Web Merchants Dive Into the Mainstream

As Internet retailing reaches its 13th birthday, there is no doubt that online shopping has become woven into consumers' lives. 2007's online sales grew 21% over 2006's, continuing a string of 20%+ growth years that stretch back into the past decade. With consumers showing such strong acceptance of online shopping, retailers are stepping up their commitment to the channel. Such consumer acceptance is forcing retailers to realize that if they are to survive the retail market of the 21st Century, they must take their web strategies into the mainstream of the consumer culture. Retailers are changing their thinking, their organizations and their corporate culture so that they can benefit from the shift in consumer spending. Big chains are bringing a new-found zeal to online retailing, redesigning sites, adding tons of new features and capabilities and pumping money and resources into marketing. Online-only merchants are responding with their own renewed commitment to the Internet, innovating with products, customer service, content and marketing. Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2008 explores every aspect of what it will take for retailers to succeed in the new, more competitive environment, including such issues as making sure your corporate investments are going to the right channels in the right proportions, how to break down the corporate barriers that prevent cooperation among channels, how to prepare for the new demanding customers who expect fast web sites and fast order delivery, how to deepen your use of online marketing tools and how to determine if new methods are worth the investment, how to analyze whether that Web 2.0 initiative is right for your web site, how to make sure that technology implementations won't trip you up and how to find the right staff to help you grow.

The IRCE 2008 Keynote Presenters

Internet Retailer is honored to have as its keynote speakers at Internet Retailer 2008 Conference & Exhibition Micheal Boylson, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of JC Penney Co. Inc., and Neel Grover, President & CEO of Buy.com. Both represent retail companies that understand the ways that consumers are taking to the web and making Internet retailing a part of mainstream business and culture.

Day Two Keynote Speaker—June 10

Mike Boylson
Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
J.C. Penney Co. Inc.

Few major retail chains understand the movement of online retailing into the mainstream as well as J.C. Penney. Mike Boylson is responsible for the strategy that has pushed the department store chain to No. 12 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide and well on its way to becoming a $2 billion online merchant this year. Under Mike's vision and leadership J.C. Penney was among the first to put commerce links into online advertising. It was early in recognizing the importance of women shoppers online, which resulted in attracting a younger clientele. It was one of the first major retailers to optimize its site for broadband. And it was among the first sites to stock its web site with its TV commercials. The evidence that those strategies have been successful comes not only from the consistent 25%+ annual growth that JCP.com has enjoyed, but also from the consistent above average scores the company receives in customer satisfaction and intent of web site visitors to buy. In his Keynote Address June 10, Mike Boylson will discuss why the Internet is so important to J.C. Penney and why its importance will only grow as it becomes a more important part of consumers' lives. He also will talk about how adopting a thorough-going Internet strategy requires constant attention from senior management, how senior management communicates the importance of the Internet throughout an organization and what's next on the e-commerce front for J.C. Penney.

Day Three Keynote Speaker—June 11

Neel Grover
President & CEO
Buy.com

No. 38 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, Buy.com survived the investment crash early this decade by adopting the attitude that, in spite of what investors wanted, consumers wanted to shop online and Buy would be there to fill that need. Today, Buy.com is a $500 million profitable enterprise that bills itself as the "Online Superstore" and appeals to a wide selection of shoppers with 1.5 million SKUs on its site. Neel Grover has guided Buy.com through the ups and downs and ups of the Internet retailing market. Few executives have his experience and insights into what makes the online retailing market work and why the Internet is the future of retailing. Neel has served on Buy.com's board of directors since 2001, has been president since 2003 and CEO since May 2006. With its high-flying IPO and then its return to a private company, its market-leading initiatives into social shopping, its customer video product reviews and now its innovative offering to Facebook users to sell product on their Facebook pages through the Buy.com platform, Buy.com is the poster boy for the online retailing market. Neel Grover will talk about the vision that has brought Buy.com to this point and what it will take for Buy and other online retailers to make further incursions into the mainstream of not just retailing but consumers' lives as well.

