Timberline Interactive

We're excited to share the news that we're participating in our first-ever international conference, the Online Retailer Conference & Expo in Sydney, Australia, July 6 - 10, 2010.

Tom Funk will be a featured speaker in the Search and Email Marketing track, on the topic "Marketing 2.0: Reaching and Retaining Customers in a Web 2.0 World." Later in the conference he will also present on social media marketing and on designing product pages that sell.

Conference organizer National Media made a big splash when it launched the Online Retailer conference series just last year: "As the first major business forum for the internet retailing and e-commerce industry in Australia, we received over 3,000 registrations," says event director Mark Harvey, "which led Online Retailer to debut as the second largest online retailing event in the world."

The 2010 event has been bolstered with the inclusion of an extra day, more international speakers, sessions, peer-to-peer roundtables, networking events and exhibitors. The Main Conference will be held over two days and feature over 50 education sessions across six themed learning tracks. A new one-day pre-conference intensive focused on search and email marketing has also been added to the overall program.

The Expo Hall will showcase the latest e-commerce technology and e-retailing solutions, and provide retailers with a venue to compare, evaluate and discuss their needs with leading e-commerce and digital marketing vendors.

Another key development for 2010 is the launch of the Online Retail Industry Awards (ORIA), an initiative to recognise and reward excellence in e-commerce retailing. The ORIAs are the only awards in Australasia to honour the top online and multichannel retailing performers and are already being described as a pivotal occasion in the progression of the e-retailing industry.

"For experienced online retailers or for those just breaking into to the world of e-commerce, Online Retailer 2010 will offer retail executives an unparalleled learning experience and the chance to leverage the collective knowledge of the e-retailing community." Harvey says.

According to Forrester Research, Australian online spending is expected to grow to $32 billion by 2012. The Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) has found that almost 50% of the country's total online spend goes toward international purchases. That, says Harvey, indicates that Australian retailers have some catching up to do in order to better compete in ecommerce. And that's an educational mission the Online Retailer conference aims to fulfill.

"It's unfortunate that the current lack of local big brand retailers selling online is forcing shoppers to buy from overseas competitors," he says. "We are some years behind the US and UK markets, when there is no reason why we should be."