Web Team Demo Site 3
August 06 - 09, 2026
JW Marriott, Palm Springs, CA
1.888.482.6012
Main Day Three - Retail Disruption And The Future Of eCommerce
Discover what’s next in retail eCommerce. This day brings you renowned disrupters and innovators pushing the boundaries of digital.
7:40 am - 8:10 am
Registration & Networking Breakfast
8:10 am - 8:25 am
Chairperson's Opening Remarks
8:25 am - 8:45 am
Fireside Chat:
Susan Tynan, The Founder and CEO of Framebridge will talk about how she’s made custom framing mainstream by disrupting the entire framing industry and making a once costly and cumbersome experience a simple and affordable one. Hear more about their model, their successes, how they have scaled the business and their plans for the future.
8:45 am - 9:10 am
Keynote: Radical Retail – Keeping Customers With A Little Help From Your Friends
Michael Tamblyn -
CEO,
Rakuten Kobo Inc.
Rakuten Kobo has an unusual success strategy. It is a global leader that thrives not by taking away from traditional retail but rather acting as an equalizer – it wins by working in partnership with book retailers around the world to sell eBooks and audiobooks. In doing so, it helps those retailers successfully fight for both sales and customer ownership against competitors sometimes seen as unstoppable.
Why go up against global digital ecosystem players like Amazon, Apple and Google? In 2009, Canada’s largest book retailer, Indigo, realized that eBooks were a competitive threat. Not just because they represented digital disruption of their print book business, but because they were the thin edge of a wedge for customer ownership: A customer who started buying eBooks from a competitor would start buying print books, and soon everything else.
Kobo was founded on the realization that every book retailer around the world would face the same challenge in the fight for customers, or lose to a global player. And Kobo offered local players the benefits of global scale without the massive investments required to go head-to-head on their own.
Michael Tamblyn, CEO of Rakuten Kobo, talks about how Kobo has developed global scale through retail partnerships and in doing so has created not just one of the world’s largest eBook retailers, but also one of the largest coalitions of bricks-and-mortar retailers, each successfully competitive in their own market and benefiting from a digital content ecosystem that improves on a daily basis. Along the way, he asks the question of whether a model that has started in the book sector has wider application, with national players using strategic partnerships to achieve world-class competitiveness.
9:10 am - 9:40 am
Keynote Panel Discussion Remix: Staying Flexible And Agile In Retail—How To Manage Disruption And Uncertainty
Kenneth Natori -
President,
Natori
Chris Connors -
SVP, Technology & Transformation,
Vistaprint
With stores closing and disruptors entering the scene daily, retailers must perpetually stay on their toes. Adaptable brands are thriving. Why? Panelists will discuss what thriving brands have in common. They will talk about what made them realize they needed to be more agile and the internal challenges they faced with change management. Learn about the processes they had to implement to make this shift and lessons learned along the journey.
9:40 am - 10:10 am
Coffee & Refreshment Break
10:10 am - 10:40 am
Lightning Round: Top 3 Future Trends In eCommerce For 2019
Paul Murray -
Director, Digital Experience,
Dunkin Brands
Each panelist talks about the 3 issues such as AI, AR, Voice – enabled Commerce, IoT
10:40 am - 11:05 am
Keynote: Using AR To Bring The Store To Your Customer
· Positioning your brand to take advantage of the voice assisted devices boom
· Assessing what the user experience for voice should look like
· Weighing in on what marketing and advertising on these devices could look like
· Discussing the potential for increased personalization
· Examining your content strategy for voice
11:05 am - 11:35 am
Keynote Panel Discussion Revolution: The New Kids On The Block: Examining The Journey of Retail Start Ups
Mitchell Murphy -
Head of Design & Founding Member,
Leesa Sleep
Dave Spector -
Co-Founder/Co-CEO ,
ThirdLove
Wombi Rose -
CEO,
Lovepop
This is your chance to see some of the hottest start-ups in retail today. Panelists will discuss some of their biggest wins of 2018 and the key differentiators that are growing their business. Find out which areas they are spending their time on from an innovation standpoint and dig deeper into which efforts are paying off across all touch points.
•Taking a technology first approach to growth
•Examining the impact that digitally native brands are having on overall in-store trends
•Differentiating with unique customer experiences
•Fostering a culture of innovation and adaptability
11:35 am - 12:00 pm
Keynote: Considerations And Opportunities For Shifting To Direct To Consumer
Jennie Baik -
Co-Founder and CEO,
Orchard Mile
Jennie Baik, Founder and CEO of Orchard Mile, a luxury digital mall will talk about their digital expansion and their move toward a DTC model;
Examine ideas for:
· Analyzing the shift to DTC
· Discussing how DTC can elevate your brand
· Examining the increased flexibility to test new products and markets
· Thinking about the ways DTC can improve customer relationships
· Determining what to focus on and what to avoid when you move forward with a DTC ecommerce
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Lunch For All Attendees
1:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Panel Discussion: The Future Of Voice Assisted Devices And Marketing
With many experts saying that voice is the future of retail, what is your organization doing to get up to speed on this trend? How can you get started? Discuss:
· Positioning your brand to take advantage of the voice assisted devices boom
· Assessing what the user experience for voice should look like
· Weighing in on what marketing and advertising on these devices could look like
· Discussing the potential for increased personalization
· Examining your content strategy for voice
