I have been in Las Vegas this week at Shoptalk, a retail / tech conference that dig deep into online and offline retail, considering different models, trends and the shopper experience.
Shoptalk was different to many conferences I have attended – there was very little PowerPoint, sessions were short and on topic, there was considerable honesty about trends and speedhunps and there was an honesty about the place of the various type of retail including high street and online.
Most conferences run from 9 to 4 or 5 in the afternoon. Shoptalk ran from 8 to 6. This is interesting as the long day speaks to the focus of the organisers, participating speakers and attendees to the speed and scope of change relaxing to retail right now. It was a high energy conference with many announcements, plenty of start-ups represented and some extraordinary technology on show.
The other difference is in attendee engagement. Most the the 3,000 attendees engaged from start to end. This is rare for tech conferences.
While I am not planning on sharing insights here at this time I will note that at the end of one session, I said to a colleague – I feel like my head is exploding. Over the course of 100 minutes, four presenters from international companies reset boundaries of what could be possible for high street retailers engaging online.
The big challenge for independent small business retailers is how to remain relevant in such a rapidly changing world, especially a world that is generations removed from what you may be transacting in today.
More soon on this.
Sounds like an insightfull event Mark – looking forward to further updates.
Each country and retail environment has its own mix of dynamics and challenges. I hope you were not alone flying the flag.
Colin I was there with two Tower colleagues. Not many other Aussies there though.