IRCE 2008 Agenda Outline

Listed below are the exact times for each event in the Internet Retailer 2008 Conference & Exhibition. To view the description of an individual session click on the "Session Description" buttons. Or, to view this list with all session descriptions visible please click the radio button below.

Day One—June 9, 2008: Two Workshops

7:00 - 9:00 a.m. Workshop Registration and Breakfast

9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Day-long "Advanced Strategies for Marketing Your Retail Web Site" workshop runs concurrently with "From Entrepreneur to Enterprise" workshop. See separate Workshop Agenda page.

Main Conference Registration and Reception—June 9, 2008

4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Exhibit Hall Opens for Champagne Welcome Reception Registration for Main Conference

Day Two—June 10, 2008: Main Conference General Sessions

7:00 - 8:00 a.m. Conference Registration and Breakfast, McCormick Place West

8:00 - 8:15 a.m. Welcome Reception

8:15 - 8:45 a.m. KEYNOTE ADDRESS: E-retailers dive into the mainstream: How J.C. Penney did it—and why Mike Boylson, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, J.C. Penney

8:45 - 9:15 a.m. The new level of competitiveness in e-retailing Robert Antall, CEO, Lake West Group

9:15 - 9:45 a.m. FEATURED PRESENTATION: How the Mainstream Internet Creates New Market Opportunities Christian Friedland, President, Improvement Direct

9:45 - 10:45 a.m. Break

10:45 - 11:15 a.m. FEATURED PRESENTATION: The Transformation of a Catalog Eric Faintreny, Chairman and CEO, Redcats USA

11:15 - 11:45 a.m. New frontiers: Marketing and merchandising on social sites Sean McDonald, Director, Global Online, Dell. Inc. Heather Dougherty, Director of Research, Hitwise

11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. The best of retail videos—What makes a winning video on a retail website Laura Evans, Executive Studio Director, Resource Interactive David Card, Vice President & Research Director, JupiterResearch

12:30 - 2:00 p.m. LUNCH

Track A: The Small Guys: Effective Ways to Succeed in a More Competitive Market This track will help small and mid-sized merchants make the right investments and technology and business decisions to grow a business.

2:00 - 2:30 p.m. First you crawl: The evolution of a web site Allan Dick, Chief Marketing Officer, Vintage Tub and Bath Jack Kiefer, President, BabyAge.com

2:30 - 3:15 p.m. Running a small e-commerce business: Practical, real-world tips & tricks Barney Stone, President, Stone Edge Technologies Inc. Julie Swatek, Owner, Scrap Your Trip

3:15 - 3:45 p.m. How to manage third-party store platform relationships Mitchell Lieberman, CEO, OneWayFurniture.com

3:45 - 4:30 p.m. BREAK

4:30 - 5:00 p.m. Relying on other people's expertise: How to make the right outsourcing choice Jason Roussos, President, Richlund Ventures Inc.

5:00 - 5:30 p.m. Product sourcing: The web's important role for retailers Marc Joseph, President, Dollar Days International

Track B: The Chains: Rethinking E-Commerce to Survive This track will help small and mid-sized merchants make the right investments and technology and business decisions to grow a business.

2:00 - 2:30 p.m. Changing a corporate culture: Chains re-invent themselves Mike Molitor, Senior Vice President, E-Commerce, Kohl's Corp.

