IRCE 2008 Session Descriptions

Listed below is the individual session description. To view a speakers' bio simply click the links inside the session description.

Day Three—June 11, 2008
Track D: Web Marketing Techniques that Convert Shoppers To Buyers

As online shopping becomes mainstream, consumers will expect and respond to marketing and merchandising that follows conventions. These sessions will tell retailers where marketing and merchandising are going, when to follow the rules and when to break them.

11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

The big power of little widgets

Albert DiPadova, Vice President, Due Maternity

Brian Walker, Senior Analyst, eCommerce, Forrester Research Inc.

Widgets are small pieces of code that take up a tiny space on a consumer's desktop. But they can pack a powerful punch if deployed right. Consumers download widgets from a retailer to their desktop. These widgets keep consumers continuously connected to retailers without the consumer having to launch a browser—or even do anything. Retailers download content such as information about sales or special offers to the widgets as often as they like. Consumers get the benefit of being the first to know about deals at their favorite retailers and retailers get the benefit of closer ties to their customers. Our first speaker is an analyst who has studied widgets. He will tell attendees how to determine if a widget makes sense for their business and how to figure out what kind of content customers will respond to. Our second speaker, whose retail company has deployed widgets to hundreds of thousands of desktops, will talk about what it took to create a widget, what it takes to manage the widget, what kinds of content customers respond to, how the company has benefited from its widget deployment and what's next for widgets.