EHI Connect

EHI Connect is a focused German retail industry event hosted by the EHI Retail Institute, gathering senior retail leadership and the wider German retail technology community for content oriented around the practical realities of running modern retail in German-speaking markets. It sits alongside NRF: Retail's Big Show Europe, Shoptalk Europe and Shoptalk Fall as calendar anchors for the same audiences.

What happens

The programme combines keynote sessions from senior retail and technology leadership with parallel tracks on store technology, e-commerce platforms, omnichannel integration, customer experience and the operational realities of retail in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Case-study sessions feature alongside the main agenda, with German retailers presenting concrete implementation experience rather than abstract trend content. The exhibition floor combines German and international retail technology vendors with a notable concentration of specialists serving the German market.

Who attends

The audience is concentrated in German-speaking retail: senior leadership and operating teams from German, Austrian and Swiss retailers across categories, store-operations and digital leadership, retail technology buyers from chains across the DACH region, and vendor representation from German and international retail technology providers. The geography is heavily DACH with a small but growing international presence.

Dominant themes

The German retail agenda emphasises the practical realities of running retail in the DACH region: the rapidly evolving German e-commerce landscape, the role of marketplaces in German consumer behaviour, omnichannel integration for German retailers operating both physical and digital footprints, the regulatory environment shaped by German and European data-protection frameworks, the labour market realities of running retail across DACH, self-checkout and store technology evolution in the high-trust German retail context, and the increasingly important role of AI in merchandising and customer service. Loyalty programmes adapted to German consumer preferences feature consistently.

Planning to attend

Cologne is well-connected by air and rail and hotel supply is plentiful around the venue. The conference language is German with limited English support for main sessions; international visitors should plan around language considerations. The DACH retail community is unusually tight-knit and the conference is widely attended by senior retail decision-makers across the region. Many international attendees combine the trip with adjacent commercial meetings in Cologne, Düsseldorf or Frankfurt.

Use the expense calculator below to estimate the total cost of attending — registration, flights, hotels, meals, and ground transport.