2:30 - 3:15 p.m. Organizing for e-commerce success Fiona Dias, Executive Vice President, GSI Commerce Inc. Jim Okamura, Senior Partner, J.C. Williams Group

3:15 - 3:45 p.m. Budgeting: Balancing store investments and web site investments Theron Andrews, Chief Marketing Officer, iFloor.com

3:45 - 4:30 p.m. BREAK

4:30 - 5:00 p.m. Survivors make money by investing wisely Ames Flynn, Vice President, E-Commerce, Lowe's Cos. Inc. Donna Iucolano, Principal, Spinach Candy

5:00 - 5:30 p.m. What's that shopper worth? Measuring the offline impact of an online visit Ken Cassar, Vice President, Industry Solutions Analytics, Nielsen Online

Track C: How Web 2.0 Technologies and Techniques Advance E-Retailing Web 2.0 is a set of technologies and techniques that make online shopping smoother and empower consumers. This track will help retailers understand what's hype, what's real and how to tell the difference.

2:00 - 2:30 p.m. Web 2.0: A reality check David Friedman, President, Central Region, Avenue A | Razorfish

2:30 - 3:15 p.m. Mixing Web 2.0 & Organic Search: Ensuring you can be found in the new world of 2.0 Rahmon Coupe, CEO, YourAmigo Jamal Pilger, CIO/CTO, GalaSource Cos.

3:15 - 3:45 p.m. Finding the real value in virtual worlds Del Ross, VP of Distribution Marketing for the Americas, InterContinental Hotels Donna Hoffman, Co-Director, Sloan Center for Internet Retailing, University of California, Riverside

3:45 - 4:30 p.m. BREAK

4:30 - 5:00 p.m. Let the customer be the guides: Wikipedia meets Overstock Judd Bagley, Director of Social Media, Overstock.com Inc.

5:00 - 5:30 p.m. What might go wrong with Web 2.0, how to anticipate problems and how to fix them Imad Mouline, CTO, Gomez Inc.

Day Three—June 11, 2008: Main Conference General Sessions

7:00 - 7:45 a.m. Conference Registration and Breakfast, McCormick Place West

7:45 - 8:30 a.m. Top 500 Guide Report Jack Love, Publisher, Internet Retailer Larry Freed, President, ForeSee Results

8:30 - 9:00 a.m. KEYNOTE SPEAKER, DAY TWO: A mainstream strategy for a web-only retailer Neel Grover, President, Buy.com

9:00 - 9:45 a.m. The Internet's new made-for-me markets Bob Young, CEO, Lulu.com Jeffrey Housenbold, CEO, Shutterfly

9:45 - 10:15 a.m. FEATURED SPEAKER: Manufacturers Enter the E-Retailing Mainstream Laura Christine, VP, Direct Marketing & E-Commerce, Skechers

10:15 - 11:00 a.m. BREAK

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.

11:00 - 11:30 a.m. Making sense of the shifting marketing landscape David Card, Vice President & Research Director, JupiterResearch Mondy Beller, SVP, Marketing, Shop.com

11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. The big power of little widgets Albert DiPadova, Vice President, Due Maternity Speaker TBA

12:00 - 12:30 p.m. Consumers raise their voice: Keeping track of your brand online Stephanie Schwab, Vice President, Converseon Inc. Pancho Gutstein, Director of Brand Marketing, Newell Rubbermaid's Baby and Parenting Essentials

12:30 - 1:45 p.m. LUNCH

1:45 - 2:15 p.m. Using personas to pinpoint a shopper's needs Adam Heneghan, President, Elevation Inc. Jim McLaughlin, Director of Business Development, H2O Plus

2:15 - 3:00 p.m. Personalizing the web experience Cliff Conneighton, SVP, ATG Lou Pietragallo, Director of Web Development, American Eagle Outfitters

3:00 - 3:30 p.m. Implementing and using video Adam Lindquist, Director of Business Development, 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment Geoff Smith, VP, ShopNBC

3:30 - 4:00 p.m. BREAK

4:00 - 4:30 p.m. Customer reviews: Getting them right Sam Decker, Chief Marketing Officer, BazaarVoice Steve Larkin, SVP, Zale Corp.

