This year marked a decade of Tradebyte’s ECD conference in Munich. Renowned for its focus on digital commerce, big-name speakers and late-night dancefloors, the ECD has become a central fixture in the DTC calendar.
I’d heard plenty from my colleague Jen about the panels, the people and the party, so I was excited to find myself en route to Germany to see what all the fuss was about. Following my inaugural ECD experience, I’m pleased to report I was not disappointed!
The theme for this year’s event was unification, and as the day unfolded, it showed up everywhere – from the main stage to the breakout rooms, the lunchtime buffet to the after-hours festivities.
More than 600 attendees, including brands, marketplaces and partners from across Europe, came together this year, aligning around a shared vision for the future of digital commerce. It’s no longer about working in silos or scaling individually – it’s about coming together.
Tradebyte CEO Matthias Schulte laid out the four pillars defining this new era and how unification will shape e-commerce success in the years ahead.
- Unified business strategies
Brands and marketplaces are no longer running on parallel tracks – they’re increasingly interdependent. Success depends on strong partnerships between stakeholders, and Tradebyte plays a key role in building those bridges. By aligning goals, capabilities and data flows, businesses unlock new scale and shared value.
- Unified commerce
Unified commerce is about cutting through complexity. That means ditching disjointed systems in favour of a model that’s truly connected and works across channels, making it easier to onboard, manage and scale in a way that’s faster, smarter and more sustainable.
But it’s not just a tech issue. To get it right, businesses must define what unified commerce means to them and commit to it. Fragmentation makes way for flow, and clarity beats chaos, always.
- Unified customer experience
Customers don’t care what channel they’re in – whether browsing a brand’s app, purchasing on a marketplace or chatting to a sales advisor in-store, they expect the same frictionless, personalised experience. Unified commerce delivers just that, ensuring consistent messaging, intelligent recommendations with minimal disruption.
Speakers throughout the day highlighted the value and profitability of multi-channel customers and the need to retain them through robust loyalty programmes that work across markets. Seamlessness isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s essential infrastructure.
- Unified community
And finally, the people. ECD is as much about the community as it is the strategy, the platforms or the tech. Conversations happened everywhere, between panels, over prosecco and even in the line for ice cream.
With over 1,037 one-to-one meetings requested (a new record), it was clear that connections made in the in-between moments mattered just as much as the insights shared on stage.
Of course, unification wasn’t limited to just the official agenda. As the day drew into evening, the theme started to show up in other, less conventional ways.
Beneath the discoball, a headspin was attempted on carpet, and the splits also made an impressive appearance. Meanwhile, at dinner, the intended one-portion dessert service became a live testing ground for hybrid innovation. Under my supervision, at least one (possibly three) raspberry brownies became fused with a passionfruit cheesecake, forming what can only be described as a super dessert.
And whilst my buffet strategy may not have been optimised for restraint, it did reinforce a simpler truth: when the right elements come together, even chaotically, something memorable usually happens.
Tradebyte’s ECD 2025 proved that whether in commerce or cake, unification can deliver something greater than the sum of its parts.
