In today’s preview of our annual conference, Internet Retailing 2012 (IR 2012), to be held in London on October 9, we take a look at our conference agenda. Stream two focuses on Connection, and how retailers can manage the data that informs their businesses.
In today’s fast-moving retail environment, customers expect to connect with retailers across a variety of touchpoints. From the customer’s point of view such interactions are, at their best, intuitive and seamless. But from the back-end, forging connections between store, call centre, online and mobile sales channel, at home and abroad, is much more complex. Different ways of approaching this task come under examination in Stream Two of the seventh annual Internet Retailing Conference (IR 2012).
Chairman Ray Fowler, of Mvideo.ru, introduces the stream at 11.20am, where Mark Cody, senior marketing manager, mobile, at Tesco.com, is the opening speaker. In his presentation Leveraging mobile in today’s always on shopping environment, Cody will explain how mobile is fast becoming a crucial link across the Tesco business, as a tool that underpins the supermarket’s relationships with its customers, and more.
At 11.50am, Andrew Korczynski, of Silverpop will examine the role that email marketing can take in connecting a retail universe in which mobile, social and local are now key players. In Beyond the opt-in: Email list growth in a mobile, social and local world, Korczynski will investigate a variety of ways that marketers can expand their database, while designing their email communications to develop new kinds of interaction with their customers.
Alan Hall, managing director of SCI is the final speaker in the morning’s session, at 12.20pm. Getting personal to reduce cart abandonment and enhance the customer experience is an account of how a large retailer is using IBM’s Marketing Solution to deliver relevant and personalised emails.
After lunch the stream resumes with a panel discussion. Speakers Kamlesh Raichura, global head of ecommerce at Premier Farnell, Richard Longhurst, co-founder of Lovehoney and Andrew McClelland, chief operations and policy officer at IMRG will debate effective international expansion, from dealing with new cultures to translation an overseas operations. The audience will be able to learn from their experience while asking questions of their own in Balancing local engagement with a global experience across borders, which starts at 2pm.
At 3.45pm, Prafur Morar, vice president, retail sector at WorldPay, will ask if 2012 will see A milestone in mobile? UK consumers remain at the forefront of mobile commerce, but Morar will consider how retailers can most effectively use the channel to give the best service and user experience, right up to and including a frictionless checkout.
Our final speaker in this stream is Paul Francis, head of commerce systems at Domino’s Pizza, who will share the way that the pizza business has shaped a variety of touchpoints around the mobile channel to communicate with customers at any time and in any place. His presentation, Leading the connections in a mobile retail world, starts at 4.15pm.
The stream ends at 4.45pm with a final session of questions from the audience, and closes at 5pm.
Alongside the conference stream, there are also eight free-to-enter workshops, featuring leading suppliers to the industry who take an in-depth look at subjects from mobile payments to personalised merchandising and the story of Nelly.com’s fast growth. A packed exhibition hall will feature the latest technology and ecommerce developments from some 45 leading suppliers in the field.
Internet Retailing 2012 will be held at the Novotel in Hammersmith on October 9. Registrations for the event open at 8am, and the day’s programme starts at 9am with the keynote speakers. Click here for more information and to register.
