Internet Retailer 2006

A preview of what speakers will discuss at Internet Retailer 2006: Taking E-Retailing to the Next Level.

Ten years after the start of the online retailing revolution, shopping and buying over the Internet have become mainstream. 7% of all retail sales take place online today and experts predict that within five years, fully 15% of retail sales could take place online. Yet this growth will not take place without innovation and competition driving it and not all retailers will fully benefit from it. The novelty of web shopping has worn off and today’s consumers are more discriminating and demanding. As online retailing becomes more mainstream, growth will be driven by highly skilled e-retailers who are committed to expanding their online market share. Internet Retailer 2006 will highlight the strategies, technologies and practices that leading e-retailers are adopting.

Keynote Speakers

Thomas McInerney, CFO, IAC/InterActiveCorp

Keynote Address, Day One: Taking E-Retailing to the Next Level

As the Internet and cable TV converge, online marketing will overtake network television as the primary marketing medium. A the same time, consumers will turn to the web for shopping in greater numbers. Thomas McInerney will give his insight into how TV and the web are coming together, how IAC/InterActive, which has assembled one of the largest collections of major Internet properties, including online retailers HSN, Cornerstone Brands and Shoebuy.com, is making significant investments to stay ahead of the market and how the convergence of TV and the Internet will create a whole new way of relating to customers.

Seth Radwell, CEO, e-Scholastic

Keynote Address, Day Two: Market Segmentation in an Age of E-Commerce

Seth Radwell will discuss how Scholastic.com, one of the 50 largest online retailers, markets to three distinct audiences: kid, parent and teacher. “In an age of e-commerce, traditional segmentation and direct marketing models, while necessary, need to be extended and adapted to leverage the unique relationship-building capabilities of the online environment,” he says. “At Scholastic our products ands services have one mission: to help children read and learn, but our marketing context differs significantly across our different audiences.”

Featured Speakers

John Thompson, SVP & general manager, e-commerce, Best Buy Co Inc.

Day One Featured Speaker: Delivering Web Content That’s Focused on Customer Needs

John Thompson will discuss how Best Buy enhanced its web site’s content and interactive capability to meet customers’ needs. He will discuss its new Kitchen & Laundry Design Center that allows consumers to configure these rooms for major appliances, its new Magnolia Home Theater that allows visitors to choose the optimal home theater system, and how Best Buy uses web analytics to understand online customers and what they want offline.

David Cosgrove, vice president, e-commerce, Whirlpool Corp.

Day Two Featured Speaker: The Web’s Key Role in Positioning a Manufacturer’s Brand

With its broad reach and ability to present content and commerce, a web site is key to creating and maintaining a brand and capturing sales. Consumer surveys have shown that web sites can boost brand awareness and favorable impressions of the brand. David Cosgrove will outline Whirlpool’s web strategy, the reasons behind it, what Whirlpool has gotten out of the initiative so far, and what refinements to the strategy and benefits it expects going forward.

Doug Allen, marketing director, ComputerGeeks.com

Growing into the Next Level E-Commerce Platform

Knowing when to say no to internal upgrades requires proper timing and homework, says Doug Allen. As an entrepreneurial company, ComputerGeeks.com used to maintain its own site search and web analytics. But Allen will detail how marketing managers used an ROI analysis to convince their CEO of the need for new third-party applications and how sales conversions jumped as a result.

Alicia Berry, director of operations, DVDEmpire

Alternative Payments: Moving Beyond Credit Card Only

When it comes to implementation, payment systems are quite different than other e-commerce software, says Alicia Berry. “They take more time and effort.” But with the challenges come many benefits, she adds. In her presentation, Berry will focus on: problems adopting Verified by Visa and SecureCode by Mastercard; issues while shopping for Bill Me Later and ECheck; and the benefits of PayPal.

Kim Biggerstaff, e-marketing manager, Delta Faucet Co.

Turning Rich Media into Web Riches

Engaging consumers is key to driving purchase intent and brand preference in e-retailing. Kim Biggerstaff will discuss how rich media that allow site visitors to interact with a brand and products have proven to enhance that engagement. She’ll explore how to create consumer interaction with brand and product and the importance of integrating web site, banner advertising and email campaigns.

