Cate Trotter: Innovation Trends

Retail futurist and innovation expert helping global brands unlock the future of commerce, customer experience, and technology.

Highlights:
  • Founder & Head of Trends at Insider Trends
  • 15+ years of retail and innovation expertise
  • Named one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Retail by Retail Week
  • Advisor to global brands including Nike, Chanel, Google, Facebook, and Mercedes-Benz

Formats:
  • Keynote speaker (45–60 minutes),
  • workshops,
  • strategy sessions

Audience:

Executives, retail leaders, innovation teams, brand strategists, and future-focused organizations


Outcomes:
  1. Clear understanding of the forces shaping the future of retail and customer experience
  2. Practical strategies to apply emerging trends for competitive advantage
  3. Inspiration to drive innovation, sustainability, and meaningful customer connections
Reviews: (5 reviews)
5/5
  • Travels from: Melbourne, Australia
  • **Fee range: $15,000 - $20,000

Keynote Topics

Cut through media noise to identify the shifts that actually matter. Using structured PESTLE analysis, discover under-reported regulatory changes, demographic surprises and tech developments that will affect your decisions over the next 6-24 months. 

Outcome: Walk away knowing which weak signals are about to become major forces, with clear next actions. 

Ideal audience: Strategy teams, boards and senior executives who need evidence-based foresight, not fortune-telling.

While everyone chases headlines, the real transformation happens slowly then suddenly. Discover the structural shifts and emerging possibilities that could reshape how your industry works over the next 3-5 years – including the scenarios worth planning for today. 

Outcome: Gain clarity about which long-term trends deserve attention now, while they’re still emerging and actionable. 

Ideal audience: C-suite executives and leadership teams planning multi-year transformation strategies.

The best ideas are already in operation somewhere. Discover how leading operators worldwide tackle your exact challenges – stolen brilliantly from unexpected sectors and surprising geographies. 

Outcome: Take home transferable practices from world-class operators, with confidence to adapt what works elsewhere. 

Ideal audience: Operations directors, innovation teams and executives who know that borrowing brilliance beats reinventing wheels.

AI that pays its own way – uses saving money right now 

Forget ChatGPT party tricks. See how smart organisations use AI for both radical efficiency and breakthrough innovation – from eliminating grunt work to discovering impossible solutions. 

Outcome: Identify AI opportunities that deliver value in weeks not years, whether that’s cutting costs or creating entirely new capabilities. 

Ideal audience: Leaders who want AI that transforms the business, not just the buzz.

Most innovation is expensive theatre. Learn the specific techniques that separate costly innovation labs from profit-generating experimentation – with real examples of experiments with impressive results. 

Outcome: Master a disciplined approach to innovation that actually delivers, with tactics for selling it internally. 

Ideal audience: CFOs, COOs and senior leaders who control budgets and need innovation to show returns, not just PowerPoints.

Take a fascinating, unexpected tour through what real people are actually doing online. From TikTok subcultures to YouTube microcommunities to Reddit rebellions, see how digital tribes are creating tomorrow’s expectations today – before they hit your boardroom. Join a live safari into the niches shaping tomorrow’s customers and markets. 

Outcome: Decode the online behaviours and conversations that predict what your customers will demand next. 

Ideal audience: Leadership offsites, marketing teams and anyone who needs to understand where culture is heading, not where it’s been.

Talent Short Bio

Cate Trotter is a globally recognized retail futurist and innovation strategist, known for helping businesses understand what’s next in commerce, customer engagement, and digital transformation. As Founder and Head of Trends at Insider Trends, she has spent over 15 years analyzing the key shifts shaping the future of retail and translating them into actionable strategies.

Cate specializes in future store formats, sustainability, and disruptive technologies, guiding brands on how to create meaningful, customer-focused experiences. She has worked with some of the world’s most influential companies including Chanel, Nike, Google, Mercedes-Benz, Facebook, and Levi’s.

A highly sought-after keynote speaker, she delivers dynamic talks across Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East, blending visionary foresight with practical case studies. Recognized by Retail Week as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Retail, Cate is frequently quoted in Forbes, The Guardian, and The Financial Times.

