Multichannel Merchant's Operations Summit & Growing Global Conference Review

Operation Summit/Growing Global 2016 

SEKO was in attendance yet again for the Operations Summit, which also happened to be joined with the Growing Global Conference, this year at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati.

This was another fantastic sponsorship opportunity for SEKO, allowing for speaking spots and an exhibition opportunity. We were fortunate enough to have our sister company, Red Hot Penny, in attendance with us to assist us in speaking on aligning a global e-commerce strategy. Being our digital marketing provider, their insights on brand planning, localization, and expanding internationally were valuable.

This seemed to be a topic that was at the forefront of both conferences. While expanding internationally is appealing to most companies, if they are not thorough and cognizant of the markets they are expanding into, they can permanently ruin their own brand. There are subtle culture and language differences, not only in difference regions or continents, but also in the countries and states within those regions. A company’s messaging and branding must reflect the audience that it markets itself to.

"Not all buyers want to buy exclusively online - savvy retailers embrace the benefits of online in the purchase cycle.  Omni-channel exists because consumers differ, and want a mix of the best price, information, convenience and customer service.  You can't just think about online or offline anymore - it's all connected."  - Franco De Bonis, Head of Digital Solutions, Red Hot Penny

Omni-channel Demands

The purchasing experience and Omni-channel logistics were topics that were well covered at the conferences. The consumer has more buying power than ever, and that doesn’t just mean the decision of what brands they purchase. Customers have the power to shop and order from anywhere with the abundance of online and mobile e-commerce platforms available to them. They now also have total control on when and how they receive the products they desire.

“The purchase and post-purchase process has become far more important than the shopping experience itself… Retailers must be able to sell, source, and fulfill seamlessly, anywhere” -John Stelzer, IBM

Customers can now decided how quick they get their products, and a large number of these shoppers are becoming inclined to purchase online and pick the item up from the store. Having a logistics provider that can assist in everything from warehouse inventory management to digital e-commerce assistance was put at a premium in the conversations that took place that week.