Bryan T. Biniak, SVP, AG Interactive Division of American Greetings

Wireless Web: Cashing In When the Buying Impulse Strikes

Getting a permanent fix on mobile commerce and the wireless web is daunting. In his session, Bryan Biniak gives an overview on the status of mobile commerce and then drills down to discuss the specific wireless strategies and initiatives AG Interactive has in play. The bottom line: mobile commerce works with the right blend of content, merchandise and carrier relationships.

Jared Blank, senior director, e-commerce marketing, Tommy Hilfiger USA

Creating a Truly Global Market for a Global Brand

How do you keep a unified message online when your brand reaches around the world? Jared Blank, senior director of e-commerce marketing at Tommy Hilfiger USA, will discuss how Tommy has created several branding and e-commerce web sites to serve the needs of its global divisions. The session will offer tips for maintaining a single brand identity in markets across the globe.

John Bresee, CEO, Backcountry.com

Micro-Segmentation: Going Where Stores and Catalogs Can’t Go

John Bresee will address the challenges and opportunities in vertical niche e-retailing. Backcountry sites he will highlight include Dogfunk.com, an online snowboard shop that hit $1 million in monthly sales within 11 months, and SteepandCheap.com, which earned an Alexa rank of 14,898 with nothing but viral marketing. “Opening more stores is very complex,” Bresee says. “Don’t go down that road lightly.”

Mark Brohan, director of research, Internet Retailer

Internet Retailer Profit Survey: How Retail Sites Stack Up on the Bottom Line

Though many web retailers are turning in impressive top line results, many still operate in the red. In his session, Mark Brohan will deliver the results of an extensive Internet Retailer survey on profitability. The data will break out such measurements as how long participating retailers have been profitable and percentage of sales companies are plowing back in operations, technology and marketing.

Georgianne Brown, executive vice president, marketing, BabyUniverse Inc.

Search Engine Marketing: The No. 1 Online Marketing Tool

Search engine marketing is the most complex form of advertising, with marketers making hundreds or thousands of decisions on keywords, placements and rates they are willing to pay as well as having to understand the roles that site design and product merchandising play in search engine rankings. Georgianne Brown will lead attendees through how to create the most effective search campaign.

Dave Brumback, director of operations, AE Direct

Growing into the Next Level E-Commerce Platform

Dave Brumback will talk about American Eagle’s process to redefine its business on new e-commerce technology, and how 75% of AE Direct’s technology and operations changed, how order management changed, how the call center was integrated into the experience and how this was a defining moment for the business. He will also discuss how the implementation is affecting American Eagle’s future.

P. Craig Davidson, director of business intelligence and e-commerce, Puma

Tapping America’s Second Market—Hispanics

Puma is a multinational brand with a storied history in sports. Craig Davidson will discuss how and why Puma implemented multilingual sites (Spanish and French-Canadian). He also will discuss “what we thought the challenges would be in implementing such a site, how we applied our web site best practices to the translated sites, and what we have experienced since our translated sites went live.”

Tom Denison, director of e-commerce, Personal Creations

Web Site Self-Service Doesn’t Mean Auto-Pilot

Helping web customers help themselves starts with being proactive, says Tom Denison. He will discuss how even simple initiatives such as scrolling a live chat box across the home page is helping PersonalCreations.com teach customers how to place orders faster and use the site’s self-help tools. “It’s in our best interest to reach out proactively and ask our customers if they need help,” he says.

Steve Denton, president, LinkShare Corp.

Affiliate Marketing: Unsung Hero of Online Marketing

Steve Denton details the criteria retailers must use when evaluating potential affiliate marketing partners, what questions to ask prospective partners about their business and the kinds of customers they can drive to your site, and how to manage affiliate relationships. Denton will also discuss the importance of keeping in touch with affiliates and how to establish and maintain good communications with them.

Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst, Nielsen/NetRatings

Who’s Online and How Do You Reach Them?

Heather Dougherty will illustrate the online market by presenting a detailed profile of the online apparel buyer, comparing the various means of site referrals and identifying which are most effective in targeting apparel researchers and buyers. She also will highlight the impact of search and comparison shopping tools during the purchasing process and which types of keywords are being used to locate products.

