Category: Event

Speaking at NetcomSuisse’s “E-nnovation” event in Baden on “AI in multichannel retail”

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It was a pleasure to travel to Baden (not far from Zurich) to present at the E-nnovation Week (https://e-nnovationweek.com/) event. Congratulations to Carlo Terreni and his team for putting on an impressive multitrack, multiday conference and expo.

I took as my theme the growing role of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in multichannel retail… what is it, what are the main elements and how can we use it. I focused on AI in image-recognition and looked at examples from shelf-edge scanners to custom tailoring; checkout-free stores to product search.

If you’d like a copy of the presentation or to discuss further then do let me know.

InternetRetailing Conference 2016 – our 11th annual event

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I was pleased to open both www.edeliveryconference.com and www.internetretailingconference.com and welcome the usual senior gathering of multichannel professionals to our intense multi-track conference and expo.

You can see the write-up of the event and also videos of proceedings on the conference site, but a particular thanks to Tony Rivenell of Halfords who was game enough to do a Q&A on the role of the Chief Digital Officer during our keynote sessions…

Opening presentation for the International Association of Department Stores (IADS.org)

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I’ve long been a great fan of the IADS and have contributed in the past to their events. I was therefore particularly pleased to be invited to open their conference in London on Omnichannel/multichannel on 15 September, 2016.

Department stores have been at the forefront of multichannel development in the U.K. And Europe and so it was interesting to share with them the research from our IREU Top500 2016 report, which created a performance-based ranking of Europe’s multichannel and pure play retailers. With delegates from the EU, Asia and South America it was an international gathering.

While the presentation and discussions were confidential, the IREU report is available from InternetRetailing – www.internetretailing.net/ireu 

Brief appearance on the BBC’s ‘Christmas at John Lewis’ documentary

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Provided you didn’t blink in the wrong place you may have caught my contribution to a BBC documentary on how John Lewis prepares for Christmas. I had great fun contributing to a topic that we’ve covered ourselves – namely how the elite retailers prepare for peak. An interesting take within the programme was that #BlackFriday had changed the ‘traditional’ Christmas peak, and further looked at the role of eCommerce ‘pure play’ giant Amazon.co.uk in the competitive landscape for John Lewis.

The programme aired on 23 December, 2015, titled “Christmas Shopping Fever 2015: John Lewis and the Retail Race” and you can see it for a while on BBC iPlayer – http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06t3kqt/christmas-shopping-fever-2015-john-lewis-and-the-retail-race

 

Ian Jindal discussing John Lewis with Cherry Healey for BBC 2's

 

I was really impressed with the research the team did beforehand. We had a number of phone discussions, follow-up questions and a good brief on the ‘arc’ of the show. I had a great time filming my snippets and even though it was a couple of hours the time passed really quickly. I’m sure that TV production crews forget how interesting we find the whole process! Most of the filming I do is around our events and these tend to be one-take-only commentaries. At first I thought that it was a luxury to have more time, but now I simply feel a combination of awe and sympathy at the skill and patience needed to turn hundreds of hours of footage into a coherent, brief broadcast!

My on-screen contribution comprised of a review of the customer expectations on delivery (c 0h24’) and upon the role of SEO in supporting visibility and sales at peak (c0h30’).

We’ve covered John Lewis extensively on InternetRetailing – they’re one of our “Elite” UK retailers in the InternetRetailing Top500. You can see John Lewis’ company listing as well as information on the Top500 on our site.

We also covered BlackFriday and CyberMonday with rolling, on-the-hour information on the performance of the Top23 retailers in the UK and John Lewis’ performance over peak fared well.

Ian Jindal on the BBC's documentary on John Lewis' Christmas, 2015

Postnord’s E-handelsforum 2015 – video presentation

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I’ve spoken in the past at the well-produced E-Handelsforum by Postnord.se and I was pleased to be invited to their 2015 event.

Unfortunately I was travelling in Australia (speaking on the Westfield World Tour series of events) and so couldn’t be at the event in person. Rather glamorously they suggested I do a video covering my speaking points and – since I’d never done this before – I thought it’d be fun! What followed was a real learning exercise as I was helped and shepherded by a lovely producer and videographer to get my thoughts to camera… The following video was shown at the conference.

Thanks to Arne Andersson and the team at Postnord for making this happen.

These are the links to Arne’s write up and the conference agenda.

