.00

Chair’s Closing Summary