Gregory Dowling, senior analyst, Jupiter Research

Traps to Avoid in Creating and Operating Retail Web Sites

Based on his experience reviewing web sites, Greg Dowling will moderate a panel discussion on the common traps that online retail web site designs fall into, how retailers can avoid them and what they can do to fix design flaws. The session will include tips on what makes for great design—and more sales.

David Dwek, vice president, marketing, Etronics

Mastering the Subtleties of Global Sales

“We’re international,” David Dwek boasted to Internet Retailer after Etronics announced its ability to ship globally. What he didn’t realize was that operational challenges were the least of his problems. Dwek will share his experiences in cracking the international market: To what extent do U.S. experiences apply elsewhere? Is language translation necessary? Can you dip your toe in the global water? Where do you start?

Lisa Dyson, director of e-commerce and customer-relationship marketing, Famous Footwear

Making Cross-Channel Inventory Management Work

Lisa Dyson will discuss why Famous Footwear, a 900-store chain and the largest discount footwear retailer in the U.S., recently updated its cross-channel inventory management system to allow customers to shop online for shoes based on what’s in inventory at 930 stores, not just what’s in stock at the web site’s warehouse. She also will discuss the challenges of making the system work.

Kevin Ertell, director of interactive marketing, loyalty and CRM, Borders Group Inc.

The Many Ways the Internet Can Drive Brand Preference and Loyalty

In February, Borders launched a loyalty program that is solely Internet-based—it doesn’t even collect customers’ physical addresses. Kevin Ertell, with Michael Tam, will explain how Borders uses the knowledge it gains through the loyalty program to create personalized, customized shopping experiences through seasonal highlights, monthly newsletters and book recommendations that routinely send books to the top of best-seller lists.

Mike Faith, CEO, Headsets.com

Lost in Cyberspace: Do E-Retailers Just Ignore E-Mail?

Headsets.com credits a personalized e-mail customer service program with helping it achieve record sales in 2005. In his session, Mike Faith will outline Headsets’ individualized approach to e-mail and customer contact. At the core is responding to all e-mail in 1 hour or less and personalizing each exchange. “Customers feel more important if they know they aren’t just another number,” Faith says.

Julie Fergerson, vice president of emerging technologies, Debix.com

Taking Security into Your Own Hands

Julie Fergerson will cover the latest ways criminals are stealing data. In the past 18 months there has been a significant shift from manual theft to automated theft—minimizing the time and effort and maximizing the damage. She will review phishing and pharming, and look at the trends for new and re-emerging schemes, such as the latest re-emerging scheme: bogus call tags.

Stuart Frankel, president, Performics

Affiliate Marketing: Unsung Hero of Online Marketing

Stuart Frankel discusses how to spot duplicate costs in affiliate marketing, how to control acquisition costs, and questions to consider when selecting affiliates. Retailers will also learn how to measure the value of the affiliate based on sales dollars, the importance of supplying early product information and incentives to the most valuable affiliates, and how to move the customer relationship from the affiliate to themselves.

Larry Freed, president and CEO, ForeSee Results

Revealing & Analyzing America’s 500 Largest E-Retailers

Larry Freed will present the latest update of the Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index, profiling leaders and laggards, highlighting category trends and contrasting year-over-year and holiday vs. non-holiday trends. In addition, he will showcase which retailers are most effective at leveraging their web sites to drive multi-channel sales, using data from the updated Multi-Channel Value Index.

Lauren Freedman, president, The E-Tailing Group Inc.

Conversion Rates: The Key to Profitability

Presenting data from an annual survey of merchants, Lauren Freedman will talk about the state of converting shoppers to buyers among multi-channel retailers. She’ll cover how to set realistic goals and look at best practices in online merchandising from product page to checkout. Freedman will also address the use of multi-channel tactics and integrated customer service to drive conversions.

Lauren Freedman, president, The E-Tailing Group Inc.

Traps to Avoid in Creating and Operating Retail Web Sites

Many e-retailers are still unsure about what makes or breaks a retail web site. As a result, it’s easy for them to fall into common traps in merchandising, marketing, site design and customer service. Lauren Freedman will use her expertise as a constant observer of online retailers to describe some of the most common mistakes e-retailers make and offer tips for avoiding them.

