Dive Brief:
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The entrepreneurs behind the payments and financial services conference Money20/20 plan to launch a similar conference for retail and e-commerce called Shoptalk (not to be confused with a 20-year-old marketing company known as ShopTalk 20/20.)
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Within three years of its launch, Money20/20 has become a series of go-to gatherings for technology and innovation in payments and financial services.
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Now founders Anil Aggarwal and Jonathan Weiner, with former PayPal retail chief Don Kingsborough, have raised $2.5 million for Shoptalk, which will begin in May in Las Vegas with a goal of 2,000 attendees to explore next steps in e-commerce, including a focus on on-demand and sharing services among other innovations.
Dive Insight:
Judging by the success of Money20/20, which was sold last year to London-based i2i Events Group, the Shoptalk effort could be a shot in the arm for retailers attempting to wrestle the wide-ranging changes and challenges in omnichannel commerce.
Retail is experiencing several major shifts in marketing, supply chain, fulfillment, and even merchandising. It’s often hard to gauge what’s working and what’s not, with the economy and a stubborn middle-class income gap adding their own twists.
"Disruption is the new norm in retail and commerce,” Kingsborough said in a statement. “We see Shoptalk as the definitive annual event to organize this transformative change in a meaningful, efficient way—and to provide a venue for important in-person collaboration among all ecosystem stakeholders."
The entrepreneurs behind the event want to coordinate several aspects of today’s retail enterprises, including looking at successes when it comes to consumer experience, technological strengths in data analytics, and marketing, among other areas. They anticipate new partnerships coming out of the conference as well.
