Direct Commerce South West

With his lengthy career in managing the fulfilment and customer service functions for many successful direct-to-consumer brands, David has seen it all! In this, our opening session, he provides a humorous recollection of some of the most unforgettable ‘moments’ that he and his team have faced. Without naming names, what caused the problems, and how his team was able to overcome potential disasters for their clients. Advising all to ensure that they have checked and confirmed every last detail for their peak campaigns, that inventory and packaging is going to arrive on time, in the right quantities – and that everyone involved – in-house and external service providers are fully briefed to delight customers.

The South West is a great region when it comes to spawning and nurturing new product ideas but whilst some don’t make it much beyond the drawing board, Peter’s problem-solving Lockabox is flying.  Having recently secured new investment to take it to the next very exciting stage, Peter will share the story behind his Kingsbridge based business, the trials and tribulations, the learning and the honing that have combined to create a resilient and robust platform for onward growth. He’ll discuss the channels deployed, the customer reaction to Lockabox, and growing demand in both the UK and overseas markets.

The space in your customer order, be it an in-store transaction or an online product dispatch, has a valuable weight allowance. This allowance could be utilised to carry another brand’s advert – (which could generate revenue) or could be used to distribute your own message (which could aid your own acquisition plans).  Natalie Betts from Relish will run through how this works, who is already doing it and what success looks like.

Marketing – The key success factor to marketing isn’t the technology, drop-dead gorgeous creative or the ability to analyse your data to the nth degree.  It’s your marketing people.

Marketing has a reputation of being wishy-washy, imprecise or woolly. However that’s usually said by people who don’t deeply understand the 172 skills and disciplines that make up the totality of marketing. Your people strategy in marketing to understanding and developing their skills is key. What sort of marketing people does your business need?

Here in the South-West, the marketing skill gaps are hard to fill. Whether you are a 1 man band that needs some marketing support for your social media or a rapidly growing business that is looking for the right approach to scale, you’ll find some key insights here to help transform your marketing function.

In setting out to provide an innovative eco-friendly packaging option to replace the horrors of polystyrene and its ilk, there were a fair few hurdles to jump.

Firstly, developing the product so that it would be as effective for protecting large awkwardly shaped items like high-value surfboards through to fragile individual bottles from specialist distillers of gins and rums.

As we’ve gained traction, our clients’ online customers are proving to be as keen on Flexi-Hex as the highly discerning businesses using it.

This emerging and fast-moving technology has been around longer than you may know however it has crossed the divide into the public realm and is causing as much concern as it is creating opportunity. What should you be thinking about this? How can you take advantage responsibly? In the context of public trust, what action should you take to be seen to be doing the right thing? Jason will share some insights and data as well as a blueprint on how to move forward.

In this session, David will ask the audience to share their experiences + give some insights into how you can make returns work for your business.

Discussion on all things eCommerce.

Discover the critical factors that make the perfect search strategy to increase sales or revenue for your business.

Whatever the size of your media budget, there are lots of options to consider. In this session, Alice will share her views on the current market and give examples of what is working well and where the biggest wins are.