At Internet Retailing, we’re never ones to miss a good party. Especially one on London’s highest balcony terrace, at London’s Heron Tower, where you can network with the great and good of multichannel retailing. That’s why we’re keen to remind you that you can win a free ticket to the multichannel party of the year, the Internet Retailing Awards. How do you do that? Simple, just nominate the retailers whose multichannel work you most respect by the end of today to be in with a chance of winning one of 10 free tickets. Click here to nominate the retailers who’ve made most impression on you this year.
Elsewhere in today’s Internet Retailing newsletter, we’re reporting on Argos’ progress towards digital-first retailing, on a forecast that suggests online retailers will be sending (or being sent) 2.2bn parcels a year by 2017, on what digital and physical book sales mean for multichannel retailers, and on the outlook for s-commerce, and on WAE+ as it publishes its interim sales figures. Our guest opinion today comes from David Vogel of Varnish Software who explains why web caching is a technology to consider.
A reminder too that it’s catch up time for anyone who missed that vital briefing at Internet Retailing Expo (2013). Presentations and panels from the across the six conferences of the event are now available to view online at InternetRetailingExpo.com.
Webinars
We have some upcoming webinars to tell you about. Take part by registering for the free events on our webinar page.
On May 9 at 4pm we’ll be hearing from Clicktale, in Featuring brilliant web optimisation: Learn how magazine.co.uk increased subscriptions by 28%. Vassilis Tourtouropoulos, senior conversion optimisation manager, Jellyfish Publishing, Carola York, managing director, Jellyfish Publishing, and Jonny Steel, director of business development, ClickTale will be our speakers for the event, in which they’ll sharing insights into how in-page analytics can be used to generate powerful insights that drive revenue and conversion – and they have some surprising findings. Find out more and register here.
Jumpstart events
Internet Retailing’s signature JumpStart events offer a chance for retailers to get quickly up to speed on the latest developments in a given area, hearing directly from expert suppliers and identifying and presenting the key questions retailers need to ask when procuring their own systems. Each full-morning event is held in Tower 42, 25 Old Broad Street, London and you can register to attend here.
On May 8, the JumpStart focus is on Ecommerce Platforms, with an event that will look at the development of ecommerce platforms, the new technologies which they can now include and the new ways in which they’re being delivered, from owned to software-as-a-service. Find out more and register to attend here.
Multichannel performance marketing is the subject for May 15’s event. From the outset, digital marketing has been focused on performance: whether PPC and affiliates, or vouchers and promotions. The focus of this session is to draw together the various disciplines within marketing and consider not only the individual performance characteristics, but importantly the multichannel view of customer profitability. Find out more and register to attend here.
On May 29, International and cross border trade is under examination. UK companies are seeing significant growth from trading internationally (outside the EU) and cross border (within the EU) and it’s never been easier to extend your online trading. Presenters at the Jumpstart will highlight the areas of concern, the pitfalls to avoid, as well as new opportunities in an event that will feature leading vendors in areas from multilingual to localisation, from payments to local customs and from logistics to usability.Find out more and register to attend here.
Cross-channel is the subject for the JumpStart event of June 5, where the focus will be on the customer, how they use as many touch points and channels as we’re willing and able to offer and how we combine behavioural data with service values, technology, people and process to deliver for them. Delegates will take away ideas, examples and case studies to extend selling activities beyond the web interface. Find out more and register to attend here.
The customer experience is in focus for the event of June 19, when we’ll be looking at how to provide an enhanced customer experience, not only optimising each channel but also considering how to bridge the experience over time and across channels. Topics will include interaction design, service planning, testing and customer service, delivery and logistics, and extend to how best practice analytics and behavioural tracking can help us towards that elusive ‘single view of the customer’ in order to sell more effectively. Find out more and register to attend here.
Today’s stories
More than half Argos’ sales are now multichannel
UK etailers set to generate 2.2bn parcel deliveries a year by 2017
GUEST COMMENT It takes a second to say goodbye
Consumer faith in s-commerce is still low – but there are early signs of changing attitudes
What do digital and physical book sales mean for multichannel retailers?
WAE+ expects to hit £9m in sales this year after fast first-half growth
