Merchant and the Machine
Senior e-commerce leaders from fashion, beauty, and luxury brands share how AI is changing daily work and customer experience.
When
5:30 – 9:30 PM
Where
Milan
Spazio Pio XI
Co-hosts
About the event
AI is reshaping brand discovery, operations and customer experience — but most of what gets said about it is either hype or theory.
Merchant and the Machine is an evening for senior e-commerce decision-makers at Italian fashion, beauty and luxury brands who want the version practitioners actually live: what’s been tried, what worked, what didn’t.
What we’ll talk about:
- What’s the water you’ve stopped seeing? Alessandro Desantis opens the evening with a short, honest talk about attention as the scarcest resource an operator has, and how to start spending it on purpose.
- Does AI look different from the founder’s chair than from the digital desk? Vera Drossopulo Bogdano and Lucrezia Sbaraglia of Manebí compare notes on expectations, opportunities and friction, seen from two vantage points inside the same company.
- What is AI actually doing inside e-commerce today, beyond the pitch? Marco Benasedo (Boggi Milano), Ambra Danesin (Nexticc) and Federico Rebeschini (EssilorLuxottica) trade concrete examples for takeaways you can use Monday morning.
Then aperitivo, networking and a live show cooking in Spazio Pio XI’s professional kitchen.
Attending brands
Speakers
Alessandro Desantis
Partner
Vera Drossopulo Bogdano
CEO & Founder
Lucrezia Sbaraglia
Head of Digital
Marco Benasedo
Chief Information Officer
Ambra Danesin
CTO
Federico Rebeschini
SEO/GEO Lead
Agenda
17:30
Arrival & registration
Doors open, names get checked, and a drink finds your hand before anyone asks you about your AI roadmap.
18:00–18:20
What the Hell Is Water?
Commerce has never moved faster: more tools, more vendors, more dashboards, more AI, and somehow less certainty that any of it points at the right thing. This is the question the evening opens on. What’s the water you’ve stopped seeing, and what changes the moment you look straight at it? A short, honest talk about attention as the scarcest resource an operator has, and how to start spending it on purpose.
Speaker
- Alessandro Desantis
18:20–18:45
Mind the Gap: When AI Ambition Meets Everyday Work
Vera Drossopulo Bogdano, CEO and founder of Manebí, and Lucrezia Sbaraglia, Head of Digital, share what AI is really changing inside the company, each from their own seat — the one who decides where to invest, and the one who uses it every day to make the numbers work. No theory, just concrete projects already in production, from customer segmentation to SEO, from translations to site accessibility.
Guests
- Vera Drossopulo Bogdano
- Lucrezia Sbaraglia
18:45–19:30
And Yet It Moves: AI Inside Large Organizations
Boggi and Luxottica, two structured enterprise companies, aren't just discussing AI; they're already using it. Neither had structured AI training despite their size. They learned in the field, by trial and error, putting into production what worked and dropping what didn't. Joining them is Ambra Danesin, a consultant who sees from the outside, every day, where Italian companies are truly ready and where they aren't. They share what has shipped, what gets measured, and what still needs fixing.
Panelists
- Marco Benasedo
- Federico Rebeschini
- Ambra Danesin
19:30–21:30
Aperitivo, networking & show cooking
The program's done, the kitchen is on. Grab a glass, argue about everything you just heard, and let the evening run long. The most honest conversations usually start once the mics are off.
Venue
Spazio Pio XI
Spazio Pio XI is a bright event space on the first floor of a twentieth-century building in central Milan, beside the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana and a short walk from the Duomo. Its flexible rooms, audiovisual setup, and professional kitchen suit both talks and the drinks that follow.
