The Beauty and Wellness Exchange: Get your products into retail

Following the success of our past Exchange events, The Beauty and Wellness Exchange returns with a new event designed to help product-based businesses navigate the retail journey, delivered in partnership with NatWest and Google.

From understanding what retailers look for and preparing your business for retail, to developing your pitch and learning how to build lasting retail relationships, the day will be packed with practical advice, expert insights and opportunities to connect with other ambitious beauty and wellness brands.

Why attend The Beauty and Wellness Exchange

• Learn what retailers look for when considering new products and brands
• Hear from successful founders who have grown their businesses through retail
• Discover how to prepare your business for retail and scale your production
• Learn how to create a strong retail pitch that gets your proposition across clearly
• Get practical advice on using Gemini to create your retail pitch deck
• Learn what happens after your first retail order and how to build lasting relationships
• Meet other beauty and wellness founders and share experiences
• Showcase your products and take part in live retail pitches if selected

Pitch your products live on-stage

As part of The Beauty and Wellness Exchange, there will be a brilliant opportunity to pitch your products live on-stage to a Selfridges buyer and retail experts. If you are interested in participating, complete this form.

This opportunity is only available for businesses that have already secured a ticket.

Product showcase

Bring a product from your business and have it featured in our product showcase.

Every attending business will have the opportunity to showcase one product or sample, giving you a chance to put your brand in front of fellow founders, industry experts and event guests, and create opportunities for new connections.

Please bring only one product or sample per business.

The Beauty and Wellness Exchange Agenda

09.30 am: Registration, coffee and networking

10.00 am: Welcome to The Beauty and Wellness Exchange

10:05 am: Founder masterclass: How I got my product into retail

Hear from Elsie Rutterford, seasoned entrepreneur and co-founder of BYBI Beauty on how to get a product into retail from identifying the right opportunity and securing the first meeting through to pitching, handling rejection and winning their first retail order.

10:50 am: From small-scale production to manufacturing

Alison Metcalfe, retail stock and inventory management consultant will explain how to move from producing at a small scale to manufacturing at the volume required by retailers.

This practical session will cover when to consider manufacturing, how to find and assess manufacturers, minimum order quantities, production costs, quality control and lead times.

You'll also learn how to manage the transition without taking on more stock or financial risk than your business can handle.

11:40 am: Lunch and networking

Take a break, meet other founders and connect over lunch.

12:30 pm: Create your retail pitch deck in Gemini

Hear from Anne-Sophie Martin-Kukah, founder of Ascents Group how to create a concise, buyer-focused pitch deck that clearly communicates your product proposition, commercial information and retail readiness.

13:25 pm: Inside the retail journey – from pitch to purchase order

Hear from our panel of succesful founders on how to approch retailers, prepare for a buyer meeting, respond to feedback and move a retail conversation forward. Speakers include:

• Rose Ovensehi, founder of Flora & Curl
   
• Adrian Boswell, seasoned buyer at Selfridges

2:10 pm: Live retail pitches

Selected businesses will have the opportunity to pitch their products live and receive questions and feedback from:

• Adrian Boswell, seasoned buyer at Selfridges
   
• Leisa Pickles, retail expert and founder at Find me the leads

Each business will have three minutes to pitch, followed by around two minutes for questions and feedback.

2:50 pm: Staying on the shelf: How to build a retail relationship that lasts

Getting your first retail order is only the beginning. Hear from Eoin Keenan, Founder of Goodrays about what it takes to sustain and grow a retail relationship, from establishing a reliable reorder rhythm and navigating commercial conversations to planning for seasonal demand and building a relationship that lasts.

3:35 pm: Product showcase and networking

Continue the conversation with fellow founders, industry experts and event guests while showcasing products from selected businesses.

4:15 pm: Event ends

This event is ideal for product-based wellness brands including fashion, beauty, food and drink, self-care and fitness.

This event is in partnership with NatWest and Google.

A partnership to power UK business growth

The Beauty and Wellness Exchange is part of Enterprise Nation’s partnership with NatWest, which brings together the Enterprise Nation community and NatWest Accelerator to connect entrepreneurs with a wider range of practical support as they start and grow their businesses.

NatWest Accelerator has 17 physical hubs across the UK, providing co-working space, networking opportunities and tailored business support for ambitious founders.

Cancellation policy

For a full refund, cancellations must be made at least 48 hours prior to the event.

Please note that if you are unable to attend due to cancellation by yourself or Enterprise Nation, we are unable to refund any associated costs such as hotel or travel.