Looking Back at Pulse eCommerce Summit 25'

Wednesday 9th April and Thursday 10th April marked one of the eCommerce industries most iconic annual events: the Pulse eCommerce Summit hosted by the team at Vervaunt. We had a fantastic time to say the least, from listening to insightful talks and hosting our own SEO panel, to diving into retention and loyalty at our sponsored roundtable, and networking over drinks mixers.

This year, we were proud to be Agency Sponsors and, if you were lucky enough to attend, you may have noticed our branding across the venue:

As Official Agency Sponsors, we also had the opportunity to participate in various fridge events taking place throughout the week including the fitness class, official pre-event drinks mixer, VIP cocktail reception, roundtable and SEO panel hosted by our Delivery Director, Daniel. 

Of course, we couldn’t not share some of the top insights from our SEO Panel or Roundtable. Take a look below if you missed them!

SEO in 2025 for Brands - What Does Good Practice Look Like for Mid-Market Brands

Day one's focus was on SEO in 2025 for brands, breaking down what good practice looks like for mid-market brands. Dan was joined by SEO experts from Dunelm, Samsung and YuMove, who discussed how brands should be approaching SEO in 2025, what ‘good’ looks like in terms of content strategy, on-site optimisation and reporting, and how AI will influence organic search in years to come. 

Top takeaways from the discussion included:

• Strong technical foundations, high-quality content and relevance to user intent are still what drives SEO performance
• Even though AI-generated overviews have started to shift how users interact with search results, we’re yet to see the full impact
• There is a growing need to optimise content for different stages of the customer journey, not just for transactional queries
• DTC brands are increasingly losing key branded search real estate to affiliates and stockists, highlighting the importance of identifying the right strategy
• SEO should be viewed as a long-term investment, not a quick win
• Brands need to focus on delivering long-term value to customers through creating evergreen, high-quality content
• There is a rising need to better align paid and organic strategies to reduce siloing and achieve a better ROI

Roundtable: Loyalty & Customer Retention

During day two of the event, Dan and CRM Manager, Amelia, participated in a co-sponsored roundtable alongside some of the team at Limesharp, and included insights such as:

• Brands are increasingly moving away from using discounting as the primary level for driving repeat purchases
• The focus is shifting toward value-driven retention strategies such as improved customer service and personalised experiences
• Key retention metrics to track include repeat purchase rate, existing customer spend YoY, volume of tier climbers in loyalty scheme, app downloads, and frequency
• Brands that sell through wholesalers are facing the ongoing challenge of completing on price and convenience
• Building a strong DTC value proposition is key to encourage direct purchases and protect margins and ensure strong profitability
• Brands are overlooking the cost of running a loyalty scheme when measuring overall performance
• Building brand communities provides a platform for customers to share experiences and foster greater loyalty outside of transactions 
• Brands should consider suppressing products by size, availability and category affinities to improve relevance

Day 1 & 2 Key Insights

Further key insights included:

Global & Regional Market Insights

• The UK and US are expected to see strong YOY growth in 2025. Focus on APAC for growth opportunities, but international expansion is challenging
• Regional Preferences:
• • France: Click-and-collect is a major trend, especially express and same-day services
  • Germany: High return rates but exchanges work well. There's a preference for local store returns
  • UK: Large store footprints provide an advantage in visibility, especially in omni-channel offerings

Loyalty & Community Building

• Moving away from discounting as a loyalty driver. Building communities through shared experiences, feedback surveys, and clienteling can be more sustainable
• Re-acquisition strategies are vital for bringing back disengaged customers
• Rewarding non-high spenders in loyalty schemes creates better data and more consistent engagement

Operational Efficiency & Customer Experience

• High-quality customer service is crucial for retention. Post-purchase experience, including exchanges and easy returns, is key
• Invest in returns platforms to reduce friction and increase retention. Returns should be seen as an opportunity for actionable feedback
• Simplify order and returns processes, especially internationally, to reduce friction in the customer experience

E-commerce Innovations

• Testing AI in areas like product descriptions and merchandising can save time and increase efficiency, especially in categories that are hard to manually manage
• Offering care guides and educational content helps improve both initial sales and customer retention. This is important for both pre- and post-purchase stages

E-commerce Challenges & Solutions

• Offering “back in stock” notifications and featuring products that are “coming soon” can create anticipation and demand
• The resale market can sometimes limit access to popular products, making fairness and transparency in availability crucial
• Be proactive in notifying payment partners (e.g., PayPal, Klarna) of sales events to avoid fraudulent activity flags
• Rising returns fraud is a challenge; developing strong fraud prevention measures and leveraging the returns process for actionable feedback can help