Magento’s Imagine eCommerce Conference kicked off this morning in Las Vegas and runs through Wednesday, April 25.
Imagine is where merchants, partners, developers and Magento enthusiasts from around the world come together for three days in an engaging and exciting environment for collaboration, learning, networking, inspiration… and of course – Imagination!
Don’t worry if you weren’t able to make it down there (unfortunately, neither was I). There are a number of ways to stay up to speed on news and happenings down in Las Vegas:
Apologies for the delay here. I realize I’ve been back in the Bay Area for 24 hours but had to focus on eBay Q4 2011 earnings yesterday, meaning that my NRF 2012 recap post got put on hold. Without further ado, here you go folks…
Overview: Connected devices make what was once a solitary trip to the store a more socially connected event. Smartphones don’t serve as just another marketing vehicle—they can be a platform to combine the digital and physical worlds. As shoppers go through the process of discovering new products, testing them and reflecting on their purchases, they share these thoughts with their social networks and influence perception among their peer group. This session will examine why retailers must embrace and facilitate this sharing of information, and how retail outlets need to evolve to create experiences that drive sales in-store. Retailers will learn how to integrate mobile and social media strategies into a cohesive business model that enhances marketing and merchandising.
It was an engaging discussion with some key trends running through the presentations. It was something we heard from eBay Inc. CEO, John Donahoe last week and from Don Kingsborough on Sunday: The rules of technology are being rewritten and the rate of change is incredible – particularly in the world of retail and commerce. Again, the emphasis was made on the need for the education of – and adoption by – merchants. It was also agreed that when it comes to all the huge amounts of data coming in through social channels, the key is prioritization and delegation.
eBay Inc. at NRF 2012: Show Floor
PayPal Shopping Showcase
On my last day in New York I was lucky enough to check out the PayPal Shopping Showcase (and unlucky enough to get into a physical altercation with a NYC taxi cab on my walk over… but that’s another story).
From the PayPal Blog:
Imagine a digital wallet that stores all of your gift cards, loyalty points and offers and then automatically applies the stored money and savings for you at the point of sale. Imagine purchasing an oversized item from the aisle and having it shipped directly to your house in a matter of clicks. At the Shopping Showcase, we’ll be showing merchants and select members of the media a complete set of solutions that do all of this – and so much more
You can check out all my photos of the PayPal Shopping Showcase in eBay Ink at NRF flickr set.
It has been a whirlwind 10 days covering both CES and NRF but it’s good to be back at HQ and working on some cool social projects for 2012. Will keep you all posted.
My time here in Las Vegas is winding down (about to head out to the Las Vegas online sellers meetup in a few minutes). I’m packing my bags and leaving one leading industry conference for another. I’ll be at the National Retail Federation 2012 from Sunday – Tuesday to cover all things eBay Inc.
eBay Ink at NRF
Sunday, January 15: Panel Session: Mobile Payments: Making Dollars and Sense in Mobile Payments
Don Kingsborough, VP/ GM of Retail and Prepaid at PayPal
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Hall E, 1E 07/08
Overview: The mobile payments space comprises two different systems: 1) payments using the mobile network, and 2) contactless payments. Payments and the services mobile payments enable at the store level can serve as a powerful and disruptive force in the retail environment. This session reviews the latest in this rapidly evolving technology and business, and details the newest players in the mobile payments ecosystem.
Monday, January 16 Panel Session: Social Shopping: Mobility, Social Media and Personalized Services
Bob Schwartz, President, Magento
3:15 pm – 4:15 pm
Hall A, 1A 10/12
Overview: Connected devices make what was once a solitary trip to the store a more socially connected event. Smartphones don’t serve as just another marketing vehicle—they can be a platform to combine the digital and physical worlds. As shoppers go through the process of discovering new products, testing them and reflecting on their purchases, they share these thoughts with their social networks and influence perception among their peer group. This session will examine why retailers must embrace and facilitate this sharing of information, and how retail outlets need to evolve to create experiences that drive sales in-store. Retailers will learn how to integrate mobile and social media strategies into a cohesive business model that enhances marketing and merchandising.
Booths:
Check out the NRF floorplan with highlighted eBay Inc. booths.
Twitter:
I’ll be live-tweeting throughout the conference from @ebayinkblog using the #eBayatNRF hashtag.
The Passport:
Attendees will receive a passport that they can get stamped at the 3 booths (PayPal, GSI, Milo) and if they get stamps from each of the 3 booths, they will be entered in a drawing for $1000 (3 drawings in all).
Finally, I sat down with eBay Inc. CEO, John Donahoe, at CES 2012 to talk about the eBay Inc. portfolio and how consumers are changing their shopping behaviors and how that impacts eBay’s participation in certain industry events, like the NRF:
eBay Inc. today announced that it has agreed to acquire Magento Inc., the creator of Magento, a leading open source ecommerce platform. The deal follows eBay’s acquisition of a minority stake in the company in 2010. Upon closing of the transaction, eBay will own 100% of the outstanding shares of Magento. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2011.
It was also announced that Magento will join X.Commerce, eBay’s newly created integrated open source platform group. Something I’m particularly interested in. According to today’s announcement, the group is focused on leveraging the company’s assets and partner technologies to build a strong, robust developer community as a resource for merchants and retailers of all sizes. More details will be shared with developers during the X.Commerce Innovate conference on Oct. 12-13 in San Francisco and I’d like to sit down with key members of the group to share more info here with Ink readers too. In the meantime, here is a video message to developers from John Donahoe, CEO, eBay Inc.
A video message to developers from eBay Inc. CEO, John Donahoe
About Magento
The Magento platform serves tens of thousands of merchants worldwide and is supported by a global community of solution partners and third-party developers. Magento is a feature-rich, open-source, enterprise-class commerce solution that offers merchants a high degree of flexibility and control over the user experience, catalog, content and functionality of their online store. Magento Go, the company’s hosted software-as-a-service solution, provides small and growing merchants with the tools to help them succeed online – from payments to inventory management. Magento is a Los Angeles-based company with more than 290 employees.