Patti Freeman Evans, retail analyst, Jupiter Research

Vertical Search Engines: The New Way to Find Products

As online shopping options explode, consumers are demanding more targeted search options as they seek products. Patti Freeman Evans will discuss why vertical search engines, which specialize in particular categories of web searches, may well be the answer. She will lay out the options available to online merchants to participate in vertical search and help retailers decide where they need to be.

Mark Friedman, chief digital marketing officer, Warnaco Inc.

E-Mail Marketing: The Best Way to Target Your Marketing Message

Despite its similarity to direct-mail marketing, e-mail marketing is a separate discipline with its own rules and best practices governing everything from frequency of mailing to size and contents of message. Mark Friedman will share his view of e-mail marketing based on the experience of Warnaco Inc., manufacturer of Speedo, Coles, Nautica and other well known apparel brands, where he is responsible for all online advertising.

David Fry, president, Fry Inc.

Traps to Avoid in Creating and Operating Retail Web Sites

You may think you know what you want to do with your e-commerce site, but do you know what not to do? Many retailers miss some obvious and not-so-obvious problems—such as product display and navigation hazards—that lower their return on investment. On this panel, David Fry will show how to handle common user experience and technical and business issues that can make your site less effective.

Tony Gasparich, vice president, direct sales, West Marine Inc.

Making Cross-Channel Inventory Management Work

At West Marine, effective cross-channel inventory management delivers more sales and happier customers, says Tony Gasparich. In his session, Gasparich will talk about initiatives that expedite the retailer’s buy-online and pick-up-in-store program. “We have customers check the web and want to know immediately if an item is in a store near them so they can swing by on their lunch hour,” he says.

Patrick Gates, executive vice president of consumer direct, Discovery Communications

When TV and the Internet Merge, Web Shopping Explodes

The convergence of the Internet and television finally is living up to its promise, and marketers need to take advantage of new and emerging opportunities, says Patrick Gates. “Internet shopping is maturing, but direct response TV is an expensive proposition,” he says. “E-retailers now must be prepared to take advantage of new technologies and cheaper marketing opportunities in this arena.”

Mike Golden, president, Home Décor Products

What Venture Capitalists Expect of E-Retailers

Venture capitalists are evaluating Internet retailers the way they would any potential investment: Is the business scalable? Is there significant growth potential in the market in which the retailer is competing? Is there a proven management team? Mike Golden will discuss how Home Décor has worked with venture capitalists, the benefits and pitfalls of venture capitalist financing, and alternative options.

Mark Goldstein, CEO, Loyalty Lab

Online Retailers Finally Discover Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are an effective customer retention tool, but building the right loyalty program requires more than an out-of-the-box solution. Mark Goldstein will discuss what consumers seek in a loyalty program and why multi-channel retailers must leverage loyalty programs for their online store. Goldstein will provide real-life examples and how they helped strengthen the retailer’s bond with customers.

Terry Golesworthy, president, Customer Respect Group

Lost in Cyberspace: Do E-Retailers Just Ignore E-Mail?

Web sites grant customers a convenient self-serve mechanism to browse, research and buy. Terry Golesworthy will discuss how individual queries—in this scenario, mostly by e-mail—are inevitable and the responses provided have a major impact on how users perceive the company. He will also discuss where the gap lies between customer expectations and the service provided by the retail industry.

Patricia Graca, manager, customer experience and web site production, HP Home & Home Office Store

Workshop: Site Search: The Web’s In-Store Merchandising Tool

Patricia Graca details how HP refined its site search to boost conversion rates and customer retention. Topics to be discussed include using search to manage cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, how retailers can integrate search with their marketing and merchandising strategies, using search results to broaden product selection, and how site search and navigation can work together.

Beth Grimsley, senior e-commerce manager, Beckett Media

Site Search’s New Role: Promoting the Right Products

Site search has become key in helping retailers determine what they should sell and how they should present products. Analyzing search logs can reveal items that customers are seeking but not finding and popular items that merchandisers should feature more prominently. Beth Grimsley will discuss Beckett Media’s new site search program, how to analyze search logs, what to do with the data and how to calculate return.

Greg Harper, senior strategic advisor to the chairman, Trans World Entertainment Corp.

