Everyone’s gone Twitter-mad at this year’s Retail Week Conference. In fact, the hashtag rwc20 was trending in the UK on Twitter last night, which is phenomenal.

There was plenty to tweet about though. Here are some of my highlights:

  • Philip Green, who was on pugnacious form, taking on a hostile questioner in the audience who questioned whether product was king. Unsurprisingly, Philip was keen to have the last word. Green was fascinating throughout, and it was particularly interesting to hear him talking about how he is exploring the possibility of moving some manufacturing back to the UK.
  • Richard Brasher, Tesco’s new UK chief executive, talking about the impact of the current squeeze on lower income customers. It was a real insight not just into how less well off shoppers are dealing with feeling the pinch, but also the incredible lengths Tesco goes to to get to know its customers. He also highlighted the impact high petrol costs are having - a recurring theme - but also left us on a positive note, that in tough times, people spend more time with their families, and don’t abandon their cherished hopes and dreams.
  • Archie Norman, who I interviewed on stage yesterday afternoon. A really inspirational business masterclass. A lot of people around the conference said his session was the best of the whole two days.
  • Grocers Mark Price and Andy Clarke, of Waitrose and Asda respectively. Both gave impassioned presentations. Price was particularly vehement when describing how Waitrose is aspirational, not posh, while it was fascinating to hear Clarke talking about how smaller stores are the future - something I never thought I’d hear a senior Walmart executive say.
  • And Gerald Ratner, who was here to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the conference - he spoke at the first one in 1991. His frank description of his fall from grace following his infamous prawn sandwich joke was side-splittingly funny. In fact the joke was originally told at that first Retail Week Conference, and went down so well he told it again at the Institute of Directors two weeks later. The rest was history.

It’s not finished yet, and the final afternoon which focuses on the future should be fascinating, with speakers including Martha Lane Fox. It’s been a brilliant two days so far, a really insightful exploration of retailing today with many of the sector’s biggest names here. Now it’s on to the Oracle Retail Week Awards tonight - they should be a bit special too.