Ingredients for the Secret Sauce – buySAFE Luncheon in Boston

As readers of this blog are aware, last Friday, buySAFE held an invitation-only luncheon in Boston titled “Discovering the Secret Sauce of Multi-Channel Selling Success.” With a capacity crowd at Anthony’s Pier 4 restaurant on the picturesque Boston Harbor waterfront, this panel drew e-commerce merchants, Wall Street analysts, and journalists as attendees, all of whom left the session with greater insight into the challenges of and key factors for succeeding online as a multi-channel merchant.

The topic and composition of the panel could not have been more timely, as the issue of multi-channel retailing came to the fore frequently during the week of eBay Live, with our panelists and attendees playing key roles:

· Moderator Ina Steiner of AuctionBytes.com was quoted in numerous publications during the week, and also scored key interviews with eBay North America president Bill Cobb and CEO Meg Whitman, addressing multi-channel issues specifically.

· Panelist Bjorn Espenes, CEO of Infopia, announced the availability of Infopia’s new book “The eCommerce 2.0 Handbook – How to Prosper in the New Era of Online Selling” by Ralf VonSosen.

· Panelist Brian Smith of ComparisonEngines.com and SingleFeed was one of the first to break the story of eBay’s decision to pull their advertising from Google.

· Panelist Jonathan Garriss of PeSA, ECMTA and Gotham City Online penned a much talked-about position paper about the eBay marketplace titled “Unhealthy Marketplace Dynamics - Seller Perspective.”

· Panelist Steve Woda of buySAFE announced new partnerships with TRUSTe and comparison shopping site PriceRunner.

· Attendee Derek Brown of Cantor Fitzgerald was quoted extensively in the San Francisco Chronicle and other media outlets regarding the impact of eBay’s boycott of Google.

Other analysts from Bear Stearns, Canaccord Adams and other Wall Street firms were also in attendance.  Additionally, highly influential eBay community members were attendees including Mike Enos of Platinum Power Seller, Skip McGrath of Auction Sellers Resource, Kerry Murdock of Practical eCommerce, Phil Davies, CEO of Tias.com and David Hardin, PeSA Board Member & CEO of Shoetime.  The event really brought together some key influencers in the e-commerce world at a very important time.

As for the actual panel discussion, the session lasted approximately 60 minutes, including 15 minutes of questions and answers. Topics ranged from how to optimize keyword campaigns, to the best ways to drive traffic, to choosing a shopping cart platform. Key takeaways included the following:

1. Diversify or Die – Successful online merchants must leverage multiple online channels. “eBay is a great starting point, but if you’re serious, you need to have your own Website,” said Garriss. “On Amazon, they give you buyers, but they are not really your customers. At a certain level, you want to take control of your business.”

2. Analytics are Key: All panelists agreed that you must closely track key metrics to understand success or failure in real time. “What you really need to know from analytics is, ‘What does it cost to acquire a customer?’ – at the platform, keyword and SKU level,” said Espenes.

3. Test, Test, Test – There are many advertising platforms besides Google that merit experimentation for driving traffic to a merchant’s site. “You have to test,” said Smith. “Test SEO. Test AdWords, MSN AdCenter, and Yahoo Search Marketing. Test Amazon. You have to see what channels work for you.”

4. The Customer is King – Panelists agreed that the lowest hanging fruit for driving sales is leveraging a merchant’s existing customer base. “You can always buy traffic, but drive traffic that converts. The number one way to convert is to motivate your existing customer base,” said Garriss.

5. Trust is a Must – In order to convert shoppers to buyers, merchants must convey their trustworthiness, else be forced to lower their prices to compensate for a lack of awareness and trust. “Merchants want to compete on a non-price basis. You can build a brand, but it’s extremely expensive. A third-party endorsement of your business from a trusted source helps merchant bridge this trust gap” said Woda.

If you were not fortunate enough to join us, Ina Steiner conducted interviews with some of the panelists and participants during the week of eBay Live. You can check them out here:

Brian Smith -- http://auctionbytes.tv/cgi-bin/video-manager/frame.pl?features&06172007f

Jonathan Garriss -- http://auctionbytes.tv/cgi-bin/video-manager/frame.pl?features&06172007e

Ralf VonSosen (author of the Infopia book “The eCommerce 2.0 Handbook” -- http://auctionbytes.tv/cgi-bin/video-manager/frame.pl?features&06172007d

 
Pictures from buySAFE’s lunch panel:

http://auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/ebaylive2007/index.pl?0&2&1

http://auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/ebaylive2007/index.pl?24&2&2

Lastly, a big THANK YOU to all the panelists and to the over 100 attendees at this terrific event.

Comments

[Josh]

Any upcoming events we should be aware of?