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Hanabi spent two days at the pulse eCommerce Summit, an incredible event organised by the Vervaunt team. It's great to be part of this eCommerce community and events like these provide an opportunity to catch up with friends and making new connections. Here's our key takeaways from the event and a deep dive into our favourite talks.

Brands are investing heavily in engagement and internationalisation strategies, with 61% focusing on increasing engagement and 27% on international expansion

Loyalty programs are evolving beyond traditional points systems, with focus on digital integration and personalised experiences

Technical resilience during high-traffic events requires decoupled systems, thorough testing, and close monitoring of third-party providers

International expansion challenges are being addressed through partnerships with services like 

Sustainability is becoming foundational rather than a feature, with companies innovating in materials science, packaging and better inventory management

Community engagement and transparency through behind-the-scenes content drives significant growth

Capital allocation and profitable growth are essential, with companies focusing on strategic investments in brand development

Business scaling brings new complexities, particularly when approaching $100M revenue

Leadership transition involves moving from hands-on work to effective delegation and team development

There were so many great talks, but here are some thoughts from my favourite talks:

Tech Stacks for Hype Drops and Flash Sales

Shaun Baker, Chris Bishop, Tom Clements discuss Tech Stacks for Hype Drops and Flash Sales with Luke Hodgson from Commerce Thinking

 led an insightful panel on Tech Stacks for Hype Drops and Flash Sales with leaders from Oh Polly, Nobody's Child and Seraphine.

 reminded the room that peak seasons such as BFCM and hype drops also affect suppliers and fulfilment. Introducing balloting features brings more complexity with registration, communicating time slots and having the data to show which ballots have been the most effective. Shaun also stressed the importance of having failure alerts and an ironclad rollback process for when things go wrong.

 spoke about the brand being famous for its high celebrity moments, which are often unplanned, such as Holly Willoughby wearing their product onscreen. There also needs to be a balance with driving innovation.

 spoke about the key differences being intensity, going from 0-100 compared with a planned moment like BFCM. Sharing a story from his time at Palace Skateboards and a collaboration with Ralph Lauren when Ralph Lauren’s website was unavailable for three days, he went on to say that a non-negotiable should be to decouple systems as much as possible and not rely on legacy systems like an ERP that could grind everything to a halt.

Tom also spoke about the importance of keeping an eye on suppliers and payment providers, informing them of your intentions with these drops and turn off payment providers like IDEAL that can cause overselling in these moments due to the sales taking longer to complete.

The Future of Commerce: Emerging Trends, Technologies & the State of AI

Liam Quinn and Barrett Ahern from Vervaunt on stage, discussing AI and Model Context Protocol

 from Vervaunt provided an overview of AI maturation, sharing results from a survey of Vervaunt’s customers (who are primarily in the premium fashion space) that showed only 1/3rd of their customers are doing anything with AI and it’s mostly limited to ChatGPT.

Liam and Barrett also shared examples of how brands are using AI; CurrentBody and Represent using tools like Airtable, Seraphine partnering with Emfas for content translation and H&M using human models for initial photos and then using GenAI to create different poses.

The impact of brand visibility/discoverability due to LLMs (Large Language models) has also been a hot topic, with focus on potential negative impact on SEO work. Attention is now turning to GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), with brands starting to track their presence and traffic directly from LLMs using tools like AthenaHQ.

Agentic AI (an autonomous agent that can perform tasks on its own, without needing constant human input) is likely to be the big thing over the next 12 months, bringing operational efficiencies in QA and UX testing, Competitor analysis and low level data entry.

Coupled with Agentic AI, Model Context Protocol (MCP) provides a framework for AI Models to have contextual understanding of your data, including: products, customers and sales patterns. Shopify have released their MCP to interact with Shopify APIs.

To summarise, AI should be implemented from the top down in an organisation and having a strategic view at the leadership level will really help brands to stand out over those brands whose use of AI is limited to the people who are lower down in the organisation structure.

Growth, Leadership & Scaling Success in Modern-Day eCommerce

Bethan Rainford from Vervaunt on stage with leaders from TALA, Rough Trade, VIEVE & French Bedroom

Morgan spoke about being a Customer-first brand and gave insight on her day-to-day schedule (which can be quite isolating as a CEO) of managing the board and the other investors who are not on the board. The importance of reviewing agreements with investors to be clear on what their approvals are, how many meetings they want to have and diarising reporting. On the subject of AI, Morgan said that TALA feels like a company that doesn’t need to be an early adopter.

