eTail Boston 2025
August 11 - 14, 2025
Sheraton Boston, MA
Day 3: Retail Disruption And The Future Of eCommerce - Thursday, August 22nd, 2019
Today’s speakers are being transformative with mobile, immersive media, and are actually successfully using AI. They know which cutting-edge technologies you need to invest in now. And by the end of the day, you’ll be an expert too.
Transform SEARCH & ACQUISITION Summit
Transform EMAIL & RETENTION Summit - Monday, August 19th, 2019
Transform CONTENT Summit - Monday, August 19th, 2019
Day 1: Always On: Omni-Channel And The Connected Customer - Tuesday, August 20th, 2019
Day 2: Digital Growth And New eCommerce Experiences - Wednesday, August 21st, 2019
Day 3: Retail Disruption And The Future Of eCommerce - Thursday, August 22nd, 2019
8:10am - 8:40am
- Registration Open In The eTail Hallway, Sponsored By Zaius
- Join For A Grab And Go Breakfast
8:40 am - 8:50 am
Welcome Address
Megan Kessler -
Program Director,
eTail East
8:50 am - 9:10 am
Keynote Fireside Chat: Stepping Into A New Omni-Channel Experience
Cheryl Kaplan -
President & Founder,
M.Gemi
Cara Salpini -
Editor,
Retail Dive
Cheryl Kaplan is President and Co-Founder of the wildly popular shoe brand, M.Gemi. What was (and still is!) a disruptive direct-to-consumer luxury shoe brand, has evolved into an omni-channel business with a strong brick-and-mortar strategy as well. Listen in as Cheryl discusses how she keeps building an emotional connection with customers as the company rapidly expands.
9:10 am - 9:25 am
Chairperson’s Remarks
Jon Cheney -
Founder & CEO,
Seek
9:25 am - 9:55 am
D2C Keynote Panel Discussion: Digital Natives Disrupt Again… Now In Store.
Charles Gorra -
CEO & Founder,
Rebag
Daria Lupinacci -
SVP Marketing,
AUrate
Rachel Cohen -
Co-Founder, Co-CEO,
Snowe
Shane Pittson -
Head of Marketing,
quip
Matthew Mueller -
President and Co-Founder,
Knot Standard
What do these brands all have in common? These Digitally Native companies have disrupted their respective categories, and are now expanding to an in-store experience. Hear from the C-Levels of 5 breakthrough brands as they talk you through the opportunity they saw in their market, their unique value propositions and brand promises and how they have set themselves apart from the competition through the products and experiences they provide.
9:55 am - 10:20 am
Keynote: CarMax Goes All-In On Omni-Channel: Building, Scaling And Deploying With Speed
Jim Lyski -
CMO,
CarMax
CarMax, a high-integrity customer experience brand known for disrupting the automotive industry, is tackling a new challenge: empowering customers to buy a car on their terms – whether that’s from home, in store, or a seamless combination of both – all while providing the on-demand expertise needed during this complex customer journey. In just 18 months, CarMax is transitioning from a 200+ store brick and mortar brand to a full omni-channel retailer complete with home delivery. This has sparked major shifts for the company’s employees, customers and the industry.
This discussion will address:
• The Silicon Valley product innovation approach behind this new experience and key lessons learned when applying it to CarMax’s retail model
• Leveraging data, technology-driven personalization and a new CRM enterprise platform to seamlessly bridge physical and digital
• How the company approached building, scaling and deploying with speed
10:20 am - 10:50 am
Buzzy Coffee & Refreshment Break
We’ve got another amazing day at eTail! Grab a cup of joe and settle in.
10:50 am - 11:15 am
Keynote: CPG 2.0 -- How Food Will and Needs To Transform
Michael Wystrach -
CEO & Co-Founder,
Freshly
Mike Wystrach, CEO and Co-Founder of Freshly, will unpack what modern direct to consumer businesses (and Freshly in particular) is doing to revolutionize the retail food industry and how health and convenience can co-exist. He’ll discuss how traditional CPG models are under pressure to meet customer demand and desire for convenience. This begs the question, "Will the future of CPG's be based on better access and understanding of their customers?”. Mike will answer this question and more during this detailed keynote presentation.
11:15 am - 11:40 am
Keynote: The Business Case for Sustainability
Jeffery Fowler -
President, Americas,
Farfetch
It seems that the time has arrived when companies must have a sustainability strategy in place to address one of the most important challenges facing the fashion industry...or perhaps it is the case that companies who do not have a strategy have already fallen behind? What seemed to be an industry buzzword for so many years is now a central focus for many players within the industry.
In his keynote address, Farfetch President for the Americas, Jeffery Fowler, will introduce the company's platform for sustainable and responsible business - "Positively Farfetch" - and share insights into why it makes good business sense to orient commercial strategy around principles that positively impact our industry and our planet.
11:40 am - 12:05 pm
Keynote Fireside Chat: Technology Disruption and the Changing Face of Retail
Pawan Verma -
EVP, Global Chief Information and Customer Connectivity Officer,
Foot Locker
Cara Salpini -
Editor,
Retail Dive
12:05 pm - 12:40 pm
Place Your Vote! The Game Changer Tech Tank
Ben Mackinnon -
Founder, CEO,
Kard
Grant Lacy -
Founder & COO,
Inline Digital
Ben Bilbrough -
Founder/CEO,
Addy
You’ll hear from cutting edge retail tech providers who are changing the future of immersive retail. And you’re a part of the presentation! Vote on the best new tech on the conference app and let us know who is the next game changer.
12:40 pm - 1:40 pm
Around The World Lunch!
What’s your culinary style? Choose the food that fits your mood during this interactive lunch.
1:45 pm - 2:05 pm
Activating At Scale: Driving New Customers At Key Moments
Aleksandra Chojnacka -
Sr. Director of Business Development,
ShopStyle
ShopStyle is the leading fashion & lifestyle shopping platform and search engine used by 10M shoppers monthly to shop thousands of brands. ShopStyle’s search technology powers ShopStyle Collective, our network of 20k+ lifestyle influencers who use our tools to monetize their content, sending significant traffic, sales, and new audiences to our retailer partners.
This case study will share how a major online retailer used the power of ShopStyle and our influencers to reach new audiences during the holiday season. The results were massive increases in new shoppers, traffic and orders. This discussion addresses:
• How to leverage influencers to drive new audiences
• Creating digital content that converts
• How to strategically amplify influencer campaigns
2:05 pm - 2:30 pm
Panel Discussion: The Retail Tech Stack Of The Future
Christine Monaghan -
VP, Digital,
Astral Brands
Abhishek Shastry -
Director,Product Strategy,
Dell.com
Angela Gruszka -
SVP, Head of Marketing and eCommerce,
Milly
Jack Dreifuss -
Head of Corporate Strategy,
Bolt
What will the year ahead (and beyond!) hold for retailers and innovative technology? As retailers are more nimble and agile than ever, what is next to understand the customer on a deeper level from discovery to last mile purchase? The thought leaders on this panel look into their crystal ball and give their best predictions of:
• Agility as the core to eCommerce elevation—building out team initiatives and scale
• Focusing on helping marketing and merchandising working smarter together to surface the right products via AI
• Building an order of magnitude: starting with one product in the journey and increasing tests
2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Last Chance! End Of eTail Networking Break
Cheers! It’s the end of eTail and there is nothing better celebrating your new memories and business opportunities than sitting with multiple glasses of best wines with your new peers.