ShopTalk 2022 Las Vegas Recap

It’s 2022 and we’re beginning our slow return to in-person meetings and events. What better to dip our toe back into the water than joining 9,998 other amazing attendees at ShopTalk 2022 in Las Vegas? Well, let us tell you! It was amazing, and a little overwhelming, to be back in the presence of industry-leading presenters, best-in-class technologies, and really great three-dimensional human people. We spent three days at the event connecting with our partners and our friends, connecting with new potential technology partners to share with our clients, and absorbing the future of retail and eCommerce as envisioned by the companies and technologies building the infrastructure to make it a reality.

Oh… and our Sr. Partner Marketing Manager Allanda and our Director of Growth Matt really wanted to hit up the Britney Spears slot machine. 

What is ShopTalk 2022?

ShopTalk 2022 was a retail conference held at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada running from March 27th to March 30th, 2022. There were nearly 10,000 attendees registered and 500 sponsors and exhibitors at the event, including members of the Roboboogie team! Speakers at the event included Sam’s Club CEO Kath McLay, Poshmark Chief Data Officer Barkha Saxena, and Tapestry VP, Global Digital Product & Omnichannel Innovation Mandeep Bhatia. Every day of the event was also filled with amazing networking events and happy hours. There was also a performance by Flo Rida, but we missed it.

Who did we see at ShopTalk 2022?

The magic equation at Roboboogie is data + design + technology, and for the past two years, communication with our amazing technology partners has been limited to Zoom. Needless to say, we were ecstatic to spend some time with our technology partners!

Over the last three years, we have built an amazing partnership with the team at FullStory. If you’re not familiar with the technology, FullStory is a best-in-class Digital Experience Analytics platform. What does that mean? Well, it means that when you run FullStory on your website or native mobile application you are capturing all of the taps, clicks, and interactions from your users that help you identify and quantify user frustration. Paired with machine learning and highly performant session playback, it allows us to drive improved, data-backed user experiences.

But we weren’t there for a product demo (we use FullStory every day!) we were there to meet with the people that make FullStory awesome.

We also spent some time with the amazing folks at Clyde! Not familiar with Clyde? They have amazing, innovative solutions for eCommerce retailers to offer extended warranties and product registration. Their technology makes it easy for retailers to set up warranty programs, AND makes it easy for customers to purchase warranties, file claims, and track their progress. We love their focus on providing a great experience for the end-users of their B2B customers. They also used the event to show off their amazing new branding!

A number of our friends from the world of experimentation were at the event and it was a real pleasure to visit with the crew at AB Tasty in person. In 2020 we were invited to present at their virtual summit, and while we really enjoyed working with them virtually, it was much more fun to chat face-to-face. 

Who were some of the new people we met at ShopTalk 2022?

I’m glad you asked! We spent a lot of time working the floor, making introductions, exploring new technologies, and making new friends. While we don’t have a comprehensive list going yet, we’d love to highlight some of the new friends we made at RedRoute, ShoppingGives, ShipperHQ, MNTN, and Iterable.

What were the big takeaways from ShopTalk 2022?

There were so many speakers, so many great conversations, and so much great content to digest at ShopTalk 2022, and we simply couldn’t be in all of the places at once. Even still, here are a few takeaways from the Roboboogie team.

1. Test everything! Nobody knows anything unless you test it.
   1. A few hot topics to explore and test are frictionless and flexible payment options including “buy now, pay later,” A.I. powered chatbots and product recommendations, and messaging around company sustainability practices. 
   2. We’re glad to hear that the appetite for testing across retail is strong. If you’re looking to innovate, testing should be a part of your roadmap.
2. Metaverse is 100% the future…or maybe it isn’t… or maybe we’re still not really sure what it means.
   1. Okay, so this was a huge topic at the event. The Metaverse, also known as Web3, is growing at 2700%. Meta had a huge presence at ShopTalk 2022 and depending on who we talked to or who we saw presenting, it’s certain that the Metaverse is either the entire future… or not… or it’s somewhere in between. 
   2. While we didn’t leave the show with a definitive answer on where the Metaverse is going to play into the everyday digital experience of all users. There is currently no blueprint for it, but the time to start thinking about it and exploring it is now and we are committed to understanding changes in the digital landscape and how it affects our partners and clients.
3. Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a key metric for Enterprise retailers in their omnichannel decision making. 
   1. It could have been that our ears were more finely tuned at this event than at past events, but we heard a lot of importance being put on NPS as retailers look to evolve and optimize the omnichannel experience for customers. We see this as a great opportunity to evolve customer segmentation to improve data-backed decision-making. 
   2. Through our understanding of data-backed design, technology integration, and analytics and reporting, we can layer NPS onto segments on top of user behavior to understand commonalities that may lead to a lower or higher NPS, and create personalized experiences (or broad experience changes) that address user pain points and drive increased NPS – not just to raise the metric, but to make your customers happy.
4. Omnichannel Data 
   1. After two years, the store is back! Consumers are returning to in-store shopping experiences but simultaneously, increasing their digital engagement. The challenge for retailers is bringing that “in-store magic” to the digital experience and ensuring that brand messaging stays consistent and true across channels. 

Regardless of where they are interacting with your brand and products, consumers expect you to know them. It is important to consumers that their experiences are customized and personalized.

Where do we go next?

We’re on a quest to combine customer-centric design, data, and best-in-class technology to drive digital transformation for our clients. As we regroup from our travel, we’ll be building out relationships with new technology partners, and looking for innovative ways to drive innovation, revenue, and brand experience for our clients. Curious what that could look like for you? Let’s chat!