Top Takeaways and Technology Taken from eTail West 2016

It was a great time to attend the 2016 eTail West event, which featured several industry giants that have been around for a while and some tremendous new retailers and technology companies. Presenters and speakers comprised numerous prominent executives, including The CEO at Barnes & Noble and the director of Lenscrafters.

This was an extremely intriguing and sensible point. Many of the best speakers emphasized that “winning on price” was only a means to an end and was not sustainable. In this regard, the customer experience is the most crucial aspect that all eCommerce companies must focus on.

Here are some products and technologies that stood out to me. These vendors will A) assist you in providing an outstanding customer experience and B) aid in making your marketing more accessible and precise.

Akamai

Many of us in the eCommerce sector know they are globally the most significant and influential CDN (content delivery network). Their technology is utilized by 97 of the biggest 100 internet retailers, and they can significantly improve site speed.

Why is the speed of a website so crucial?

It makes the shopping experience much more enjoyable since they don’t have to wait around for websites to open (especially when shopping on mobile).

Suppose your site isn’t performing well, the bounce rate increases, and the rankings of your organic SEO fall. Nobody likes slow websites, and If you’re struggling to solve this issue, you might need to contact Akamai for a chance to help you.

Reflektion

This technology stood out to me and appeared to be an easy way to enhance customers’ shopping experience significantly. The service provides real-time customer recommendations based on the items you’re clicking on, browsing, and looking for on the website. This means that they’re not just reviewing your past purchases and what you’ve bought previously to personalize the recommendations they provide. Still, they’re also analyzing exactly what you’re looking to find during the shopping experience to provide you with the most relevant options of items.

The result is that studies show a dramatically higher conversion rate and an excellent average order value from customers who purchase more products each time they visit. Top brands, including Disney, Converse, and O’Neill, currently utilize reflection. The company also took home 2015 the Shop.org Digital Commerce Startup of the Award of Year. If you’re an eCommerce professional and haven’t looked at their demo, you must look them up.

Bronto

In the realm of emails and automation for marketing in the eCommerce space, a wide range of options were available during this year’s conference. I was overwhelmed because every corner had another vendor trying to sell me their product. This made it very difficult to make a statement. Yet, Bronto quickly did. It not only comes with all the sophisticated capabilities for automation and customizing, but it is also incredibly user-friendly. When we saw the 10-minute demo, we constructed a seven-email campaign. The user interface was drag-and-drop and extremely easy to use. This allowed us to fully benefit from the tool and utilize all the advanced functions.

UserTesting

It was a tool or service we were familiar with before the conference. We were, however impressed by the advancements in service quality they showcased in eTail West! The UserTesting platform allows you to get first-hand information about how your clients interact with your website and the various templates for your pages. Through UserTesting, you can observe and hear what happens when users browse through your site and become intimate with your UI/UX. This feedback is then provided to you within a couple of minutes and offers valuable insights that you can utilize to enhance your customers’ shopping experience.