The annual event returns in the 3rd quarter of 2024. In the meantime, we will challenge the created community, and everyone who wants to join, to a series of actions that will take place until the big event.
See how the 2023 edition went
What is the Porto Retail Forum?
This is the first edition of Porto Retail Forum - an annual meeting aimed to mark national and international agenda for the retail sector, while bringing together local traders, international entrepreneurs, sectoral associations, public policy agents and consumers.
Forum offers two days of immersive, comprehensive, and stimulating experience around the current challenges of consumer experience in proximity commerce. The programme includes presentations of national and international best practices, talks with leaders in the transformation of retail models, teamwork, and guided tours to Porto's retail stores.
Participants will leave Forum with a vision for the future of physical and online commerce, awareness of consumption trends, established contacts with other cities and entrepreneurs and a renewed ambition to develop their businesses and commerce in cities.
Porto Retail Forum is organised by the Municipality of Porto.
All activities are free of charge and require prior registration.
Consumption Experience in proximity commerce
Proximity Commerce - their shops, their services, and their people - are the faces of the streets of a city. Today, planning an economically and socially dynamic and attractive public space is very much about stimulating sustainability and the quality of the commercial ecosystem.
This Forum first edition theme is the consumption experience, placing the consumer at the centre of the debate on retail development policies.
Municipal Policies to Boost Commerce in Porto
Porto is recognised for the warmth with which it welcomes and shares its know-how in the diversity of shops that make up its local commerce. And it is this character that also forges Porto's unique identity.
There are more than 6500 retail and service establishments in the city of Porto, where a dynamic of long tradition coexists with daily renovation. Four out of 10 establishments are over 100 years old and 2 out of 10 have been in business for less than 5 years.
Program – 2023 Edition
Porto Retail Forum 2023 Theme: consumption experience.
November 22, 2023
09h00 – 09h30 Welcome
09h30 – 10h00 Official opening
10h00 – 10h40 Good (inter)national practices
Moderator: Catarina Portas
10h00 – 10h20 #1 The role of proximity commerce for proximity urbanism
Francesc Povedano, Trade, Catering and Markets Coordinator, Barcelona City Council
10h20 – 10h40 #2 Local commerce on global platforms
Mónica Soares, consultant and partner at MCF Consulting
10h40 – 11h00 Coffee break
11h00 – 12h30 Best (inter)national practices
Moderator: Catarina Portas
11h00 – 11h20 #3 Consumption Experience Digitalization
Manuel Heredia Perez, Director General of Trade and Consumption of the Regional Government of Galicia
11h20 – 12h30 Debate open to the public
12h30 – 12h50 Closing session
14h30 – 15h10 Visit to Chocolataria Ecuador guided by two children: Lucas and Gabriel
15h15 – 15h55 Visit to Fermoura Hardware shop guided by illustrator Ana Aragão
16h00 – 16h45 Guided tour of Araujo & Sobrinho by writer Minês Castanheira
November 23, 2023
14h30 – 14h45 Welcome
14h45 – 15h00 Official opening
15h00 – 16h00 Conversations between the doers and the thinkers of commerce
Moderator: Pedro Araújo
15h00 – 15h30 #1 Welcoming in the digital world
Mané Pupo, CEO&Founder Rosa Malva
Carlos Coelho, President of Ivity Brand Corp.
15h30 – 16h00 #2 Empowering to welcome
Rafael Tonon, gastronomic journalist
Ana Mestre, Director of the Porto School of Commerce
16h00 – 16h30 Coffee break
16h30 – 17h00 Conversations between the doers and the thinkers of commerce
Moderator: Pedro Araújo
16h30 – 17h00 #3 Welcome as a brand
Francisco Brito Passos, Manager of A Regaleira
Carlos Brito, Professor at the Faculty of Economics of Porto
17h00 – 18h00 Thematic Workshops
#1 Welcoming in the digital world
#2 Empowering to welcome
#3 Welcome as a business brand
#4 Welcome as a city brand
18h00 – 18h30 Workshop conclusions
Presentation of promotional videos for the guided tours of the shops
Institutional closing
