The Event

Leaders in Logistics: Autumn 2026 London · October 6–7 2026

Leaders in Logistics: Autumn 2026 is a two-day retail logistics conference at the Business Design Centre in London, run by Marketforce Business Media Ltd. The agenda runs from warehousing and fulfilment through delivery, returns and the decarbonisation of heavy freight. Marketforce puts the room at over 800 retail logistics decision-makers, 43% of them director level or above.

Sir Vince Cable of eFREIGHT 2030 opens with a keynote on zero-emission heavy goods vehicles, and logistics leads from IKEA, Holland & Barrett, CEVA Logistics, Royal Mail and Wayfair are among the confirmed speakers. The framing comes from the operators who run the networks, not from the brands shipping on them.

View event site → What this means for EU expansion

The Room

Who's expected at Leaders in Logistics: Autumn 2026

The Business Design Centre fills up with the people who actually run British retail delivery. Carrier and network leads, warehouse operators, returns managers, fleet and sustainability teams, and the automation vendors selling to all of them. Marketforce counts over 800 decision-makers across the two days, 43% at director level or above.

Brand-side ecommerce operators are a minority here, and that shapes what you take away. You will hear how the industry talks about cross-border volume, cost per drop and returns capacity when its customers are not the loudest voices in the room.

Retail logistics directors Last mile and carrier network leads Warehouse and fulfilment operators Returns and reverse logistics managers Fleet and sustainability leads Automation and robotics suppliers

For a growing brand seeking the next step up, is Leaders in Logistics: Autumn 2026 a good fit?

This one leans logistics-industry rather than brand-side, so it works better as a read on how UK delivery operators are framing cross-border fulfilment than as a room for meeting founders at your own stage. If your open question is what European delivery and returns will genuinely cost you to run, two days here will answer it faster than a general ecommerce show. If what you want is peer conversation, the autumn calendar has better venues for that.

Scale

Marketforce puts the Autumn 2026 delegation at over 800 retail logistics decision-makers, with 43% at director level or above. That is the organiser's own figure.

Who sets the tone

Logistics leads from IKEA, Holland & Barrett, CEVA Logistics, Royal Mail and Wayfair are among the confirmed speakers, so the agenda is framed by network operators and large retailers.

Opening keynote

Sir Vince Cable of eFREIGHT 2030 opens on zero-emission heavy goods vehicles, which sets up the sustainability thread running across both days.

Subject range

Warehousing, fulfilment, delivery and returns sit alongside sustainability, AI and automation, workforce reskilling and peak-season preparation.

Programme

What's on at Leaders in Logistics: Autumn 2026

Two days running warehousing and fulfilment alongside delivery, returns, decarbonisation and the workforce questions that come with automation. If Europe is on your roadmap, build your schedule around the cross-border delivery and returns sessions and treat the rest as background.

01 Last mile and delivery networks

The delivery promise is where European expansion most often comes unstuck. Shoppers in Germany and the Netherlands expect next-day domestic, and this track is where the carriers and network operators explain what that costs to deliver at volume. Listen for how they price cross-border movements against domestic ones.

Cross-border delivery promises and what they cost to keep
Building a carrier mix for multi-country retail
Out-of-home and locker network performance

02 Warehousing, fulfilment and automation

Where stock sits determines your tax position as much as your delivery times, which makes warehouse strategy a compliance question too. Sessions here cover automation payback, warehouse design and the AI tooling now being pushed into inventory planning. Useful if you are weighing a single European warehouse against several.

Automation payback for mid-size operations
Warehouse design for multi-market stock
AI in inventory and demand planning

03 Returns and peak season

Returns are the line item US brands most often leave out of their European model, and peak season is when the gap shows. European shoppers return more, and they expect a local address to send goods back to. Expect frank numbers from operators who handle the volume.

Returns economics after the peak
Designing a returns process shoppers will actually use
Peak-season capacity planning

04 Sustainability and the workforce

Emissions reporting and fleet transition are arriving faster in Europe than in most US markets, and they end up inside your cost of delivery. The workforce sessions cover reskilling around automation, which matters if you are hiring or outsourcing a European operation. Sir Vince Cable's opening keynote on zero-emission heavy goods vehicles sets this thread running.

Zero-emission heavy goods vehicles in practice
Reskilling logistics teams around automation
Reporting on delivery emissions

Live Intelligence

What's being said about Leaders in Logistics: Autumn 2026

These are the themes expected to dominate the two days, drawn from the Events Intelligence record of 15 September 2026, and this block will be refreshed as live coverage develops.

Decarbonising heavy freight opens the agenda

EVENTS INTELLIGENCE · SEP 2026

Sir Vince Cable of eFREIGHT 2030 has the opening keynote, on zero-emission heavy goods vehicles. Putting that first, rather than in a side room, says something about where the industry thinks its costs are heading. For a US brand pricing European delivery, fleet transition is a cost line arriving sooner than most planning assumes.

