Dive into our key insights from Shoptalk 2023, as we explore the latest trends and strategies shaping the future of retail and commerce.
ComCap’s CEO / Investor Happy Hour at Shoptalk
The ComCap team attended the Shoptalk 2023 conference in Las Vegas last week. As we rounded up our observations from discussions with Founders, CEOs, operators and investors on the latest trends in commerce and retail, we wanted to share some of our pertinent observations and takeaways:
Versatile brick-and-mortar fulfilment is a fundamental piece of retailers’ successful digital strategy:
The focus on brick-and-mortar stores has shifted to being mini-distribution centers underpinning a successful digital strategy. Offering efficient fulfilment options for digital customers through platforms such as Point Pickup including curbside, drive-through, and same-day delivery at these physical locations remains the utmost priority for retailers.
Recommerce is a growing part of brands/retailers’ multi-channel strategy for customer acquisition:
As discussed in the ‘Resale, Upcycled Products and the Circular Economy’ conference keynote, returns platforms facilitating recommerce, such as Optoro, are seeing increasing demand for their services from brands and retailers. The success of resale programs in attracting new customers that do not shop at the original price but engage with the brand on second-hand items at lower prices is driving this adoption.
Retailers are carefully evaluating generative AI investments:
The potential of generative AI spans every aspect of retail – from product description copy, and inventory management, to customer service-dominated conversations. However, although initial feedback is positive and retailers are interested in learning more, they are holding off on widespread implementation to evaluate the impact on the top line/bottom line. In addition, vendors are still incorporating current-generation AI solutions into retail-specific use cases (with a few retail-specific leaders such as Linc.cx (AI clienteling and support) and Vui.com (AI search).
Retailers and brands are experiencing strong user engagement through social commerce tools:
Branded checkout tools that streamline the purchase experience, such as Amaze and CommentSold are seeing rapid adoption from creators and enterprises, including non-traditional verticals such as CPG. These tools are driving strong consumer engagement through social media and converting content consumers into hyper-engaged shoppers with a far lower risk of cart abandonment through the use of streamlined, in-app checkout.
Resurgence of loyalty solutions to contribute to an effective retention strategy:
With current economic uncertainty and higher acquisition costs, discussions on customer loyalty and retention re-emerged as a key discussion for brands and retailers at this year’s conference. In a speaker session with Petco and Casey’s (“Innovative Approaches to Customer Loyalty”), the discussion centred around the importance of a loyalty program that operates on contextual and impactful personalization to target customer needs and not necessarily a repository of the most comprehensive set of first-party data.
Compcap’s CEO & Investor cocktail event at Shoptalk 2023
Our CEO & Investor event at Shoptalk 2023 saw a great turnout of 40+ CEO and Investors from premier digital retail/ecommerce Saas and tech-enabled services providers, and growth equity investors.
Select Attendees
Overall, this year’s Shoptalk presented an engaging forum to connect with leaders in retail and commerce and take in the display of next-gen technology from retailers, brands and solution providers. ComCap hosted two events at the conference (1-1 CEO / Investor “speed dating” & a CxO / Investor cocktail event), both with great success in facilitating introductions/meetings between 40+ CEOs and investors in our network.