ONLINE RETAILING FORUM
Original Event: July 29, 2008 - New York, NY
Forum Agenda
| Tuesday, July
29, 2008 Conference Room: E103-E105 Javits Convention Center, New York, NY Final Forum Agenda 8:00 am - Registration Start your day with coffee and informal networking with friends and colleagues 9:00 am - Opening Remarks
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9:30 am - Live from the Consumer Revolution: Understanding the Online Fine Jewelry Customer and How They Shop
Interactive marketing is finally getting executive attention but there remains the need for guidance on which new channels to prioritize and a plan for how to mature and organize these new initiatives. Taking a customer centric e-commerce approach strikes the balance between branding and commerce making online retail a viable channel.This session will profile key online fine jewelry shoppers, exploring behavioral patterns and analyzing key demographics. Learn how to fully leverage site measurement and the best additionally available tools and analytics to connect with and sell through to your best customers. Specifically, leading online retail experts reveal how to:
- Understand how the online customer who buys from site is different than the customer who conducts research and, ultimately, comes to your store
- Profile the online buyer and the on-line shopper, exploring behavioral patterns and analyzing key demographics
- Utilize state of the art analytic tools help you understand the digital consumer so you can best leverage your site, multi-channel marketing and your products to appeal to them
- Capture and build market share through a thorough understanding of your potential customer base
PANELISTS:
- Scott Silverman, Executive Director, SHOP.ORG (Moderator)
- Pinny Gniwisch, VP, Marketing, ICE.COM
- Mike Gottfried, Retail, Regional Business Manager, GOOGLE, INC.
10:30 am - Refreshments & Networking Break
11:00 am - Excellence in Multi-Channel Retail: Leveraging the Web to Drive Your Brand On- and Off-line
Digital marketing has brought retailers an unparalleled opportunity for new customer acquisition strategies in a highly cost efficient manner. Consumers use multiple channels to learn about products and make purchase decisions. To pull through this process, retailers need to develop the right channel mix for each type of consumer and plan accordingly from search engine optimization to affiliate marketing to data-only analytics. Online consumers demonstrate a clear preference for retailers that provide well-connected multiple points of contact. The most successful companies are positioning their sites and stores to compliment one another, maximizing the benefits and strengths of both channels to create a focused, cohesive and unified operation. In this session experts detail strategies to:
- Leverage your website as an extension of your brand
- Engaging the online customer and drive in store and site traffic
- Employ the latest standards in metrics and analytics for focusing your customer acquisition efforts
- Optimizing their use of core tools, from online specials to search engine and e-mail marketing
PANELISTS:
- Whitney Sielaff, Editorial Director, NATIONAL JEWELER (Moderator)
- Kirsten Darrow, Marketing Director, FRED MEYER JEWELERS
- Alex Fetanat, President, GEMFIND
- Mark P. Moeller, CGG, Chief Executive Officer, R.F. MOELLER JEWELER
- Jason Thom, General Manager, VON BARGENS
12:00 pm - Lunch Break
Visit with colleagues, friends, sponsors and the JA-New York Show floor before, after or during your lunch. take this time to meet the people you need to see!
1:30 pm - Taking your Successful Brick and Mortar Business Online: Understanding, Obtaining and Integrating Essential E-Services to become a Truly Competitive Online Retailer
E-tailers with no physical store and low overhead typically operate on an overall gross margin structure which is about 1/2 of that of jewelers with traditional storefront and inventory overhead. So when a traditional storefront retailer is forced to match the online diamond price it is often impossible. The result is that a lot of traditional retail jewelers are choosing to forego the diamond sale to an e-tailer, and instead are settling for a full mark-up on the sale of the engagement ring mounting. To truly compete with the pure play internet retailers, successful independent jewelers are looking at how they can maximize inventory, minimize start-up cost and add online services to their brick and mortar business. In this session, industry experts discuss the essential services required to compete with the big boys and level the playing field. Specifically, experts discuss how to:
- Maximize usability and stickiness with modern and effective e-commerce web design
- Increase purchasing power and selection through partnerships with multiple buying organization
- Keep customers coming back by offering custom design tools and unique gem selections
- Minimize fulfillment and warehousing costs through outsourced solutions similar to e-tailers like Blue Nile and Amazon
- Ensure that you get the most out of your organization’s web presence through effective search engine optimization
- Boost credibility and confidence through certification transparency and education
PANELISTS:
- Larry Chasin, Founder & CEO, IDEAL DIAMOND SOLUTIONS, INC. (Moderator)
- Cindy Edelstein, President, JEWELER’S RESOURCE BUREAU
- Rob May, Executive Director, NATURAL COLOR DIAMOND ASSOCIATION
- Marc Solomon, President, SOLOMONS JEWELERS
- Abraham Stern, Chief Executive Officer, IDEX ONLINE
3:00 pm - Expand Reach, Maximize Click-Throughs and Conversion Rates through Innovative 3rd Party Partnerships
Selecting the best partner can be the most important strategic decision you make in growing your online business. It is essential that retailers understand the many options available to them including both the popular third-party partners such as eBay, Yahoo and Amazon and the many other online merchants that meet the needs of today’s retailer. Plus, we will examine how retailers are lowering carrying costs and increasing customer satisfaction by expanding offerings through online sourcing via internet-based diamond and gem databases. Learn optimal methods for integrating these powerful tools enabling you to compete more strongly for diamond and gem sales.
PANELISTS:
- Chris Casey, Publisher, NATIONAL JEWELER (Moderator)
- Jay Gerber, Vice President, M.GELLER
- John Brassem, Founder, ECLIPSE GLOBAL CONSULTING
- Alex Fetanat, President, GEMFIND
- Michael Ober, Senior Account Manager, Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, YAHOO!
4:00 pm - CLICK HERE! The Best of the Best
All day, you’ve been learning about key benchmarks and metrics. Now is your chance to see the standard bearers throughout the world of digital retail. Our experts take you through the sites of the industry leaders, with a special focus on independent operations, so you can bookmark destinations that you and your team can return to time and time again for guidance and ideas.
PANELISTS:
- Donald Davis, Editorial Director, INTERNET RETAILER (Moderator)
- David Kohel, Director of E-Commerce, FRED MEYER JEWELERS
- Neil Kugelman, CEO, GOLDSPEED.COM
- James "JT" Thome, Senior Vice President, E-Commerce and Strategic Business Development, JEWELRY TELEVISION NETWORK
5:00 pm - Close of Forum