Turning Rich Media into Web Riches

Trans World Entertainment closely links its seven e-commerce sites and 1,200 stores. All of the stores have broadband access; more than 15,000 web-linked terminals dot the stores. “We have the infrastructure and desire to link the virtual and physical worlds,” Harper says. “Through Internet technologies—including rich media—in store and online, we can create a compelling customer experience.”

Jacob Hawkins, SVP, online marketing, Overstock.com

Making Sense of Online Shopping Malls

With so many different online shopping malls, it’s easy for retailers to get tangled up in the different technical and business requirements of each. Jacob Hawkins will discus how to unscramble the maze of online malls to maximize ROI through these channels. He will address which are the top malls, what it takes to set up a relationship, and how to optimize listings to achieve positive ROI.

Debbie Hess, e-commerce manager, Norm Thompson Outfitters Inc.

Redesigns: The Need for Them and Strategy Behind Them

Norm Thompson’s trio of redesigned e-commerce sites feature rich media, faster search and zoom tools that enable customers to see more product detail when they shop. More importantly, Debbie Hess will discuss how key design changes led to a big spike in customer satisfaction ratings. “We’re getting higher marks because we’re providing shoppers with a better online experience,” she says.

Teri Hilden, director of merchandising, WilsonsLeather.com

10 Easy Steps to Improve Online Merchandising

Improved online merchandising and enhanced product positioning can drive e-commerce sales, says Teri Hilden. “By creating separate navigation for our men’s and women’s extended-size collections, sales for comparable items have increased more than 17%,” she says. “We also evaluated handbag navigation and reorganized by bag style rather than lifestyle and sales for comparable items increased 16%.”

Ethan Holland, director of e-commerce, W. Atlee Burpee Co.

E-mail Marketing: The Best Way to Target Your Marketing Message

There were more readers of RSS in 2005 than there were blog readers in 2004. Yet most retailers are still taking notes from the sidelines. Burpee Gardens, a 130-year old brand, has published RSS since 2005. Ethan Holland will explain the value of RSS as well as its challenges and how RSS fits into a brand’s sweet spot, where the strongest content is easily created and distributed to an interested audience.

Wayne Kimmel, managing partner, Eastern Technology Fund

What Venture Capitalists Expect of E-Retailers

Today’s investment market reflects the maturity of the online retailing industry—venture capitalists and Wall Street investors are less likely to look for the maverick stocks than they were a few years ago and are focusing on the fundamentals of a realistic, sustainable business model. Wayne Kimmel will outline what it takes for a dot-com to get the attention of investors these days.

Gary Korotzer, chief marketing officer, RedEnvelope Inc.

Online Retailers Finally Discover Loyalty Programs

Implementing a loyalty program online is different from implementing one offline, notes Gary Korotzer. He will discuss how RedEnvelope is building more loyalty among new and repeat buyers through the effective use of e-mail marketing combined with the right loyalty club perks. A key component is personalizing each e-mail message and giving loyalty program members constant updates on their status.

Peter Kosciewicz, director of e-commerce, The Eastwood Company

Social Networking: The Peer Persuasion Marketing Tool

Over the last two years, Eastwood has learned how to harness the enthusiasm and social nature of its car-restoration customers. Peter Kosciewicz will talk about how social networking has become a cost-effective way for Eastwood to acquire new customers, reinforce its brand position to new and existing customers, and help casual hobbyists manage the steep learning curve associated with vehicle restoration.

Joshua K. Lau, founder & CEO, YesAsia.com

Designing Sites for Global Sales

“Designing a web site that is accessible, understandable and user-friendly to global customers is a challenge,” says Joshua Lau, whose web site, YesAsia.com, is a leading retailer of Asian-produced CDs, DVDs, books, gifts and electronics. Lau will discuss how sites can strengthen their presence globally by focusing on a few key areas such as language and product selection, and which key features will localize the site in different markets.

Brett E. Lauter, director of emerging brands, The Home Depot

Micro-Segmentation: Going Where Stores and Catalogs Can’t Go

The web enables retailers to create a national market for niches in ways that stores and catalogs can’t. Brett E.Lauter will discuss how The Home Depot decided last year to launch Paces Trading Co., a micro-site which sells high-end lighting. He will explain how the web allows fast segmentation and what results The Home Depot has achieved.