4:30 - 5:15 p.m. What's the future of rich media? Scott Roth, President, Vendaria Greg Vilines, Manager, New Projects & Initiatives, HomeDepot.com

Track E: Taking Security, Payments and Operations to Failsafe Levels The backbone of online retailing—the operations infrastructure—is no longer an afterthought to the design and marketing of a site. This track will help retailers build robust systems that can grow with a company.

11:00 - 11:30 a.m. 5 things you can do better to secure your web site Nicholas Percoco, Vice President of Consulting, Trustwave

11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. The evolving world of payment security Tom Donlea, Executive Director, Merchant Risk Council Mike Kellogg, Director, Classified Products, Cars.com

12:00 - 12:30 p.m. Unlocking Payments Value: Strategies for managing payment acceptance Greg Worch, SVP, National Accounts, Chase Paymentech Rick Quiroga, VP, Finance, Newegg.com

12:30 - 1:45 p.m. LUNCH

1:45 - 2:15 p.m. Making the Right Choice Among Alternative Payments and Processors Don McNichol, Director of E-Commerce, Intermix Kathy Reeves, Business Development Manager, CyberSource Corp.

2:15 - 3:00 p.m. Changes in the parcel industry and how they affect e-retailers Melissa Priest, Managing Director, AFMS Logistics Management Group Jeff Carter, VP, Fulfillment, Backcountry.com

3:00 - 3:30 p.m. Getting the product to the customer—NOW! Doug Eckrote, Senior Vice President of Operations & Canada, CDW

3:30 - 4:00 p.m. BREAK

4:00 - 4:30 p.m. The new role of the customer service agent Jim Chapman, President, Rush Order David Boctor, Executive Vice President of Business Development, ImprovementDirect

4:30 - 5:15 p.m. Tapping into the promise of self-serve customer service Gordon Magee, Director, Internet Marketing and Analysis, Drs. Foster & Smith Kerry Bodine, Principal Analyst, Customer Experience, Forrester Research

Track F: Web Technology Designed to Attract, Influence and Sell Few industries are as dependent on technology as is online retailing. Technology deployments thus are crucial to all e-retailers' success. This track will help attendees assess the right technology for their success.

11:00 - 11:30 a.m. Back to square one: Refocusing and starting over John Watts, VP, Mail Order and Internet Sales, Edwin Watts Golf Rhett Daniel, Senior Director, USi eCommerce, USinternetworking

11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. My problem and how I solved it Tim Reiland, Chairman and CFO, MusicNotes.com Darrell Cavens, SVP, Marketing, Blue Nile, Inc.

12:00 - 12:30 p.m. Make sure your new technology will do what it's supposed to do Jack Kiefer, President, BabyAge.com

12:30 - 1:45 p.m. LUNCH

1:45 - 2:15 p.m. Getting other retailers to help with your technology implementation Marty Fahey, CEO, OrderMotion Inc. Patrick Gill, President, eCommerce Outdoors

2:15 - 3:30 p.m. Web site design spotlight: Live, on-the-spot critique of retailers' sites Lauren Freedman, President, the e-tailing group Stephan Spencer, President, NetConcepts Amy Africa, President, Eight by Eight

3:30 - 4:00 p.m. BREAK

4:00 - 4:30 p.m. Organizing product data for more sales Andrea Downing, VP, Home Entertainment and Partnerships, PBS

4:30 - 5:15 p.m. How to plan for a redesign Melissa Rothchild, VP, Marketing, CPA2BIZ.com Bernardine C. Wu, Founder & CEO, FitForCommerce

Day Four—June 12, 2008: Day-Long Workshop

7:00 - 8:30 a.m. Workshop Registration and Breakfast

8:30 a.m. - 3:45 p.m. Day-long "Understanding the M-Commerce Phenomenon" workshop. See separate Workshop Agenda page.

8:30 a.m. - 3:45 p.m. Day-long "Powering Your Store with a Third-Party Engine" workshop. See separate Workshop Agenda page.