In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter we’re inspired by the theme of the upcoming InternetRetailing Conference as we look to the future of commerce. The theme of the conference is New Horizons, and today we’re delighted to have an interview with one of our keynote speakers, James McClure, UK & Ireland general manager for Airbnb, in which he discusses the development of marketplaces like Airbnb up to now, and how he believes they are likely to evolve in the future.
We’re reporting in a week that a range of leading IRUK Top500 retailers have shared their strategies for a future in which shoppers are moving further online. Thus John Lewis and Waitrose owner the John Lewis Partnership says it will carry on investing in omnichannel, Next explains what parts of its online Directory strategy are having the biggest impact on sales, and Dunelm reports on how multichannel is working for it, as an homewares retailer.
This continuing move towards multichannel retailing is no doubt part of the reason why online sales grew by 18.5% in August, according to the latest official ONS figures. Interestingly, homewares retailers saw particularly fast ecommerce growth last month.
Today’s guest comment comes from Richard Howlett, partner at law firm Selachii LLP, which specialises in areas from bitcoin to smart contracts. He considers how well smart contracts fit the needs on online retailers.
Our webinars
We’ve a number of InternetRetailing webinars coming up. On September 22, we hear from Luca Benini, SVP, GM EMEA at Olapic, to get the bottom line on user-generated content and images. He’ll be talking through key research findings on this kind of content in the webinar. What makes UGC relevant for retail is at 2pm on September 22. Click here to find out more and to register for the free event.
The final webinar of the month brings analysis of mobile commerce with Maria Prados, VP global retail, global ecommerce at Worldpay. The face of mobile shopping: how do age and gender affect mobile adoption? is at 2pm on September 29. Click here for more information and to register for the free event.
In October we’ll hear from Ingenico’s Julian Wallis, country manager for the UK and Ireland. He’ll be identifying what retailers must do to accelerate their international ecommerce growth – and do so profitably. Monetising your international reach: six key steps to find ecommerce success overseas is at 2pm on October 18. Click here to find out more and to register for the free event.
Click to visit the Internet Retailing webinars page to catch up on the latest webinars, which are also available to view again on the IRTV channel.
InternetRetailing Events
The 11th InternetRetailing Conference and second eDelivery Conference take place this October. Information and tickets are now available for the two events here.