Noah Maffitt, director of e-commerce, Office Depot

The Ever-Growing Challenge of Managing Web Site Content

There are myriad possibilities when publishing content on e-commerce sites, as well as a virtually endless number of pages to work with. However, choosing and presenting web content presents unique challenges retailers must face as they offer more products and information, says Noah Maffit. Acquiring and managing content, making it usable, and hiring effective staffers is key, he adds.

Gordon Magee, Internet marketing manager, Drs Foster and Smith

Search Engine Marketing: No. 1 Online Marketing Tool

Search engine marketing is more than transporting customers to your web site, it’s a highly effective merchandising tool. Gordon Magee details how the right marketing partner can help retailers identify the value of keywords and phrases based on revenue so they can bid accordingly, plus how to create a more effective SEM strategy. Retailers will also learn the attributes of quality in-house SEM professionals.

Federico Marchetti, CEO & Founder, Yoox.com

Putting the “World” in WWW: Strategies for Selling Globally

Selling successfully overseas begins with the right combination of e-commerce infrastructure, distinctive merchandise and local relationships, says Federico Marchetti. He will discuss Yoox’s global strategy of finding up-and-coming designers to design exclusive collections for Yoox’s international web retailing markets. “Our main priority is finding good people who think out of the box,” Marchetti says.

Fredrick Marckini, CEO, iProspect.com

Search Engine Marketing: No. 1 Online Marketing Tool

Search marketing is a balance between paying for placement and improving natural search ranking. Fredrick Marckini will help retailers understand the leading factors to achieving top rankings in natural search results and how to select keywords to optimize paid and natural search. He’ll also discuss using search to convert visitors to buyers, how to get ROI out of keyword bidding, and when to outsource search marketing.

Marissa Mayer, vice president of product development, Froogle

Vertical Search Engines: The New Way to Find Products

Internet search engines can generate pages of irrelevant data that can easily bury the best shopping options, but vertical search engines can produce a narrower and more targeted set of results. That’s the concept behind Froogle, a search engine devoted to web shopping developed by Google. Marissa Mayer will explain how Froogle works and how it will help shape the vertical search market.

Tamara Mendelsohn, analyst, Forrester Research Inc.

Putting the “World” in WWW: Strategies for Selling Globally

Selling to overseas customers is complex. Tamara Mendelsohn, who recently completed a study on strategies for international commerce, will walk retailers through what they need to know to create a viable overseas selling strategy. “International expansion requires tremendous brand marketing and technology investment, making this endeavor not for the faint of heart,” she says.

John Miniati, vice president, comScore Networks

Who’s Online and How Do You Reach Them?

John Miniati will quantify the influence of the Internet on sales generated online and offline, focusing in particular on the impact of search on offline sales and latent online purchases. He will highlight the multi-channel impact of search across retail categories and provide insight on how to best prepare for the 2006 holiday shopping season to maximize sales potential from online search.

Lynnette Montgomery, general manager of e-commerce, Levenger Co.

How Small Design Changes Can Yield Big Conversion Rate Gains

When Levenger redesigned its web site, it was with the goal of being more customer-friendly. “All the steps we took were to minimize the number of clicks,” says Lynnette Montgomery. Among the improvements she will discuss: placing the search box at the top of the page, including product images in shopping cart and how site redesigns aid in customer acquisition and search engine optimization.

Robert Myers, vice president, merchandising, QVC

When TV and the Internet Merge, Web Shopping Explodes

Customers comfy on their couches soon will see the blossoming of a new shopping hybrid—television and e-commerce. While watching TV shopping programs, viewers will be able to become online customers, purchasing items ... as seen on TV. It won’t be long before TVs come with keyboards for viewers to navigate cable. When that happens, the TV will start acting like a computer—complete with e-commerce.

Cory Nielsen, director of web services, FurnitureFind.com

Making Sense of Online Shopping Malls

Online shopping malls—ranging from comparison shopping sites like Shopzilla.com and Shopping.com to Amazon and Yahoo stores to rebate sites—can serve as effective ways to reach customers. But the many mall options also make it difficult to pick the right ones. Cory Nielsen will explain why it’s good to choose one e-mall or another with particular retail strategies in mind.

