Magento Conference: Time to Drop the ‘E’ from E-Commerce
| 9 | Feb 2011 |
LOS ANGELES — The common thread weaving together Day 1 of the Magento Imagine e-commerce conference was “connected devices are going to drive commercial activity.”
Blake Nordstrom, president of upscale department store chain Nordstrom, opened the conference yesterday (Feb. 8) by emphasizing customers’ online and mobile shopping behaviors and the major sway their actions will have on the future of e-commerce.
[Related: Highlights from Nordstromâs Presentation ]
And Brian Walker, principle analyst of E-Commerce at Forrester Research, brought the first day full circle with his closing keynote speech, which garnered heavy praise at the conference and on Twitter.
“It’s not about e-commerce anymore,” Walker said. “It’s time we drop the ‘e.’ It’s commerce. But since we’re in L.A., we can’t just drop the ‘e.’ We need to blow it the hell up.”
That statement characterizes the mindset of many e-commerce experts, who feel e-commerce represents a big enough chunk of the commerce pie to warrant no clear distinction. And their widespread intuitions appear correct.
[Video: How Mobile Grew in 2010 ]
"Fifty-one percent of total U.S. retail sales will be influenced by or made online by 2013,” Walker said.
Even now, commerce is seeing a radical transformation toward online and mobile shopping, Walker said, noting that 49 percent of holiday shoppers in 2010 reported they shopped less in stores because they bought gifts online instead. And 25 percent of smartphone owners have purchased a physical good on their phones, while 56 percent said they will this year.
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Reach BusinessNewsDaily staff writer Brian Anthony Hernandez at Bhernandez@TechMediaNetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BAHjournalist.