DrinkX spoke at the first Connected Retail Forum 2025 — a new flagship event for Russian retail
On October 16–17, 2025, the communication platform Retail TECH Net held its first large-scale Connected Retail Forum — a new flagship event for leaders of the retail market. The forum became a turning point in rethinking the former divide between "online" and "offline": Connected Retail is now a unified development logic spanning omnichannel, phygital approaches, and new formats for engaging the consumer.
The organizers emphasize: Connected Retail is the new name for omni. The market today is differentiating rapidly: traditional stores are being transformed into customer-experience hubs, marketplaces are becoming infrastructure for millions of shoppers, and digital services and artificial intelligence are shaping new customer journeys. That is why industry events must unite both worlds — physical and digital — into a single intelligent environment.
Key topics at Connected Retail Forum 2025
The forum brought together leading speakers and practitioners across the key areas of retail transformation. Among the main topics:
The program included 4 parallel business tracks, an exhibition of technology solutions, the "New Shelf" showcase, and closed-door sessions with global experts.
In total, the event was attended by more than 2,500 participants: CEOs and CEO-1s, heads of retail, e-commerce, marketing, loyalty, operations, and digital divisions of Russia's largest retailers.
DrinkX's participation: a talk on the future of coffee service in retail
DrinkX took part in the forum and presented a talk titled "Coffee service in retail: challenges, opportunities, and scaling strategies".
During the presentation, we examined in detail:
1. The main challenges facing retail chains
2. Solutions based on automation
We showed how modern modular systems allow retailers to build coffee service on the principle of "minimal operational losses":
3. Presenting DrinkX as a next-generation technology
We presented DrinkX — a universal station for automated beverage preparation — already being tested by Russia's largest retail chains.
Our solution drew strong interest from forum participants: discussions covered integrations with retail IT systems and the potential for deployment in "convenience store" formats, at gas stations, in QSR, and in express retail. Industry leaders asked questions about the economics, servicing, scalability, and the prospects for using coffee concentrates.
Why this topic became important for Connected Retail
Coffee service is today becoming one of the key tools for growing retail revenue:
DrinkX became an example of how AI, automation, and new ingredient models are creating a new standard of customer experience.
Connected Retail Forum 2025 was an important event for the entire industry, and DrinkX's participation confirmed our role as an expert in automated beverages and intelligent coffee solutions for retail.
We will continue to share our hands-on experience, explore new formats, and help retail chains build an efficient, scalable, and profitable coffee service.
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