A director-level room, on the organiser's own count

ORGANISER SITE · SEP 2026

Marketforce puts the Autumn 2026 delegation at over 800 retail logistics decision-makers, with 43% at director level or above. Read that as a description of the room's seniority rather than an audited headcount, because it is the organiser's figure.

Operator voices set the framing

EVENTS INTELLIGENCE · SEP 2026

Confirmed speakers include logistics leads from IKEA, Holland & Barrett, CEVA Logistics, Royal Mail and Wayfair. The agenda is written by the people running the networks, which makes this a rare chance to hear how carriers discuss cross-border volume without their brand customers in the room. Go in knowing that and it is genuinely useful.

Returns and peak season share top billing

EVENTS INTELLIGENCE · SEP 2026

Returns, peak-season preparation, AI and automation, and workforce reskilling all sit on the published themes for the two days. Returns economics is the single item US brands most often underestimate when they model European selling, and the numbers quoted here come from the operators handling the volume.

The bigger picture

Solving British delivery does not solve Europe

Two days in London will teach you a great deal about how British retail moves parcels. It will not, on its own, tell you what happens once the parcel crosses the Channel. Since Brexit the UK has run its own customs, VAT (value-added tax) and product compliance regime, separate from the EU's, and the delivery economics on either side of that line are different animals. The promise European shoppers expect is a domestic one, built on stock already sitting inside the market rather than on an air freight lane from the US.

VAT registration is triggered wherever you hold stock, so a British warehouse does not cover you for Germany or the Netherlands.
Customs treatment of low-value goods entering the EU is tightening, which raises the landed cost of shipping order by order from the US.
Packaging registration under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules is done country by country, with Germany and France each needing their own.
European returns need a local address and a local process, because sending goods back across the Atlantic erases the margin on the sale.

Expandly's Global Expansion Pathway (GEP™) sequences those pieces in the order that avoids retrofits, with stock held at our Netherlands warehouse to reach Germany and its neighbours by road within a day or two.

The room in London

Marketforce sizes the Autumn 2026 delegation at over 800 retail logistics decision-makers, with 43% at director level or above. It is a senior industry crowd rather than a brand-side one.

800+ decision-makers

Two regimes, not one

Britain and the EU have operated separate customs, VAT and product compliance systems since Brexit. Selling in the UK does not cover you for Germany or the Netherlands, and the reverse is equally true.

2 separate regimes

One route into Europe

The Global Expansion Pathway (GEP™) puts VAT registration, product and packaging compliance and local fulfilment on a single plan. 2,000+ brands have used Expandly to make that move.

GEP™ one plan, not four vendors

Good to Know

Questions about Leaders in Logistics: Autumn 2026

Who is in the room at Leaders in Logistics: Autumn 2026?

Retail logistics decision-makers, drawn mainly from the delivery and fulfilment industry rather than from brand-side ecommerce teams. Marketforce puts the Autumn 2026 delegation at over 800 people, 43% of them director level or above, with logistics leads from IKEA, Holland & Barrett, CEVA Logistics, Royal Mail and Wayfair among the confirmed speakers.

When and where is Leaders in Logistics: Autumn 2026?

It runs on October 6–7 2026 at the Business Design Centre in London, organised by Marketforce Business Media Ltd. Ticket pricing is not published on the organiser's site.

What does the Autumn 2026 agenda cover?

Warehousing, fulfilment, delivery and returns, alongside sustainability, AI and automation, workforce reskilling and peak-season preparation. Sir Vince Cable of eFREIGHT 2030 opens the conference with a keynote on zero-emission heavy goods vehicles.

How should a US brand handle European fulfilment and delivery?

Hold stock in an EU warehouse so orders ship locally, fast, and at lower cost than shipping each parcel from the US. A central location such as the Netherlands reaches Germany and neighbouring markets within a day or two by road. Returns also need a local address, since cross-border returns are slow and expensive.

How do returns work when selling into Europe?

Returns are a core cost, not an afterthought. European shoppers expect easy returns, and cross-border returns to the US are slow and expensive enough to erode margin. A local returns address and process in-market keeps costs down and meets the expectation, which is why fulfilment and reverse logistics are planned together.

Does selling in the UK cover me for the EU too?

Yes and no. Since Brexit the UK sits outside the EU customs union and VAT (value-added tax) system, so UK registration, customs, and product compliance are separate from the EU. Selling in Britain does not cover you for Germany or the Netherlands, and vice versa. Plan them as two distinct market entries.

Make Your Move

Two days on British delivery. Then what about Europe?

The delivery promise and the returns economics you will hear argued over in London are the same two things that decide whether a European launch pays for itself.

Before you go, we can brief you on what fulfilment, VAT registration and packaging rules actually look like in the first EU market you are eyeing, so you arrive with sharper questions for the carriers in the room. Afterwards, we can turn what you heard into a sequence: registrations in the right order, stock at our Netherlands warehouse, Germany and its neighbours within a day or two by road. If Europe is on the plan for next year, let's have that conversation.