The World Retail Congress, organised by Retail Week’s parent company Emap, has been postponed due to the chaos to air travel caused by the volcano eruption in Iceland.

The event was due to take place in Berlin from Wednesday to Friday this week. The decision follows discussion with speakers, delegates and sponsors over the weekend. The event will go ahead in Berlin in October, and full details of the new date will be communicated later today.

The text of the formal announcement of the cancellation follows:

World Retail Congress 2010 Postponed

Following the unprecedented disruption to international travel as a result of the volcanic eruption, we have been in close consultation with our speakers, partners and many delegates over the last few days.  With much of European airspace closed so many speakers and delegates faced huge difficulties reaching Berlin in time for the scheduled event,  we have taken the decision to postpone the 2010 World Retail Congress. We now plan to reschedule the event with the same programme at the same venue in Berlin in October 2010. We will confirm the full details to you in the next few days.

Your delegate place from this week’s event will of course be extended to the new date.

We apologise greatly for the inconvenience and the disappointment this causes but hope you understand the exceptional circumstances that have made this decision inevitable. We look forward to seeing you in the autumn for what we are sure will be an outstanding event.