As one of the first confirmed speakers for the Balkan eCommerce Summit 2026, Jesper Toubøl brings a unique blend of engineering expertise, operational leadership, and large-scale sustainability work from his two decades at The LEGO Group.
Jesper Toubøl knows this better than anyone. As Head of R&D Packing & Packaging at The LEGO Group, he leads one of the industry’s largest transitions to sustainable packaging, a transformation that affects every box, every automated line, and every unboxing moment in millions of homes worldwide.
But the real challenge isn’t simply replacing plastic with paper. The real challenge is doing it without compromising production speed, delivery quality, or the magic customers feel when they open the box. And this is where engineering meets trust.
After 20 years at The LEGO Group – from product development for DUPLO, City, Technic, and Star Wars, to building engineering centers across three continents – Jesper is coming to Balkan eCommerce Summit 2026 to share something few leaders can: the real operational experience behind sustainability, automation, and building trust in the digital age.
This is a conversation about how the best brands turn principles into systems, promises into operations, and customers into community.
Why are you coming to Balkan eCommerce Summit 2026, and what do you expect from the event?
I’m joining the Balkan eCommerce Summit because this region is experiencing impressive momentum in digital commerce, logistics innovation, and customer experience design. I’m excited to share insights from The LEGO Group’s global operations journey but equally to listen and learn.
I expect to meet ambitious leaders, exchange practical ideas, and build relationships that help all of us raise the bar on trust, sustainability, and operational excellence in eCommerce.
How does The LEGO Group build trust with customers when they move between the physical LEGO world and the online experience?
Trust is built on consistency. Whether a customer walks into a LEGO store, opens a set at home, or interacts with us digitally, they should experience the same quality, safety, creativity, and play promise.
We focus on three things:
- Seamless transitions between physical and digital touchpoints – same product accuracy, same brand tone, same reliability.
- Data-driven personalization that respects privacy but enhances play and shopping.
- Operational transparency, especially around delivery, returns, and sustainability – customers know they can rely on The LEGO Group’s standards.
What were the biggest challenges when The LEGO Group started switching from plastic to sustainable, fiber-based packaging, especially for eCommerce deliveries?
The transition has been one of the largest packaging transformations in the toy industry. Key challenges included:
- Scaling new materials globally without compromising quality, durability, or building experience.
- Ensuring paper survives real eCommerce handling, where drop heights and compression forces are far greater than in retail.
- Re-engineering high-speed automated packing lines for fiber-based materials that behave differently than plastic.
- Balancing sustainability with production efficiency, ensuring The LEGO Group reduces environmental impact while maintaining output and cost levels.
The learning curve was steep, but the progress has been remarkable.
From your experience with highly automated packing lines, what really makes the difference between efficient operations and a great customer experience?
Efficiency gets the product out the door, customer experience ensures the customer comes back.
The real difference lies in:
- Packaging precision: clean seals, correct components, zero damage.
- Adaptive automation: lines that detect anomalies and correct them without slowing output.
- Data visibility: real-time insight into quality, speed loss, micro-stops, and scrap so issues are solved before they reach the customer.
- Emotional detail: even the most automated system must still deliver a product that feels premium when unboxed.
Where do you see the strongest connection between physical products and digital engagement when it comes to building long-term customer loyalty?
The strongest connection is in extending the play experience. When a child (or an adult fan!) opens a LEGO set, digital experiences, apps, instructions, games, storytelling, build on that physical moment and keep engagement alive long after the last brick is clicked.
This blend reinforces loyalty because the customer feels part of a larger, evolving LEGO universe, not just a single transaction.
What is the one key lesson you would most like to share with the Balkan eCommerce Summit audience to help eCommerce brands in the region grow with trust and sustainability in mind?
Sustainability and trust are not “initiatives”, they are operating principles.
If customers sense that your sustainability journey is real, data-backed, and consistent across your supply chain, they reward you with loyalty. And if you design operations with transparency and reliability, you build trust far faster than any marketing campaign.
Start small, move fast, and let your actions speak louder than your claims.
Jesper Toubøl will unpack these topics in depth at Balkan eCommerce Summit 2026, April 28-29, Sofia – where he’ll share concrete lessons from LEGO’s global transformation and how they can be applied by ambitious e-commerce leaders in the region.
His presentation will answer questions that few events address with such honesty:
- How do you implement sustainable practices without sacrificing profitability?
- How do you automate operations without losing the human touch?
- How do you build trust that survives in both physical and digital worlds?
If you believe that your business’s next competitive advantage isn’t in cheaper advertising, but in stronger operations and deeper trust – this is the conversation you cannot afford to miss.
Sustainability and trust are not initiatives. They are operating principles.
And Jesper Toubøl will show you how to turn them into reality.
Secure your ticket at balkanecommerce.com and come meet Jesper in person, together with a constellation of eCommerce stars.