Saving the Best for Last!
After two nights of networking fun under the stars and an entire day of superior content, what could possibly top it all off on the last day of the Shop.org Online Merchandising Workshop? Two words: Fiona Dias.
And while Raul Vasquez from Walmart.com (www.walmart.com) may have hobbled up to the stage on crutches on Day 1 (poor guy tore a tendon) and secured audience empathy, Fiona opened her keynote on a brighter note. She shared with us all that she was a safari child. Yup, the former CMO of Circuit City and CEO of Circuit City Direct and now EVP Partner Strategy and Marketing, GSI Commerce (www.gsicommerce.com) grew up on the plains of the Africa. That’s a hard one to top indeed, and we were all captivated from that moment on.
Her family runs a safari “company” which has just been voted “World’s Best” Tour Operator and Safari Outfitter by Travel & Leisure Magazine for an unprecedented sixth time in a row! I have already ordered my brochure from them, Micato Safaris, (www.micato.com) as the website teaser was enough for me – I am safari bound soon!
But I digress…
Given her background, it was no wonder that Fiona opened her keynote “Online Merchants: Agents of Change Today, Leader of Tomorrow” by citing an old African proverb involving antelopes and lions. Skipping the eloquent and colorful aspects of the tale, (sorry Fiona) let me just get to the point – we all better be waking up every morning trying to outrun the competition or we may find ourselves someone’s meal ticket!
She wove this message – of course in a more eloquent format – throughout the entire presentation which highlighted several retail sites doing exemplary work in moving the online shopping experience needle forward. Showcased sites included Sears (www.sears.com), Toys R Us (www.toysrus.com), Ace Hardware (www.acehardware.com), and REI (www.rei.com) – that last three of which put huge smiles on my face when I saw them as they are PowerReviews (www.powerreviews.com) clients.
In addition to inspiring merchant examples, Fiona showcased two technology breakthroughs in her “Leaders of Tomorrow” segment, one of which was our new Mobile App. This functionality allows customers to read product reviews right on their iphone while shopping in physical stores…and that is all I am going to say about that at this time, as Fiona did some hard arm twisting for us to allow her to share what she did. Come on, who can say “no” to her?!?
In closing, here is proof that the Shop.org event is guaranteed to at least put a smile on your face. Thanks yo my photo-mate Portia La Touche of Certona (www.certona.com) one of my dearest e-commerce friends and special thank to another dear friend Bryan Eisenberg www.futurenowinc.com for his photographic talents!
In God we trust – all others bring data!
That is just one of the pearls that Raul Vasquez, CEO of Walmart.com (www.walmart.com), shared with the audience yesterday morning during his opening keynote address at the Shop.org Online Merchandising Workshop ‘08 here in Huntington Beach, California. Raul went on during his hour-plus talk, which by the way was one of the most engaging, insightful and informative keynotes I have heard in a long while, to stress the importance of data in managing your online organization. The last pearl I will share with you being a data lover myself was the importance Raul places on being able to recognize the “signal” from all the noise that sometimes comes with data!
Following Raul was the ever powerful Bryan Eisenberg, Future Now (www.futurenow.com) sharing the Golden Rule of Online Merchandising and then after lunch Carrie Johnson, Forrester Research (www.forresterresearch.com) wowed the crowd with her insightful report on the State of Retail Online Merchandising.
The rest of the afternoon was equally impressive with all the roundtables I mentioned in yesterday’s post (including my fun table!) plus Jay Greenberg of Spencer’s Gifts (www.spencersgifts.com) and Stephanie Pike of Circuit City (www.circuitcity.com) wowed the crowd with their fun TV talk show style of educating the audience with how to “Test Your Way to Site Conversion.” They both shared insightful successes and failures each company has sent from testing things as simple as the color of buttons to overall page designs.
