5 Things We Learned at IRCE about the New Frontier for Internet Retailers

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by Christien Louviere | June 23, 2009

Dukky spent a few days at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition last week in Boston. Despite the gloomy economy and the shrinking budgets of consumers and marketers alike, enthusiasm about the future of e-commerce buzzed. It seems we’re on the brink of a new frontier – thanks to emerging mobile technologies, wide adoption of social networking sites and a new consumer sentiment that prizes transparency and responsibility.

Here are the five most important e-commerce concepts we either learned (or remembered) while at IRCE:

1) Look at the mobile commerce space as the web of the early 90s: Mobile is changing the world. From the riots in Iran to the coupons in your local grocery store, mobile devices are changing the way we communicate, make purchases, spend our “free time.” Smart phones are 13% of the market now and growing to 38% in 2013. A lot more innovation is to come.

2) Focus on connecting consumers with your brand not your products: Under Armour’s vice president of e-commerce Mark Kuhns said their social media strategy is focused on creating a connection in their customers lives rather than just selling them stuff. It’s working.

3) Email, social & search should be integral in customer acquisition: Customers are spending more and more of  their time online. You need to go out and find them there. You’ll lose them if you don’t.

4) Many companies spoke about getting ready for the recovery instead of wading in the recession: Now is the time to innovate – it’s not the time to hole up and hide. We wrote more about innovation is key to keeping your marketing job earlier this month.

5) Be fiercely competitive and don’t be afraid to take ideas from the bigger players: Amazon is a great example – they started by just selling books and music, now they sell just about everything.

Image Source: Flickr

– Christien Louviere, Business Development