Her mission is to help businesses stay ahead of disruption, embr

Cate Trotter is a globally recognized retail futurist and innovation expert, known for helping businesses understand what’s next in commerce, customer experience, and technology. As the Founder and Head of Trends at Insider Trends, she has spent more than 15 years tracking, analyzing, and predicting the key shifts shaping the future of retail.

Cate specializes in turning complex trends into actionable strategies. Her insights cover topics such as sustainability, digital transformation, customer engagement, and future store formats. She has advised leading global brands including Chanel, Nike, Facebook, Levi’s, Mercedes-Benz, and Google.

A dynamic keynote speaker, Cate has delivered talks and workshops to audiences across Europe, the US, Asia, and the Middle East. Her style blends big-picture vision with practical case studies, leaving executives inspired and equipped to take action.

Cate Trotter has been named one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Retail by Retail Week and is frequently quoted in media such as Forbes, The Guardian, and The Financial Times.

Whether forecasting the future of the high street or showing how brands can embrace innovation today, Cate Trotter empowers organizations to stay ahead of disruption and create meaningful connections with customers.

Contact us at Speakers Inc and follow us on Twitter

Talent Videos

Cate Trotter – Retail Innovation with Real-World Results, Not Hype

Cate Trotter shares how she helps global brands cut through jargon to focus on retail ideas that actually grow profit and deliver measurable outcomes.

Summary

n this showcase video, Cate Trotter presents her straight-talking approach to retail transformation, honed over 15 years of advising some of the world’s most influential brands including Nike, Unilever, LVMH, TikTok, Levi’s, Meta, Carrefour, and Chanel. She positions herself as a trusted partner for C-suite leaders and teams who want evidence-based strategies, not trend-driven gimmicks.

Cate explains that her insights come from interviewing the people shaping retail, testing new concepts around the world, and analyzing both market data and academic research. This mix of fieldwork and strategic analysis allows her to uncover what genuinely drives margins and profit.

As a speaker, Cate has opened and closed conferences across Europe, Asia, and beyond, addressing audiences of up to 1,500 people. She has been consistently recognized as one of the world’s leading voices in retail innovation. Her sessions are designed to deliver not just inspiration, but clarity—helping leaders and teams know exactly where to focus their energy for maximum impact.

Attendees can expect candid stories from boardrooms and shop floors, inspiring international case studies, and practical frameworks that can be applied directly to next quarter’s strategy. Cate emphasizes her entrepreneurial credibility—having started, scaled, and sold businesses herself—giving her talks both authority and real-world relevance.

She concludes with a call to action, inviting organizations to book keynotes or workshops tailored to their biggest retail challenges, promising clear, actionable insights that avoid jargon and deliver results.

Key Moments

00:00 – 00:15 Opens with her philosophy: big brands need a straight-talking view, not hype.
00:16 – 00:35 Shares 15 years’ experience working with Nike, Unilever, LVMH, TikTok, Levi’s, Meta, Carrefour, and Chanel.
00:36 – 00:55 Explains her methods: interviews, global testing of concepts, market and academic data analysis.
00:56 – 01:15 Highlights entrepreneurial experience—starting, scaling, and selling businesses.
01:16 – 01:40 Speaker credibility: opened and closed conferences worldwide, audiences up to 1,500 people.
01:41 – 02:05 Recognized globally as a retail voice; offers candid stories, inspiring case studies, and practical frameworks.
02:06 – 02:25 Delivers clarity and focus for leaders on where to direct team efforts.
02:26 – 02:45 Closing: invitation to book keynotes or workshops built around retail challenges.

Interest to Book? Send us your enquiry

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Talent FAQ's

A: She speaks on future retail formats, digital transformation, sustainability, innovation, and customer engagement.

A: Yes. While focused on retail and commerce, Cate customizes sessions to align with each organization’s goals.

Talent Resources

Talent resources available for download

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Talent FAQ

A: She speaks on future retail formats, digital transformation, sustainability, innovation, and customer engagement.

A: Yes. While focused on retail and commerce, Cate customizes sessions to align with each organization’s goals.

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