Lawrence spoke about setting the right incentives and internal structure for retail. KPIs that are a focus: Stock turn, Margin (because Rough trade operates on razor thin margins) and cashflow – Rough Trade is a bootstrapped, high-growth business with sensible investors.

Emma spoke about operating in the very competitive Beauty space and finding a positioning that separated Vieve from others. Acquisition is the single biggest focus for the brand, followed by Customer retention, Loyalty and building a Community. Vieve shares customers with retailers like Space.NK to be mutually beneficial. Emma spoke about managing stakeholder priorities and working with their founder who didn’t want to be the CEO of the company and navigating that relationship between founder and CEO is critical to making the business work.

Holly spoke about the unsustainable pace of AI in the space that French Bedroom operates in and a reminder in the value of using Gen Z, that they are our future workforce – they are not lazy, they just work in a different way. Holly also spoke about the importance of self awareness, to stop wasting energy on things that aren’t true – even if your mind is telling you otherwise.

Louis Tinsley from ThruDark on stage

. Though I wasn't familiar with the brand beforehand, Louis immediately captured everyone's attention. He introduced himself as a man of few words—which resonated deeply with me — and proceeded to make each one count. His compelling presentation covered his military background, ThruDark's authentic brand identity (which has some exceptional photography & video content), and their powerful mantra: "Endeavour Through Adversity" — a message for everyone who faces hardship in their lives.

Later, I had the fortunate chance to sit next to Louis and express how much his talk meant to me.

Stefan Lewis (L) and Paul Spencer (R) from Represent on stage

 closed Day Two as the headline act, with CEO 

 sharing the brand's growth story. This was an incredibly insightful, honest and open retrospective of how the brand got to where it is right now and their aim to be a $1bn business.

Paul and Stefan spoke about building a brand with Family and having a Foundation of trust and safety where people can be brave is at the heart of what Represent is about. Paul also talked about the importance of honesty with business partners, how wholesale partners have been intrinsically linked with Represent’s growth and that EBITDA is not currently where they would like it to be but they are currently investing heavily in the brand and that will pay back in 3-4 years. Stefan spoke about how loyalty is playing a key part in their retention strategy with 390k of their 1.7m customer base currently signed up for the loyalty programme.

Events like these provide such a great opportunity to meet and hear from people at all levels of a company, offering insight and perspectives that is so much more rewarding to hear in person than through a podcast or an article. What the Vervaunt team have created with this event is something that feels genuine and authentic. This was only my second year attending but I’m looking forward to 2026!

The event also gave me the chance to see comedian Maisie Adam on stage. I’ve loved seeing her on the A League of Their Own Road Trips, and enjoyed seeing her in person – even though I got a bit roasted as “Neil the Web Developer” and unfortunately being described as the next Elon Musk. Taking my chance to leave following Maisie’s set – I got heckled by comedian Zoe Lyons who shouted “Neil, where are you going? - you can’t leave, you’re the oldest person here!” 🤣

Pulse eCommerce Summit 2025

Tired of agencies that overpromise and underdeliver? Hanabi takes a different approach — offering hands-on consultancy and fractional CTO support for brands navigating digital growth, re-platforming, and system integration. Let's talk!

There’s a pattern I’ve seen time and again with traditional agencies: leading with polish, but follow-through and accountability don’t always keep up.

That’s one of the key reasons I built Hanabi. 💥

I’ve worked on both sides of the table, agency and in-house, leading platform migrations, loyalty programme launches, and full-stack e-commerce builds. At Absolute Collagen, I helped steer the tech strategy as the business scaled, dramatically increasing their revenue. Before that, Cloud Nine brought me in directly to help them select and manage a new agency, after I’d spent years building their global web presence.

So when I say Hanabi works differently, it’s because I’ve seen what happens when things go right… and when they don’t.

When I’m brought into a project, as a fractional CTO or consultant, you’re not being passed down an employee chain. You’re working directly with me. And if I bring others in, it’s because I trust them to deliver with the same attention to detail I would.

