Starting 2025 strong: Wolt’s first Retail Partner Summit highlights

Today, Wolt is much more than a food delivery platform, with 20% of the sales coming from retail. To celebrate this success and set the stage for what’s next, we hosted our first-ever Retail Partner Summit in Helsinki in January 2025. It was a three-day event packed with insightful sessions, cultural experiences, and meaningful connections — all in the spirit of championing retail and our valued partners.

We welcomed 78 key leaders from over 50 enterprise partners across 23 countries to Helsinki. Brands like Spar, Kesko, Carrefour, Unilever, Welbee’s, Kotsovolos, and BIPA joined us, representing eight retail verticals: supermarkets, convenience stores, pet shops, beauty, pharma, electronics, toys & games, and department stores.

Why retail matters to Wolt and our partners

Wolt truly kicked off its retail journey in 2020, and since then we’ve partnered with thousands of non-restaurant businesses, from grocery giants like Carrefour and Spar to local convenience stores, pet shops, pharma, beauty brands, and more. As online shopping becomes second nature to consumers, convenience and choice are more important than ever. And our mission goes beyond delivery: Wolt aims to be a shopping mall in your customers’ pockets. 

With that in mind, we’re doubling down on retail by offering customers more options, faster deliveries, and ultimately greater convenience. We continue to build a suite of tools and logistics services to help our partners grow their businesses. From increasing their customer base to streamlining operations, we’re here to help them focus on what they do best, while we take care of the rest.

Panagiotis Karouzos, VP of New Verticals, summed it up perfectly: “Consumer behavior is changing. People are buying more online — everything from meals to weekly groceries, to electronics and beauty products. By connecting customers to the best stores and restaurants in their neighborhoods with quick, convenient delivery, we are making life simpler for them, while also driving sales and growth for local businesses.”

Highlights from the Wolt Retail Partner Summit 2025

The three-day Retail Partner Summit was a balance of meaningful conversations and memorable moments. So let’s cut to the chase. Curious about what we got up to? 

Here’s a glimpse into the Summit:

Day 1: Finnish traditions

We kicked things off with an evening at Löyly, one of Helsinki’s iconic spots, where our partners enjoyed a delicious dinner and a relaxing Finnish sauna experience. It was the perfect way to break the ice and immerse everyone in local culture.

Day 2: Insights at Wolt HQ

The second day took us to Wolt’s headquarters, where partners got a taste of Finnish work culture: shoes off, comfort on! The day began with a Fireside Chat featuring Miki Kuusi, Founder & CEO of Wolt. Miki reflected on a decade of Wolt’s journey, sharing how platforms like ours are redefining e-commerce and highlighting key milestones and future ambitions.

Other standout sessions included:

• Breaking new ground: Panagiotis Karouzos, VP of New Verticals, shared lessons from our retail expansion journey and what’s next. This part of the business has grown significantly over the last three years, and in 2024 Wolt ranked amongst the top 15 online grocers in Europe. This is only the beginning and there’s much more in store for the upcoming years. 

• Retail partner panel: Leaders from Spar, Welbees, and Kotsovolos discussed their experiences with Wolt, in a panel moderated by Davide Tararbra, Global Head of Key Accounts. These challenges and successes were inspiring to all attending Retailers, who had similar experiences as they gradually make the shift from an offline to an online mindset. 

• Succeeding with Wolt Ads: Catalina Salazar, Global Head of Advertising, demonstrated how partners can leverage Wolt Ads to boost visibility and sales. With 60% of customers clicking on the top positions throughout the app, leveraging Wolt Ads can help merchants of all sizes grow their businesses. Our merchants have reported an average 6x-10x return on ad spend — that’s a huge opportunity to tap into!

• Unilever’s perspective: Sharon Rikkers, Ice Cream Digital Commerce Lead, and Aksel Konfino, e-commerce Director, shared how Unilever taps into quick commerce with platforms like Wolt to stay ahead in the digital age. Typically a retailer takes more than two hours to deliver ice cream to consumers, whereas with Wolt it takes less than two hours. Consumers today want their orders now and they want it fast!

Day 3: Walking the walk at the Wolt Market

The final day was all about getting a hands-on experience of what happens behind the scenes. Partners visited Kesko and the Wolt Market Niittykumpu to witness operational processes, being a part of real-time order preparations to see how it’s truly done on the ground. 

That’s a wrap for the Retail Partner Summit 2025! Want to see the magic for yourself? Check out our highlights video:

What’s next for retail at Wolt

With retail playing a pivotal role in our future, we’ve appointed new leadership to drive our non-restaurant expansion. We mean business.  

Christian Urban, Global Head of Grocery said: “Our grocery business has gone from strength to strength since we started expanding into retail five years ago. Ultimately, we want to become the weekly shopping destination that offers customers a world-class experience, from selection to purchase to delivery.” 

This is only the beginning of Wolt’s retail journey; there’s plenty of ground to cover yet. And none of this would be possible without the incredible partners who join us on this on-and-upward journey.

On that note, we can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store for retail at Wolt. Here’s to another year of growth, innovation, and partnership. See you at the next Summit!