Make the most of your visit to eCommerce Expo 2019

‍We'd be delighted to meet with you at the show. To arrange a suitable time, email j.birtle@9xb.com

15,000 delegates, 150 suppliers, 12 conference theatres and 250+ sessions across three shows -  the London eCommerce Expo can be a bit overwhelming. So how can you make the most of it and return to your organisation with a list of actionable insights?

Always start with your objectives. Are you just setting up or looking to grow your online presence? Do you need a new eCommerce platform? Are you looking for inspiration to increase conversion across your existing channels or to better understand what your competitors are doing? If you are a business owner or senior manager – you are likely to come to the expo looking for a solution to a business problem.

Be clear about your objectives. What are the pains and challenges faced by your business and industry? There will be plenty of inspiration and free expert advice if you plan your day well.

• Do a quick review of the exhibitors https://www.ecommerceexpo.co.uk/2019-exhibitors. Shortlist a few must see ones. Visit their stands prepared with a few questions or ready to describe your challenge and ask the vendors for their recommendations.

Are you planning a move to online? Is this your first eCommerce website/operation? Or is it time to move to a new more flexible platform (17% respondents to our 2019 Yorkshire Digital Pulse Survey said they were planning to make their website transactional in the next 12 months1).

• You’ll want to know how you can integrate the rest of your systems with your website to deliver a true omnichannel experience. You get a bigger share of wallet if your customers have a choice of channels (customers interacting with an omni-channel business spent 4% more in-store and 10% more online2).
  Ask us how we solved many integration challenges and enabled our customers’ customers to seamlessly move between the website and their offline stores (especially useful for B2B where an in-store quote has more chances of converting into an order via the website, once the customer has had chance to consider it). Don’t let the complexity of your infrastructure limit your online growth - like it does for almost a quarter of businesses3.
• Don’t forget the product data – it’s not just the initial set-up of the website; ask how easy it is to maintain your online product catalogue after go live. Especially when your catalogue has tens of thousands of SKUs, as is the case with our largest client, Euro Car Parts..
• Budget is usually an important consideration; enquire about the platform and support fees. Most platforms utilise a share of revenue model, ramping up costs as website traffic increases. Others, like 9xb, charge a one off project cost, with no ongoing licence fees. Take some time to consider which model best supports your business objectives. If you are still working through getting sign-off for your project – the vendors/agencies would be able to suggest ways of estimating ROI and additional benefits.

You could even uncover some interesting facts about competitors. You might discover exhibitors with whom your competitors already work. It’s always useful to benchmark your business against competitors and industry standards.

If your manager is expecting you to return from the expo with a list of actionable recommendations and make an immediate impact to your online sales – you must do a bit of prep ahead of time.

Check the programme, build your personal agenda, and make sure you attend the sessions run by partners you work with already. They will share tips on how to use their products, case studies and brief training sessions. Talk to the other attendees – especially if you have a specific pain; they are people who use the same online tools and you’ll have plenty to learn from them.

We will be visiting Algolia’s stand – our web search partner and they are likely to reveal exciting features from their roadmap. We’re also keen to hear the speakers at the UX & CRO and at the Omnichannel theatres. Panel sessions like the one Thursday morning on building an effective customer journey across multiple touchpoints – are particularly useful;  experts from across a variety of industries talk about how they solved challenges in their own business. Real life examples and transferable learnings; for us - a deeper understanding of challenges faced by online retailers and merchants. Come and see us on stand D64.

Challenge Us

9xb is an eCommerce specialist, helping leading retailers overcome barriers to growth through eCommerce strategy, unrivalled technology, digital marketing and optimisation. Our in-house platform powers some of the UK’s largest and most complex operations, freeing growing eCommerce businesses from the constraints of traditional platforms. If you’re coming up against a barrier to your growth, come and speak to us, and challenge us to find a solution. Take a look at some of the complex eCommerce projects where we’ve excelled.

For more information visit the event website or contact us to book a meeting.

Register for the event

1. Yorkshire Digital Pulse Survey 2019, 9xb. See the full results.
2. Harvard Business Review (2017)A Study of 46,000 Shoppers Shows That Omnichannel Retailing Works.
3. Yorkshire Digital Pulse Survey 2019, 9xb.