In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter, we’re focusing firmly on IRX 2018. The annual two-day expo starts tomorrow and is sure to feature a wealth of knowledge, insight and experience from speakers across eight conference streams, while the latest technologies will be on show on the exhibition floor of the Expo, and explained in detail in a series of workshops. Among the speakers will be Julian Callede of Made.com, interviewed today on how the retailer is approaching international expansion. InternetRetailing staff writer Sasha Fedorenko shares her lowdown on what she’ll be looking out for at IRX 2018.
Today we also focus on Westfield London as the £600m extension to the shopping centre opens today. It’s proving an opportunity for leading IRUK Top500 retailers, from John Lewis and Debenhams to H&M, to present their visions of what the store now looks like, and what it’s for.
We continue our overview of how retailers are responding to changing consumer behaviour through our coverage of Dreams, which is seeing rising sales after investing online, and Ocado, whose latest figures show that its shoppers are buying more frequently while spending very slightly less each time.
There’s interesting and relevant research from InternetRetailing research division RetailX which has worked with Knowledge Partner Geoblink to investigate the relationship between store numbers and online sales performance.
Today’s guest comment comes from Tony Smith of PCI Pal who considers the importance of securing both data and payments in the new environment that GDPR legislation is set to bring.
Webinars
Find out more about upcoming InternetRetailing webinars and register for free on the InternetRetailing webinar page. You can also catch up with past webinars on the page: recent sessions have come from IBM Watson on using AI to improve the customer experience, and from SmartFocus and The Entertainer on using social to reach digital customers.
