International Manufacturers & Distributors Forum

Registration and Coffee

09:45 2nd March, 2025

The road to success: Hear from brand owners and distributors on how to overcome obstacles to building a solid business

The opportunity to interact with brand owners and distributors who have successfully grown profitable businesses ● What are the key steps to building a brand and the pitfalls to avoid? ● What were the elements of running your own business that you completely underestimated? ● If you were starting from scratch today what would you do differently?

10:30 2nd March, 2025

The options for producing your brand: Taking production in house or using contract and own-label suppliers. The challenges and routes to control your success

Hear from both brands and manufacturing experts on how to start your own brand and when or if you should bring production in-house ● Contract manufacturing: the pros and cons of outsourcing ● When to bring production in-house? ● Product development: Where to start with formulation and sourcing?

11:30 2nd March, 2025

Break, networking and visit to Professional Beauty London Exhibition

12:30 2nd March, 2025

Define your market, define your price: Price your products for long term success

Adopt a pricing strategy that allows your brand to grow, to expand overseas or move into a multi-channel distribution model. Get the price right for the long term? ● What goes into building the right pricing model across various sales channels? ● Is your pricing model resolute enough for the e-commerce world? ● How do you price for exports? ● When pricing goes wrong: examples of how the wrong pricing strategy can damage a business’s growth plans and future

14:30 2nd March, 2025

Choosing your distributor: Partnering with the brand that’s right for you. How do you build a successful relationship and how do you avoid a messy divorce

Building a brand distributor partnership that works for both sides for the long term ● What are the key ingredients to building a successful brand distributor partnership? And what does success really mean? ○ the brand point of view ○ the distributor point of view ● Who invests for success? ● What happens when your brand or distributor partner doesn’t share your vision?

15:30 2nd March, 2025

Close

16:30 2nd March, 2025

World Spa and Wellness Awards Dinner

The Brewery, City of London 19:30 2nd March, 2025

Registration and Coffee

09:45 3rd March, 2025

Wholesalers: Where should they fit-in with your distribution strategy. How to partner with the best?

Meet our panel of leading wholesalers ● How to get the most out of the relationship: How should brands engage with wholesalers? ● What are wholesalers expectations from brand owners? ● Is it realistic to expect wholesalers to grow your brand? ● How wholesalers can help salons and brands run their businesses better

10:30 3rd March, 2025

Money: Raising finance and positing your business for a sale

Meet our panel of financiers and entrepreneurs who successfully sold their business ● What are financiers looking for? ● The various options in raising capital ● How to position your business for a possible sale ● Hear from those who’ve sold their business and what they would do differently

11:20 3rd March, 2025

Break, networking and visit to Professional Beauty London Exhibition

12:10 3rd March, 2025

Going global: When should you plan to launch into new territories, and should you even do it

● What are the key things you need in place to start expanding overseas? ● Where to go first? Identifying the right growth markets for your business ● Finding the right partner for your growth plans: where to look and what should they bring to the table? ● Where exporting goes wrong: Identifying the common mistakes when brands decide to go overseas

14:00 3rd March, 2025

How do professional brands successfully execute a multi-channel strategy?

How do you maximise online and retail without alienating your professional customer? ● Meet on-line and brick-and-mortar retailers and hear what they’re looking for ● How do you adopt a multi-channel strategy without damaging your brand positioning or upsetting your professional customer? ● What is the role of the distributor partner in a multi-channel strategy? ● To what extent can digital help your salon customer?

14:50 3rd March, 2025

All you can ask: Summary of the two days from the conference chairman

15:40 3rd March, 2025

Close

16:00 3rd March, 2025