IRCE 2009 Session Descriptions

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

Day One—June 15, 2009: Small Retailers' Survival Guide Workshop

Web Site Design, Navigation & Usability: A Small Retailers' Survival Guide
As retailing remains in a challenging economic environment, the competition for online customers will be fierce. One way to ensure that you get your share of online shoppers is by creating a compelling shopping experience. The stakes will be even higher for small retailers who will find themselves facing large chains and established online retailers with the resources, even in a less-than-ideal economy, to invest in attracting and retaining customers. This day-long workshop will feature expert and retailers who will address specifically how smaller retailers can create sites that will allow them to compete with the biggest.

3:30 PM - 4:45 PM

The Tripping Point: Where retailers go astray

Tom Funk, Vice President, Timberline Interactive

Michael Lyman, Technology and Marketing Director, Two Little Hands Productions

Carl Prindle, President & CEO, Blueport Commerce Inc.

With complexities abounding, it's a safe bet that no retailer does everything right. The trick to making sure you are doing the important things right is to know the most common areas where retail web sites fall down and then gauging how you are doing. This session will feature consultants who have worked with many small retailers and the retailers themselves. They will reveal the most common tripping points for retailers, how to identify where your site is failing and what to do about it. Among the topics: ensuring site search success with clean product data; how a universal design template eases the design process and improves customer navigation; how to coordinate marketing and merchandising; how to keep product data current; and more.