Chairing a panel at The Walpole’s Far Eastern Growth Summit on Luxury

I’m a massive fan of the work that Walpole does in creating a voice and forum for the luxury market in the UK, and especially providing a space to discuss digital developments.

I was pleased therefore to contribute once more to their events, this time by chairing the panel on digital luxury.

Ian Jindal introducing the panel discussion at The Walpole’s Fast Eastern Summit in April 2015, London

 

The panel comprised Ken Ardali, @alibaba_group ; Anson Bailey, KPMG; Thomas Crampton, Ogilvy & Mather; Adrian Moss, Demandware; and Michael Ward @harrods  #WalpoleSummit

You can see a write-up of the event here:

http://www.thewalpole.co.uk/eastern-growth-luxury-summit-2015

 

 

Morrison’s move to online grocery delivery – BBC Radio interview (Shane O’Connor show)

On 10 January, 2014 Morrisons at last joined the ‘club’ of major grocers in the UK who deliver online. Their share price and reputation had been on the receiving end of negative sentiment, and so with the launch of the pilot programme in the West Midlands I was interviewed by BBC Radio, starting with a direct question “They are so behind the game, is that going to be a problem for them [Morrisons]? Coming to the party so late?”…

My colleague at InternetRetailing, Chloe Rigby, covered the story and you can leave comments and join the debate there: http://internetretailing.net/2014/01/one-week-on-how-is-morrisons-online-grocery-service-going/

Chairing ChannelAdvisor’s Catalyst EU Conference

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

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

Global eCommerce Summit (GES): Chairing a roundtable

I was pleased to be invited to the GES in Monaco, an attempt by our friends and Shop.org and BBP of the Netherlands to work with EMOTA and other associations to create a pan-European high level conference in a similar vein to the big US conferences (like Shop.org and Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition, IRCE).

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The venue was astounding and the weather, erm, “convivial” to say the least. The hotel/resort had much of the US golf/leisure complex feel of Florida-based conferences, but I’m stunned to discover that the costs of putting on an event in Monaco are so much cheaper than London, Amsterdam or Barcelona. Mental note for the future, even if the destination has unfortunate resonances in a time of parsimony and corporate belt-tightening.

The speaker list was excellent, the company stimulating and the conference venue was just excellent, if a little on the massive-and-vacant side. Stepping out onto sun-drenched balconies, of course, removed even the slightest, curmudgeonly tendency to complain 😉

Some images from the Summit below, and more photos available on my Flickr set (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ikj/sets/72157622703241718/with/4061051725/)

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Internet Retailing 2009 – our best conference to date

October’s conference season’s highlight (for me, anyway) was the fourth Internet Retailing conference – IR2009.

While I’m of course biased (!) the conference saw our highest attendance (just under 1,000 in total, with 450 full delegates), an expanded roster of exhibitors and, crucially, the introduction of our plenary keynote session to open the day. Novotel Show_2009_013.jpg

We were privileged and inspired to hear from Peter Fitzgerald (Retail Industry Head at Google UK), Jane Judd who heads customer service at Zappos and Robin Terrell, MD of John Lewis Direct. Any of these speakers alone would have made a wonderful conference opener, but to have all three was a luxury (one that we intend to repeat in future years – I think we now realise that one can’t have too much of a good thing!).

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Peter, above, gave us Google’s view on the ever-increasing pace of change, and the need for retailers continually to ‘up their game’ to remain competitive. A chilling message, delivered with Peter’s usual charm and clarity.

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Robin wowed the audience with his combination of shared insights and facts (his openness was astounding and very highly praised) along with a down-to-earth pragmatism about the tasks and challenges ahead. I won’t précis his speech (you can see the full video on the conference since) but I’ve never seen before 1,000 people, as one, dive to write notes at a speaker’s every utterance.

Robin’s speech was one of the best keynotes I’ve seen and one of the most highly-rated ever at our conference.

Jane, below, took a few moments to introduce us to the Zappos way and then peeled layer after layer away to reveal a characterful and savvy underpinning to “The Zappos Way”.

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For the rest of the day it was intense networking as well as note-taking and idea-exchanging in the three parallel streams. Here are some photos from the day…

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Morten Kamper, CEO of the Danish eCommerce and Distance Selling Federation (FDIH) asking a question of the keynote speakers

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Mark “Many Phones” Pigou, my business partner in InternetRetailing and the conference promoter. Odd to see him smiling until the very last stand is down and the feedback is in…

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Mike “Dr Mike” Baxter, redoutable Stream Chair, engaged on a panel…

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Rob “I’m Listening” Prevett, IR’s Account Director, personing the stand at the show…

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… and humour (plus marketing budget!) from Jacob Salamon at Bazaarvoice. They’ve enlivened our conference for the last couple of years with “Badge Flares” – adhesive messages for the bottom of delegate badges – but this year pulled an “homage”. Great fun, and I’ve used this image in lieu of a business card for a while since. Thanks Jacob 😉

The 2010 conference information is already available at http://screenevents.co.uk/IR2010/index.html and I’m looking forward already to building on the success of 2009 to make our fifth annual event even better!

London College of Fashion – speaking

For the last couple of years I’ve spoken at the invitation of the London College of Fashion to their final year students on an aspect of eCommerce.

This year I spoke on “The Future of Internet Retailing – considerations for fashion (r)etailing”.

Great audience and some excellent questions, and of course the deck’s available on Slideshare:

http://www.slideshare.net/ikj/ps095-london-college-of-fashion

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Speaking roundup: May through July

It’s been a busy time on the speaking front – so busy that I’ve been remiss in posting details. Here’s a quick roundup of activities…

1) Econsultancy’s Future of Digital Marketing in June 2009 – Keynote

This is one of my favourite events. This year, 350 senior marketers and digital strategists congregated at the Congress Hall in London.

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I was really pleased to give the closing Keynote and you can see my slides on Slideshare:

PS084 Future of Digital Marketing – “Making and Measuring Marketing Magic”

View more presentations from Ian Jindal.
2) ACSEL’s London Tour
Just before the FODM I spoke at a gathering of French retailers and journalist who were visiting the UK both as a research and networking visit, and to gather information for an upcoming ACSEL book (you may recall that in 2008 Internet Retailing co-published the ACSEL book ‘L’Europe – une opportunité pour l’ecommerce”).
My presentation focused upon Social Media marketing in retail.
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View more presentations from Ian Jindal.
3) Prosodie’s Etail Conference in Paris
Prosodie, a company I’d met via ACSEL, organised an interesting morning’s conference in Paris in July and gathered a group of leading French retailers, etailers and significant suppliers for a morning’s session of case studies and presentation.
I gave a perspective on trends in the UK, especially focusing upon multichannel trends, and although I spoke mainly in English the presentation was immeasurably improved by my excellent French slide deck – courtesy of Katherine Lavallois – merci!
Here’s the presentation on Slideshare: