When I organised the first Ecommerce Camp UK in Chester, I was stressed. I will admit that plainly. I did not know what to expect, I had put real money into it, and it felt like an exciting but genuinely uncertain bet.
I did it anyway.
The Gap Nobody Was Filling
What became obvious afterwards is that the UK ecommerce community did not need more online conversation. There was plenty of that. What was missing was a room. A place to share expertise face to face, argue about things properly, and leave with people you would actually call later.
I did not know that when I booked the venue. I found it out by booking the venue.
The Real Signal Was Not Attendance
Founders measure events by headcount. That is the wrong number. Headcount tells you your marketing worked. It tells you nothing about whether the thing itself was any good.
The number that convinced me was retention. The same faces started showing up again, event after event. People who had no obligation to come back, came back. That is the only feedback that cannot be faked, and it is the reason we keep going.
It is also why I keep saying that most ecommerce events feel the same. A stage full of vendors will fill a room once. It will not bring anyone back.
Where It Goes Next
Chester, then Manchester, then Birmingham. The format keeps changing because the community keeps telling us what it actually needs, and we keep listening rather than repeating what worked last time.
If you want the longer version of how this began, I have written about how Ecommerce Camp started from a simple problem, and about why we need more merchant speakers and fewer vendor pitches.
Same energy. Same mission. More connections, more insights, more action. Come and join us at Ecommerce Camp.