Lastly, and definitely my favorite as this topic is near and dear to my heart, was the panel on how to Make Your Online Merchandising More Nimble by Taking a Page from the Small Retailer. As this is my area of expertise as well, I thought that Nathan Decker of Evogear (www.evogear.com) and Venessa Hoffman of Godian Project (Parent of PlumberSurplus) (www.plumbersurplus.com) and OutdoorPros (www.outdoorpros.com) and Adam Silverman of WetSeal (www.wetseal.com) delivered outstanding information to the crowd. Of all the sessions during the entire day, these folks for the audience fully engaged – and that is hard to do past 5Pm – where the hands were still being raised well after last call.
Finally, the night’s reception and dinner outside under the nearly full moon with an ocean-front view was perhaps one of the more enchanting settings I have seen at such an event. So I say to all of you out there, DO NOT MISS THIS NEXT YEAR!
More to follow on today’s session…
Shop.org Online Merchandising Workshop – it begins!
Last night was the opening reception of the Shop.org Merchandising Workshop and what a fun event it was. Filled with some of the biggest and brightest Who’s Who in our industry , the conversions with both familiar and new faces was inspiring and insightful as usual.
And, a quick look through the agenda reveals a star line-up of not only keynote folks, but roundtable and case study presenters too – the real nuts and bolts of these types of workshops.
PowerReviews (www.powerreviews.com) is honored to not only sponsor Wednesday’s Retail Case Study Round Tables, but participating as well. Our very own Marketing Analyst Yury Polnar will be presenting a case study in partnership with Jim Healy, Product Manager at Onlineshoes.com, regarding the successes Jim has seen by using customer reviews in their social merchandising efforts.
Today, I am honored to be hosting a round table discussion on Creating a Consistent Experience in the Multi-Channel Environment. And when I say honored, I mean it.
Look at some of the roundtable hosts:
- Tony Brown of Timberland
- Brenda Spencer of Harry & David
- Patti Freeman Evans of Jupiter Research
- Jay Greenberg of Spencer’s
- George Michie of The Rimm-Kaufman Group
- Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now, Inc
- Ben Viscon of REI
- Pinny Gniwisch of Ice.com
- Nancy Miller of Woodcraft Supply
- Stephanie Pike of Circuit City
Not only am I honored by such company but thrilled as well as many of the above I consider not only esteemed colleagues but dear friends as well.
I’ll keep you posted as the events unfurl, but for those of you not here please know this – you are missing out so make plans to be here next time!
You are my hero – Images that is!
In order to be a hero, you previously had to wear a cape. Now, you can be a hero – a product hero that is – with a simple click of the camera button.
PowerReviews (www.powerreviews.com) is getting ready to release for wide distribution to our hundreds of merchants the ability to capture user generated images – those customer images included along with their product review – and present them front and center right along with the manufacturer supplied alternative product views.
Just like with our unique ability to summarize and present the communities’ consensus about a product with our “review summary snapshot” we will now empower our merchants to capture and present a summary of those images as well.
This means that customers can become instant “heroes” or product evangelists and have their photographic handy work presented at the top of the product detail page right along with the product images itself. Customer images must no longer be regulated as buried treasures which shoppers stumble upon while browsing through the pages of product reviews.
So whether the image is taken by a customer with a bit of bravado showing off their talents with their new camera or a customer beaming with satisfaction as they capture their new product in use, these photos are a powerful product recommendation, too!
The experience can currently be seen on Buzzillions (www.buzzillions.com) on a much reviewed Nikon D300 camera.
www.buzzillions.com/dz_460555_nikon_d300_reviews
Enjoy for now and I’ll be sure to let you know when this is ready for wide distribution!
The Birds and the Bees…well, at least the Bees!
I thought I would share with you this fun tidbit about one our tiniest little recommendation engines. Happy 4th of July holiday everyone!
Been have been reviewing flower patches for, well, forever.
When one bee finds a patch of good flowers, she (the workers are all girls, the guys just lay about doing nothing), goes back to the hive and tells the other bees where the good flowers are – essentially making a 5 Star recommendation.
They do it by dancing around and shaking their butts real fast but that’s another story.
