I just returned from attending Internet Retailer 2011 in beautiful San Diego, California. I'm not sure, but I believe this had to be the largest Internet Retailer conference with over 7,000 people in attendance. The attendance doesn't surprise me it's one of the largest ecommerce conferences and rightly so taking into account the following predictions:
- American online buyers will jump 15% by 2015.
- Ecommerce spending is set to increase at a steady pace over the next 4 years. In 2010 we saw $188 billion dollars spent online, in 2015 that number is expected to rise to $269 billion.
What was the buzzword of the conference? Convergence. Convergence really isn't anything new, it's just a new term for what we've been calling multichannel or crosschannel. Blur the lines between online (web, mobile, social and local marketing) and traditional commerce (television, radio and print) and you have convergence. That seemed to be the overall theme of the 2011 Internet Retailer conference.
Convergence is something we've been hearing about over the last few years and something I predicted for marketing trends in 2011, so I can't say it was an epiphany moment. I found it to be just confirmation to those of us that have been in the online business for the last decade that we are moving in the right direction. We can no longer look at these two mediums as separate, but rather an integrated way of getting our message to consumers and providing consumers with the best experience no matter what medium they are using to shop.
As one person put it - there are no more channels - it's just commerce now.
The only complaint that I have regarding the conference is they seem to be missing an advanced track. Many of the tracks seemed to be for beginners and did not produce much substance for those of us that have been in the industry for awhile. Hopefully, that will change next time.
Your turn: Were you there? If so, what takeaways did you find important?