Ahead of InternetRetailing Expo (2018) and sister event eDelivery Expo we’re running a series of conference tracks previews and looking ahead to the event. Today, the focus is on the Marketplaces & B2B.
With some 41% of all consumer visits to retail sites currently going to Amazon and eBay , not to mention there are more than 400 marketplaces operating across Europe, all retailers should very much be looking at marketplaces as part of their omnichannel strategy.
In fact, marketplaces allow any retailer, of any size to become omnichannel, but for big players, they are increasingly an essential route to market, both domestically and internationally.
For customers, marketplaces are an ideal way to shop. Marketplaces bring all the goods supplied by competing retailers together in one place that is easy to search, easy to price compare, easy to customise delivery and all under a brand name that people trust.
This year, a whole day will be devoted to key growth areas for ecommerce with a conference track under a theme of Marketplaces & B2B.
Speakers will be sharing their insights with delegates to help them understand how to drive and sustain real international growth through a successful marketplace strategy and how they can expand their businesses through creating their own marketplace. Delegates will hear from leading retailers who will look at how a B2B company can successfully transform itself into a digital business, what b2b can learn from B2B eommerce and how B2C organisations can drive sales through an effective customer-centric strategy.
The conference follows an opening plenary address from Sach Kukadia, co-founder and chief commercial officer at SecretSales. Kukadia’s presentation, Understanding the SecretSales journey and why creating our own marketplace is the next chapter for our growth, is at 9:30 am on March 22.
Mandeep Singh, co-founder and chief executive officer at Trouva will then consider some practical approaches to evaluating which marketplaces will be the best for retailers’ businesses, with his presentation Understanding how SMEs can drive and sustain real international growth through a successful marketplace strategy. In this session, he will ’teach’ retailers on how to build world-class marketplace strategy in the face of Brexit, on a cost-effective and simplified basis and use marketplaces to reach into new international markets as well as assessing the best ways of controlling data, brand reputation, pricing and inventory replenishment when trading. The conference track is at 10: 30 am, March 22.
Sean Harney, director of corporate solutions at mGage is the speaker for a session on converting customer communications into sales opportunities. He’ll share his insights with delegates on optimising customer service performance at 11:30 am, March 22. Mobile trends shaping the future of customer interaction is the last session of the morning and will be followed by a lunch break.
Ricardo Davila, former international market director at Sonepar then take the lead for the afternoon session. He’ll be evaluating how b2b companies can change their mindset to think digitally without harming the existing business in the presentation How can a b2b company successfully transform itself into a digital business? Davila will also look at how retailers can achieve a deeper understanding of the b2b marketplace for e-commerce and how they can identify the key pitfalls b2b companies make during their digital transformation. The conference track is at 13:15 pm, March 22.
Speakers from retail and digital world including Alex Snook, senior ecommerce manager B2B & Ireland at Diageo, Chris Micklethwaite, digital director at Brakes Group, Ricardo Davila, former international market director at Sonepar, Vishal Chhatralia, global vice president/head of digital at Electrocomponents plc will then, gather to answer key conundrums on marketplaces and b2b. Their presentation What key best practices from b2c e-commerce should the b2b e-commerce industry focus their efforts on to catch up? is at 14:15, March 22.
Nikhil Amin, head of Amazon Business 3P will be the final speaker of the conference tracks, who will close the session at 15:05 pm, March 22.
eDelivery Expo (EDX) 2018 is Europe’s only dedicated fulfilment event covering (S.O.L.D) – Supply Chain, Operations, Logistics and Delivery for multichannel retail takes place on 21-22 March in in Birmingham.
To find out more and to register free for InternetRetailing Expo and eDelivery Expo, visit internetretailingexpo.com. Get involved on Twitter by following @etailexpo and with the hashtags #IRX18 #EDX18.