Speaking at Gladstone’s customer event

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I was pleased to provide an opening address to Gladstone’s Health and Leisure summit.

I took as my theme some of the lessons that software and services providers to the leisure sector could learn from retail, but as I worked on my presentation it was clear to me that this is not a ‘one-way street’. Gladstone provides the underpinning software for leisure centres, universities and organisations and so is at the sharp end not only of the increasingly digital customer’s demands, but also needs to provide a complex service over time – whether booking and paying for yoga lessons, or accessing your higher education college.

The Summit comprised staff, customers and sector suppliers and we had a great range of interested and challenging questions.

It was an immensely rewarding event and one where my research gave me many new perspectives.

Client: www.gladstonemrm.com

Booked via: https://www.jla.co.uk/

 

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Chairing ChannelAdvisor’s Catalyst EU Conference

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It was my pleasure to return as Chair to Catalyst 2013, Channeladvisor’s European conference.

This year the format was a mix of presentations and ‘fireside chats’ (even though we had no fire!).

I had a fun session with the irrepressible Chris Poad from Amazon – candid, engaging and fun as ever, and continuing his track record of never ducking a question.

Ian Jindal and Chris Poad having a ‘fireside chat’ at Catalyst 2013

I then had an equally candid and no-holds barred chat with Ashley Payne of Debenhams and Helena Risdale of Littlewoods Clearance.

Ian Jindal, Helena Risdale (Littlewoods Clearance) and Ashley Payne (Debenhams) having a ‘fireside chat’ at Catalyst 2013

Details of the event are here:

http://www.channeladvisor.com/catalyst2013/

and there’s a live-blog transcript of my chat with Mr Poad here:
http://ebaystrategies.blogs.com/ebay_strategies/2013/06/live-blogging-from-2013-catalyst-europe-amazon-fireside-chat.html

My thanks to ChannelAdvisor for their warm welcome and ever, and for the additional and generous support of my fundraising for Sonia.

Speaking: the Endeca Retail Dinner

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Just back from the rarified atmosphere of Mosimann’s  for the Endeca Retail Dinner.

Great group of people – Shop Direct, RS Components, Wiggle, Game, Tui… fun to catch up with people and meet new faces.

Endeca sponsored the last InternetRetailing CEO Dinner (see the photoset of Dinner05) and we had a wonderful and relaxed evening, so I was pleased to accept the invitation to say a few words to open (or delay!) dinner. I covered some topics from recent editorials – changes in retail, the growth of the voice of the customer, the challenges to eCommerce Directors as they embrace multi-channel and move to the Board table, and – of course – my most recent editorial on Total Retail, brining the skills, attitudes and approaches together.

We eat in the “Mappin & Webb” room (goodness only knows why the rooms are named after retailers and brands – the others are Mont Blanc, Davidoff, Bentley, Parmigiani Fleurier…). I had visions of watch salespeople jumping out mid-course, but the goods were locked in glass cabinets around the outer edges of the room. Mosimann’s is in a converted 19th century church and the M&W room was the old belfry.

Great venue, but I wonder why it wasn’t just called the Belfry… 😉 Meanwhile, any guesses welcomed as to how much M&W pay to sponsor the room, whether anyone takes that seriously, and how would you measure the ROI on the cost?

Thanks to Endeca for being great hosts and making the evening happen.

TheAppLounge – launched tonight

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Just back from Wardour Street where I was pleased to have spoken a few words at the launch of TheAppLounge ‘pop up’ experience store.

You can see details at www.theapplounge.com, but in brief it’s a place to meet, socialise, experience and understand software and technology in support of one’s ‘digital life’.

Alexander Grünsteidl (Senior Director of User Experiences at Method), who conceived the AppLounge sums it up:

“The AppLounge is a pilot store that aims to bridge the gap between the in-store and online retail experience. The space is designed to encourage customers to slow down, have a drink, and sample a variety of applications and accessories on display.”

I’ve had numerous discussions with Alexander over the years since we were introduced by Nico Macdonald at an Innovation Reading Circle evening, and he’s been working on ways to change the relationship between brands and customers, and the way products are designed for markets, for a number of years via his Digital Wellbeing Labs.

The AppLounge will be open as follows:

15 September, 2010 – 2 October, 2010 at

Meza, 100 Wardour Street, London W1F 0TN