Jim Okamura, senior partner, J.C. Williams Group

Traps to Avoid in Creating and Operating Retail Web Sites

Common traps to avoid are often based on a retailer’s failure to integrate its web business plan into the broader company strategy. Jim Okamura will discuss how this failure can apply to business objectives, people, processes, technology, merchandising or marketing. He’ll share recent research on consumers’ online and multi-channel shopping behavior, and provide insight on current and emerging traps to avoid.

David Patterson, Internet director, Edwin Watts Golf Shops

Site Search: The Web’s In-Store Merchandising Tool

David Patterson examines how retailers can tap hidden revenue by paying closer attention to site searches that turn up no results, using site search to target promotions when the customer can readily be seduced, and the differences between “dynamic learning” and “Boolean” search. Other topics include using site search to gain a competitive advantage and creating feedback mechanisms to improve the customer experience.

Kurt Peters, editor, Internet Retailer

Revealing & Analyzing America’s 500 Largest E-Retailers

Understanding the 500 largest online retailers is crucial to understanding the online retailing industry. The Top 500 account for well over 50% of all online sales. In this session, Kurt Peters will reveal the latest data from the Internet Retailer Top 500 and explain how the market rankings have changed since the previous edition a year ago.

Michael Phillips, Internet strategist, Yankee Candle

Getting the Nervous Nellies to Buy Online

At YankeeCandle.com, displaying Scan Alert’s Hacker Safe certification icon helps convert shoppers into customers, Michael Phillips says. During A/B tests, the company achieved a 12.8% higher conversion rate in the segment viewing pages with the icon, he adds. “Regardless of user interface design or brand recognition, there will be shoppers who require a higher comfort level before making a purchase,” he says.

Matthew Poepsel, vice president, general manager, Gomez Inc.

Revealing & Analyzing America’s 500 Largest E-Retailers

With today’s complex web applications and increasing user expectations, leading retailers are expanding their definition of benchmarking to encompass “Service Management” from an end-user perspective. Matt Poepsel will highlight observed Service Management results for several top retailers with a focus on web site consistency, delivery to the “Last Mile,” and third-party content provider contributions as advanced benchmarking topics.

Safa Rashtchy, managing director, senior Internet analyst, Piper Jaffrey

Wall Street Takes a Second Look at E-Retailing

Wall Street once again is looking on Internet companies with favor. Safa Rashtchy will discuss how current trends—increasing competition from established offline retailers and smaller niche players and the threat posed by local search—are coloring that view. And he will outline why investors generally are favoring companies in the customer or lead generation business.

Theresa Regli, director, content management, Molecular Inc.

Site Search: The Web’s In-Store Merchandising Tool

Although shoppers using site search convert at a higher rate than those using navigation tools, site search remains an under-used merchandising tool. Theresa Regli will demonstrate how to get more out of site search, including helping customers zero in on products, how to deliver relevant returns when shoppers use broad-based search words, and ways to create cross-sell and up-sell opportunities within search results.

Geoff Robertson, vice president, e-commerce, J.C. Whitney Co.

Redesigns: The Need for Them and Strategy Behind Them

J.C. Whitney redesigned its web site and made it easier for customers to shop an online inventory of more than 100,000 vehicle parts and accessories. Geoff Robertson will detail how better guided navigation and other improvements are helping J.C. Whitney boost conversion rates on some products by more than 10%. “With the redesign, we made finding the right item easy and accurate,” he says.

Chris Saito, senior director, shopping products, Yahoo Shopping

Social Networking: The Peer Persuasion Marketing Tool

Yahoo Shopping is offering an online social networking environment where consumers can post reviews, trade experiences about shopping and help one another make buying decisions. Chris Saito will explain how retailers can harness the power of these networks to generate sales. He’ll also cover how retailers can assure that information in these networks is accurate and supportive of their brands.

Ezzie Schaff, vice president, risk management, Ice.com

Taking Security Into Your Own Hands

As a category, jewelry faces particular risk from online fraud, yet Ice.com reduced its chargeback rate to under 1% over the holidays. Ezzie Schaff will share Ice.com’s technology and tactics and will discuss Ice’s best anti-fraud weapon: well-trained fraud prevention analysts. “With all this technology to minimize the risk of card-not-present transactions, the most valuable asset we have is our people,” Schaff says.