Hanabi isn’t built for high-volume or vanity metrics. It’s for teams who need clarity, strategic direction, and someone who understands both the technical detail and the business case behind it.

If you’re facing technical challenges that are slowing growth, let’s talk.

Hanabi offers hands-on consultancy and fractional CTO support for brands navigating digital growth, re-platforming, or system integration. If this is something you’re looking for, connect with me. I’m happy to help. 👋

Digital Consultancy & Fractional CTO Support That Delivers

Over 20+ years, I’ve been lucky to work across a mix of businesses, from household names to early-stage startups and hyper-growth SMEs. I set up Hanabi to take a different approach, one with more clarity. It's allowed me to work directly with clients I believe in.

I think it’s time I reintroduce myself, to share more about the work I do but also how I approach it and what I’ve learned along the way. I’m passionate about E-commerce, technology strategy, systems architecture and integration, customer and user experience, brand and design; this is the space I live in. And I want to use this platform to open up some of those conversations.

A bit about me: I started out in web development, first in the NHS, then into agencies, working with brands like Mars Drinks, Virgin, Cloud Nine and Visit Lincoln. Over 20+ years, I’ve been lucky to work across a mix of businesses, from household names to early-stage startups and hyper-growth SMEs. Along the way, I have worked with some exceptional leaders, but I have also seen the impact of poor leadership firsthand, which has helped shape who I am as a leader. These days, I run teams with a belief that people do their best work when they’re trusted to.

I set up Hanabi to take a different approach, one with more clarity. It's allowed me to work directly with clients I believe in; businesses like Gardening for Kids, who came out of the pandemic with a great idea and needed the right technical setup and growth marketing to scale it. Helping companies like that become a thriving business is where I get the most satisfaction.

Most recently, I was at Absolute Collagen, where I led the tech side as they grew from £20m to £30m+ in revenue. I worked on everything from technology strategy to scaling internationally, their loyalty programme to rebuilding their cancellation flow, and built a strong team along the way.

Now I’m back to focusing on Hanabi, working with founders and teams who want someone they can rely on to get things done.

I’m using LinkedIn to share what I’ve learned: the wins and the missteps. If you're interested in digital transformation and data-led decision-making or just want to avoid common pitfalls in scaling tech, I hope you’ll find some value here.

And if we haven’t connected yet, feel free to say “Na then” or hello. 😄

Reintroducing Myself: A Fresh Approach to Tech, E-Commerce & Leadership

We are thrilled to announce our newest partnership with the UK’s leading and award-winning collagen supplement provider, Absolute Collagen.

Absolute Collagen appoints Hanabi

 is on a mission to empower customers - aka Absoluters - to feel their absolute best, using products where collagen is the hero ingredient, starting with the UK’s most concentrated collagen supplement in a handy, ready to take 10ml sachet.

Started by the founder and CEO Maxine Laceby, Absolute Collagen is endorsed by professional dermatologists and trichologists. In 2019 the business was awarded one of the most acclaimed beauty awards in the industry, Best New Beauty Supplement – Mass & Prestige at the CEW Awards.

Hanabi will be working with Absolute Collagen through our 

, working as an extension of their team – providing eCommerce consulting, supporting internationalisation, supporting and leading technical integrations with Shopify Plus & focussing on UX and technology for growth and scale.

Our comprehensive approach alongside our creativity and technical expertise makes us a valuable partner and not just another digital agency. We are solely dedicated to creating a long-term positive impact for our clients.

Neil Bradley, Hanabi’s Director, and Founder, says:

“We’re extremely excited to be associated and working with Absolute Collagen. The business is growing rapidly and has a loyal subscriber following with their audience of Absoluters. Hanabi has been working with Absolute Collagen for the past three months and we feel that the culture and values of the brand closely align with our own, which is why we are excited to continue working with Absolute Collagen."

Lauren Reilly, Absolute Collagen's Head of E-Commerce, adds:

"Hanabi provides true expertise with highly specialised strategic counsel. The knowledge and insight provided is invaluable to our business going forwards as we continue to expand and scale. We’re very excited about the journey ahead!"

Absolute Collagen appoints Hanabi as their eCommerce Consulting Agency

Hanabi is a strategic digital agency, helping clients not just build websites, but create brands.

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