eTail West 2019: Key Takeaways from our Team to Yours

PartnerCentric recently attended eTail West, a conference in beautiful Palm Springs where retailers and leading vendors meet to network, collaborate and discuss what’s disrupting the retail industry both today and in the future. While the PartnerCentric team attends many industry conferences as part of our mission to be the best partners for our clients, eTail West was an especially positive experience, so we wanted to share our experience with you.

Among many other highlights, the event's curated agenda of highly engaging and educational content served in an intimate setting was one of our key takeaways. I particularly enjoyed listening to the CMO of Casper Jeff Brooks’ interview with Leticia Miranda, Buzzfeed News, on “Reinventing How We Shop for Sleep: A Look at Casper’s Vision for the Future of Retail.” Our company has admired Casper for revolutionizing the tired sleep industry (pun intended), so listening to Jeff’s forward thinking and disruptive philosophy was fascinating, particularly his thoughts on the omni-channel approach many pure online plays, such as Amazon, are using as they strategically enter brick and mortar to engage customers they may not be fully servicing with a pure online experience. Such a play reminds me why an agency like PartnerCentric focuses so much energy on helping our partners with leading site-to-store strategy and tracking in today’s disruptive retail environment.

In addition to Jeff’s interview, here are a few takeaways our team was especially impressed with that we wanted to share with you:

1. Amazing content: Of the many affiliate shows our company has attended, this was far and away some of the best content we have seen – we just can’t stop raving about it! The talk tracks on AI and data, influencers, retail technologies, disruptive strategies and omni-channel, among so many more, made this show a winner for a heavily retail-focused crowd in a crowded conference landscape.
2. Engaged attendees: This was one of the few shows I have seen where the booth traffic was consistently high. Further, workshops and keynotes were standing room only more often than not, showing how impactful the conference’s events were for all attendees.
3. Strong networking: The networking events (happy hours and meals) were certainly effective. A perfect example was a networking event where retailers could bring problems in a sequestered environment for other retailers to help solve – a peer to peer mindshare event. Who doesn’t love learning and collaborating with the best and brightest in the industry? I know PartnerCentric remains committed to building meaningful relationships beyond the confines of the traditional office environment, so connecting with industry leaders always helps us connect our clients with the best partners for their brand.
4. Locale: Palm Springs is such a terrific location for a conference. The city is easy to navigate, traffic-free, generally temperate and relatively free of distractions. While Palm Springs was 40 degrees and snow at the 1,000 foot level, eTail West turned up the heat with an impactful event at the gorgeous JW Marriott.

Interested in learning about some of the other industry conferences we’ve attended this year?

Check out our blog to learn more.