Ecommerce is an evolving field. Every year, there are new best practices and technologies that change the game and help driven professionals reach their goals.
Whether you’re an owner or the marketing lead for an ecommerce company, it pays to know where the industry is heading. Even though doing your own research and learning from experience are both good ideas, you should also consider conferences.
Ecommerce conferences are culminations of the best minds, most proven techniques, and smartest predictions about the field moving forward. Read on to discover some of the ones you don’t want to miss in 2020.
2020’s top ecommerce conferences you don’t want to miss
When you travel to an ecommerce conference, you’re doing more than just attending an event with like-minded professionals. You’re getting insight from the industry’s top influencers and you’re getting a glimpse into the future.
To make sure you understand the best way to handle sales in the digital landscape, consider stopping by one of these exciting conferences.
1. National Retail Federation’s Retail Big Show
Starting the year off with an immersion into the ecommerce world is a smart idea to get your 2020 rolling properly. If you’re willing to travel to New York, NY, you’ll be able to join in the excitement of the National Retail Federation’s Retail Big Show.
The opening receptions take place at the Javits Center on January 11, with the conference and expo taking place on January 12-14. Nicknamed “2020 Vision,” this event will be full of futurists. The main focus is showing how tomorrow’s technology will change the way ecommerce professionals do business.
Source: NRF 2020: Retail’s Big Show
If you’re an ecommerce professional planning on attending, you’ll be in good company. This event will have 38,000 attendees including 16,000 retailers and 800 exhibitors from nearly 100 countries. It’s a massive meeting of the ecommerce world’s leading minds, and those who want to harness the future of the field for success in 2020.
Stopping by this event is a helpful way to learn where you should invest your energy. It can also help you build a vision for the future of your company.
2. ShopTalk 2020
Taking place in an area known for excitement and buzzworthy events, the annual ShopTalk conference will be held in Las Vegas, NV during 2020.
Running from March 22-25, this event will feature industry leaders and innovators from a wide range of industries. Well-established brand leaders, pioneers from fast-growing startups, and prolific investors will all be present.
Beginning in 2021, Shoptalk will feature a 50/50 split of male and female speakers. However, they’ll be doing something groundbreaking in 2020. Beyond just being one of the most talent-heavy events in the ecommerce field, this conference will do more.
It’ll be one of the best ecommerce conferences around the world in 2020, if you’re looking for a progressive gathering.
That’s because, in 2020, the event will feature an all-female speaker lineup. This move was done to show how many women are making advancements in the field of ecommerce and to give them a platform to impart their wisdom to all those who attend.
ShopTalk’s decision has helped to continue the growth of female presence in retail and entrepreneurship. Women now own 40% of U.S. businesses, and start nearly 2,000 new businesses per year.
The 80 speakers will include a number of brilliant minds from companies you may have shopped from before. They include:
- Leslie Leifer: Vice President of Enterprise Strategy & Business Development at 1-800-Flowers
- Liyan Chen: Product Expert in International Corporate Affairs at Alibaba
- Jennie Weber: Vice President of Customer & Employee Experience at Best Buy
- Brie Carere: Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at FedEx
- Amy Vener: Vertical Strategy Lead in Retail at Pinterest
As you can see, this conference is completely stacked with talent. These aren’t just people who are experienced in their field. They’re people who are experienced working at some of the biggest brands in the world.
Though the conference has only been going since 2015, it’s the fastest-growing event in the history of retail. In only three years, they rocketed to 8,000+ attendees. Will you be one of those stopping by in 2020?
3. B2B Online
The world of ecommerce doesn’t discriminate. You’re going to find companies of all sizes online. More importantly, you’ll find companies from every industry you can imagine.
While every industry offers some level of importance to its customers, manufacturing and distribution are some of the most valuable fields out there. It’s also bustling, especially in the U.S. going into 2020. The U.S.’s manufacturing sector is producing over 18% of the world’s goods.
Source: B2B Online
Taking place from April 20-22 at the Chicago Marriott, this event will feature over 900 B2B leaders. You’ll learn about the technology poised to drive the industry forward. More importantly, you’ll get strategies to boost your profits.
There will be 80+ sessions, white-glove service, and a great environment to help you build long-lasting connections.
4. Ecommerce Operations Summit
Boasted as the only conference to cover the entire scope of ecommerce, this event will take place April 14-16 at the Marriott Orlando World Center in Orlando, FL.
As one of the most anticipated ecommerce conferences of 2020, this event is focused on two things. These are direct-to-customer communication and omnichannel operations/fulfillment. The main takeaways you can expect to find at this event are strategies for improving your customer’s experience.
Customer experience is everything in ecommerce. Since it takes a dozen positive experiences to make up for one bad one, and nearly 90% of customers will ditch a company after only one bad experience, you need to know how to keep your buyers happy.
Another key area of focus at this event involves cross-departmental processes. If you’re growing a startup or you’re a marketing lead at a thriving firm, you need to know how to coordinate operations across the entire team for the best results.
Does loss prevention know how to reach those customers who had something go wrong with their experience? Does the head of budgeting understand how important it is that you have the best ecommerce tools moving forward? These are just some of the points you can discuss at the Ecommerce Operations Summit.
5. Traffic & Conversion Summit
Increasing conversion-heavy traffic is a core aspect of ecommerce. You need to get eyes on your digital space. However, you also need to know how to attract those who are more likely to engage with you and become a long-time customer.
Source: Traffic & Conversion Summit
The versatility of this San Diego-based event is one of its strong points. Even though you’re going in knowing the focus is on traffic and conversions, there are several areas here you’ll be able to zero in on.
- Big Ideas: Focusing on teaching founders and executives what’s coming next
- Agencies Only: Helps agencies and consultants find the tools and tips they need to succeed
- Digital Retailers: Designed for Amazon sellers and ecommerce marketers
- Digital Advertisers: Designed to give tips to traffic managers and media specialists
- Content Marketers: Content marketing is a core advertising tool for ecommerce sellers
- Conversational Marketers: Covers tech like chatbots and inbound marketing tools
- Growth Hacker: Offers tips and tricks on traffic optimization and online growth
This three-day event begins on March 31 and is focused solely on tested strategies. They leave conceptual ideas and theories at the door. The tips these thousands of brilliant marketing minds bring are proven and tested to bring you traffic, revenue, and results.
6. The Social Shake-Up
We round out the list with a conference that focuses on one of the modern ecommerce seller’s best (and often most underutilized) tools: social media.
While social media usage by ecommerce companies did double from 2017 to 2018, there are still plenty of companies that could leverage it more efficiently in 2019 and beyond.
The main idea behind the Social Shake-Up involves finding creative ways to leverage social channels for ecommerce marketing. The event takes place from May 12-14 in Atlanta, GA and will have some of the greatest minds from both ecommerce and social media.
There will be over 1,000 attendees, and you’ll get strategies geared for small, medium, and large businesses alike. Every story you’ll hear will be from someone who’s shaken social media up in some way—all the advice will be actionable, and there’ll be plenty of opportunities for networking. Plus, there will be great food, because who doesn’t like snacks while browsing social platforms?
Wrap up
If you’re looking for ecommerce conferences in 2020, there are plenty of great ones to choose from. These are some of the best ecommerce conferences around the world in 2020, and they give you the chance to learn from the field’s best minds. Remember:
- The best conferences bring minds from the world’s leading companies
- You can’t go wrong with industry-specific events for greater focus
- Technologies and data-backed strategies are more valuable takeaways
Ecommerce is a tricky art to master, but it offers plenty of advantages. Learn more about these advantages and see exactly what makes Campaign Monitor’s ecommerce product such a great tool to use.