I couldn't help but feel a bit of deja vu this morning as I entered the Desert Springs resort in Palm Desert, Calif., to attend eTail 2008. After all, I reported on the event last year in the same venue, and the hotel's atmosphere is as oasis-like as I remember it.
This year's event is indeed similar to the 2007 gathering: The setup looks familiar, and the crowd is once again comprised of exhibitors eager to pitch their products, as well as e-tail shop representatives antsy to learn a ton in the sessions.
However, as I strolled the bustling show floor and sat in on packed sessions, I saw a few intriguing new products among the exhibits and overheard conversations suggesting that what's top of mind for attendees has shifted since last year.
The Quirky Stuff
Fun stuff first. Here are some things that caught my eye on the show floor:
- The mostly white eFashion Solutions booth with pink accents looks really chic and draws attention. The booth attendants' bright pink lanyards are also pretty trendy-looking.
- The
BlueLithium and DoubleClick (Nasdaq: DCLK)
Performics booths are situated across from each
other. I found this interesting because the two firms were scooped up
by key rivals Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) , respectively (although the FTC has not yet approved the latter deal). I couldn't wrestle any
juicy gossip out of BlueLithium's Tasvir Patel about Yahoo's next step
post-turning-down-Microsoft's offer, but it was worth a shot. - The tallest booth -- Omniture's lime green and silver one -- is in the middle of the show floor, with the company's name rotating around at the top. Every other booth is about half its size.
- Lastly, there's a mime making balloon animals at the e-Dialog booth. Enough said.
New Products
IBM (NYSE: IBM) caught my attention with its big blue booth. I noticed a virtual world on a large display and some goggles, so I darted in, and IBM's Brent Cossey told me all
about the company's new technology they call the "cave demo"
or the "goggles demo." Whatever it's called, it's pretty cool, in that it
ties in virtual reality with e-commerce.
I put the goggles on, and there I was in Second Life, exploring a room that I could design to replicate one in my home -- complete with its specific dimensions -- so I could see how a specific vase or TV or whatever would look there. IBM rolled out the demo at the National Retail Federation event a few weeks ago, Cossey informed me.
The Buzz
Almost as soon as I arrived at eTail Tuesday, I started hearing the words "social networking" everywhere. Nearly everyone I spoke to or listened to at a session mentioned some aspect of the online phenomenon, such as social shopping or community building.
There are several sessions that focus on this topic, including "Taking a Deep Dive Into the Future of Community: The Convergence of Retail and Community-Building Online." I attended this session, and although I had to walk outside in the desert heat to get to it and then sit in a row of chained chairs that made me feel like a sardine, the speakers' talks were thought provoking.
Pinny Gniwisch, senior vice president of marketing 
for
Ice.com, offered a simple strategy for the future of e-commerce: "How
do we retain the customers that we have and keep them coming back over
and over again? Community is going to do that."
Stay tuned for more live reporting from eTail 2008 on Wednesday!
Click here to e-mail Rachelle Crum.
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