Dan Schatt, analyst, Celent Communications

Alternative Payments: Moving Beyond Credit Card Only

Credit cards have dominated Internet retailing since the industry’s beginning, but their hegemony is weakening as alternative payment options gain ground. Dan Schatt, who recently completed a study of alternative online payments, will examine alternative payment companies and give insight into the merchant services they offer beyond payments. He also will discuss the emerging mobile channel and its payment options, including PayPal Mobile.

Jeff Schueler, president, Usability Sciences Corp.

How Small Design Changes Can Yield Big Conversion Rate Gains

Jeff Schueler will lay out the 10 commandments of conversion rates. Among them: Add to Cart button must be above the fold, make it easy to start checkout, make product images as impressive and functional as possible, make errors easy to correct. He will discuss interface design and flow issues that Usability Sciences has seen to be problematic for Internet retailers in converting shoppers.

Matt Seely, CEO, CheetahMail

E-Mail Marketing: The Best Way to Target Your Marketing Message

One of the most effective marketing tools is e-mail because of its ability to build customer loyalty and to direct the right pitch to the right customer. It is also an offshoot of direct marketing that retailers and catalogers are familiar with. Matt Seely will address the opportunities and challenges of e-mail marketing, sharing insights from CheetahMail’s perspective as provider of e-mail marketing services to online retailers.

Paul Segre, EVP, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories

Web Site Self-Service Doesn’t Mean Auto-Pilot

A survey by Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories reports that 57% of consumers have more than once called contact centers after trying to use web site self-service. Paul Segre will examine which customer service functions are most appropriate for online self-service, how retailers can ensure self-service functions are operating correctly, and how to train staff to encourage customers to use self-service.

Andy Stevenson, senior director, Crutchfield.com

Using Content to Make Your Site Stand Out

Many retail web sites rely on product descriptions and images from manufacturers. But when all web sites carry the same product descriptions and images, it becomes hard for an e-retailer to differentiate itself. Crutchfield.com makes itself stand out by editing manufacturers’ content to suit its own needs. Andy Stevenson will discuss how Crutchfield makes its product content unique, the cost of doing so, and the ROI.

Gerry Sweeney, senior vice president, Visa USA

Getting the Nervous Nellies to Buy Online

Gerry Sweeney will highlight consumer marketing and education tools Visa uses to encourage online purchasing among first-time shoppers and cautious long-time shoppers reacting to news about identity theft. He will discuss Visa’s security initiatives, the strategy behind Visa advertising campaigns and the results of a new consumer preference survey highlighting the growing importance of consumer-driven authentication tools.

Michael Tam, SVP, marketing, e-commerce chief, Borders Group Inc.

The Many Ways the Internet Can Drive Brand Preference and Loyalty

While partnering with Amazon to operate its retail e-commerce site, Borders is taking its own innovative steps to engage online shoppers and keep them coming back. Michael Tam, with Kevin Ertell, will describe how Borders is using cutting-edge rich media applications, including seasonal gift-finders, that help its customers personalize gift selections and build repeat traffic to its web site.

Howard Tong, vice president, Newegg.com

From Zero to a Billion in Four Years

Newegg.com blew past the $1 billion sales mark in just four years because it knows precisely who its customers are and what motivates them to buy online, says Howard Tong. He will discuss how Newegg.com built a loyal following among serious do-it-yourself techies and gamers by offering new payment options and more consumer electronics and games. “We formulate around the customer,” he says.

Boris Wertz, COO, Abebooks.com

Affiliate Marketing: Unsung Hero of Online Marketing

Boris Wertz walks retailers through how to set up a clear affiliate marketing business model around which to generate additional traffic and revenues without overpaying. Topics include how to set a payment structure, ways to optimize an affiliate partnership, how to select the right partners, program retention strategies, and which analytics will accurately measure the program’s success and value of each partnership.

Mary Brett Whitfield, senior vice president, Retail Forward Inc.

Internet Retailer Profit Survey: How Retail Sites Stack Up on the Bottom Line

Mary Brett Whitfield will provide Retail Forward’s analysis of the profitability of online retail sites, based on her own expertise and on the results of a recent Internet Retailer survey on online retailers’ profitability. She will examine such factors the percentage of sales that companies are reinvesting in operations, technology and marketing and what levels of profitability retailers should expect and how they can achieve that.

John Yunker, president, Byte Level Research

Designing Sites for Global Sales