Monaco, Vegas, Toronto, Munich - Everyone’s Talking about Smart Content for Retail

March was the month of marketing madness as we attended various events all over the globe, and our field marketing team was at the front end. Here is a recap of what went down this March in the retail sector.

  1. chevron left iconMonaco, Vegas, Toronto, Munich - Everyone’s Talking about Smart Content for Retail
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Ian TruscottApril 13, 2018
  • Events

Maybe not quite as catchy as the 1979 hit from M - Pop Muzik – but instead of talking about Pop Music in New York, London, Paris, and Munich, we were talking Smart Content for Retail this March in Monaco at eCommerce 1:1, Vegas at ShopTalk and Toronto at DX3.

Regular followers of censhare will know that we have a decent track record of enabling digital transformation for retail, with clients such as Oriflame, Vitra, Rewe, Migros and Kohl’s to name just those who are happy to go public about the secret to their success in such a competitive industry.

We took our retail show on the road in March, we got to hang out with some industry leaders, got on the main stage of what’s hot in this industry right now as well as picking up some insight on what’s next for this fast-moving industry.

Start at the Top

First up was Dx3 in downtown Toronto. Held from March 7 - 8, Dx3 is one of Canada’s biggest conferences focusing on digital marketing, retail and advertising and was attended by over 4,000 industry professionals.

We contributed to the lively Tech Talk track and discussions, with Jeff Rockwell, who leads our Canadian business, getting the crowd fired up and Patrick Collin, a consultant who has worked closely with censhare over the years, talking about the importance of Smart Content in a digital marketer’s toolkit, starting with a short history on the evolution of shopping from grocery store aisles to the more complex digital ecosystems we see emerging today.

The mantra of any digital marketer, especially in retail, is “the right asset, with the right information, at the right time” and Patrick navigated the complexity of managing the multitude of assets in a typical buying journey to advise on how to deliver them at the right moment via the right marketing technology.

Aside from sharing our experience, we also picked up some insights into the future for retail, with discussions on topics from an excellent roster of speakers, such as chatbots, the emergence of eSports, and whether influencers will replace traditional media.

Viva Las Vegas

Next up was ShopTalk, March 18 – 21. This annual event in Las Vegas claims to be the world’s largest ecommerce and retail conference boasting over 8,000 individual attendees and 2,500 represented companies.

censhare exhibited in the GroceryTalk discovery zone where we connected with a wide range of retailers, not just grocers, who were particularly keen on the topics of personalization, big data, the integration of artificial intelligence into their platforms, and the importance of building an efficient digital supply chain.

While digital transformation in retail is always a big topic at ShopTalk, this year’s conference seemed to offer a narrative which moved beyond the transformational period, looking ahead with optimism to improving retail trends.

Keynote speaker, Target CEO Brian Cornell, discussing how his company has adapted to digital disruption, summarized this perfectly:

“Our guests have decided for us – their expectations changed; technology was the accelerant.”

And with that said, it was a fantastic event to be a part of and there are some great insights shared on the ShopTalk Twitter feed.

Bonjour Monaco!

From March 20 to 22, brands, advertisers and solution partners - almost 1800 attendees - met at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco for E-Commerce One to One. An event dedicated to innovation in e-commerce that this year focused on IA, Data, mobility, payment and personalization.

This was a not a standard sponsorship package, censhare needed to go through a selection process as a relevant provider for this exclusive event and it was a privilege for us to be invited to speak and engage with a wide range of famous French and international brands.

Gregory Stahl and Vincent Sprit from our French team guided the audience through “The digital customer engagement revolution: how to create relevant information for everyone and why the consistency of your contents matters” in our Expert Workshop, asking the question, “You know the customer - what now?” creating an interesting debate.

We must have done something right, as the event selectors have asked us to return in 2019 – so maybe we will see you there next March.

And it doesn’t end there...

Aside from this very successful March, where we also attended OMR in Hamburg, Germany, we have a full agenda of events, webinars, and exhibitions lined up – so check out our events page and come and see us!

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Ian Truscott
Ian Truscott has a passion for creating ART (Awareness, Revenue and Trust) for B2B software companies as a marketing leader and is a censhare alumni. Wanting to connect a like minded community and share something useful, he founded Rockstar CMO, a monthly digital publication, and is currently helping B2B companies create ART at appropingo.

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