Location:
DLA Piper
2000 University Ave.
E. Palo Alto
(off of Woodland Ave. right near the Four Season's Hotel)

RSVP: http://meetup.com/svforum-websig

Panelists:David Selinger, CEO & Co-founder - Rich Relevance

David Selinger first garnered international recognition as an expert in the field of eCommerce data analytics and personalization with his groundbreaking work leading the research and development arm of Amazon’s Data Mining and Personalization team. In that role, David increased Amazon’s annual profit by over $50 million (25% of US profit, 2003) setting the industry standard for personalization. In addition, David’s hand e-commerce ranges from developing the first Javascript-powered ad delivery system for Flycast—the same technology used by Google AdSense, DoubleClick and Overture—to leading Overstock’s personalization efforts as Vice President of Software Development and Data Mining. David also co-founded Redfin. David holds a broad collection of awards and standing patents for online personalization in customer segmentation, analytics and data mining, including over a dozen pioneered at RichRelevance. David’s accolades include the coveted PC Magazine Editor’s Choice Award (won for 2Roam Wireless, acquired by Air2Web) and most recently, the San Francisco Business Times’ “40 Under 40″ recognition of emerging Silicon Valley business leaders in 2012. David received his BS in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Ashutosh (Ashu) Garg, CTO & Co-founder - Bloomreach

Ashutosh is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of BloomReach and a true guru of all things search, with 10 years of information retrieval, machine learning and search experience. Previously, he was a Staff Scientist at Google for 4+ years, which spanned 8 product launches. Prior to that, he was at IBM research. He is also a prolific publisher/inventor, with a book on machine learning, 30+ papers, and 50+ patents. Ashutosh holds a BTech from IIT-Delhi and a PhD from U of Illinois UC. Ashutosh has numerous awards, including best thesis award at IIT Delhi, IBM Fellowship and outstanding researcher award at UIUC.

Topic:

The panel will discuss about the different contexts in which buyers purchase goods & services and emerging companies that are taking these forms of transactions to the next level. The IAB recently announced that 2011 Internet Ad Revenue hit $31 billion - a 22% YoY increase. Moreover the line between commerce, marketing, and ecommerce is becoming blurred as companies are increasingly assimilating and automating to deliver timely, personalized, and relevant content to each consumer from search to discovery to purchase, aiming to provide a better ecommerce experience for the buyer and a better ROI for the seller.

Keyword Commerce - Search is still king with IAB reporting that 46% of Internet ad dollars go towards search marketing. This is the best fit when buyers know exactly what they want and do a price / feature comparison regardless of who the seller may be, and it has worked well for "the long tail" of SMBs.

Content Discovery (Keyword-less search) - Advances in Big Data and analytic are enabling companies to sift through the vast amount of data extant in the Internet in order to deliver content relevant to a user that she might not have otherwise seen. In the ecommerce context, these companies are able to deliver pages (products) to the viewer that standard queries might have missed due to lack of personalization. Do content discovery engines compete with keyword search or are they synergistic?

Web Curation - The flip side of content engines where people themselves curate the web. Ecommerce start-ups ranging from celebrity-blogs to self-curated lists take advantage of the fact that people are more likely to buy from people that they trust. A recent Market Watch article cites a study which shows that 1 in 4 Pinterest users buys something from the list.

Marketplaces - Rare goods long and peer-to-peer marketplaces have been a bastion of eBay and mainstream retail that of Amazon. However buyers are leaving their homes and desktops in droves and showrooming freely at stores again, yet they are making cheaper online purchases using Amazon's price check or the like in-store, selling to each other while on the go, etc. Is the Amazon and eBay of today the Amazon and eBay of tomorrow?

QR Codes - The codes provide a way to embed additional information into their advertisement. Will marketing equal QR codes some day? Will a more intuitive mnemonic make them more ubiquitous? How effective are they?

Brand Commerce - How are brands engaging with their fans? Will Facebook fanning and Twitter tweeting last till the next generation inherits? How can companies use trends in curation, content discovery, and keywords to maintain and extend their brand loyalty?

Resources:

http://www.iab.net/about_the_iab/recent_press_releases/press_release_archive/press_release/pr-041812

http://www.darwineco.com/blog/bid/70094/6-Traits-of-Highly-Effective-Content-Discovery-Engines

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pinterest-not-only-for-window-shoppers-over-1-in-4-buy-2012-04-16

Agenda:

6.30 pm - 7.00 pm Snacks, Drinks & Networking

7.00 pm - 7.15 pm Introductions

7.15 pm - 8.00 pm Panel Presentations

8.00 pm - 8.30 pm Moderated Panel

8.30 pm - 9.00 pm Q&A and Adjourn

Introduction:

Mihoko Ward / Benjamin Hautefeuille

Moderator:

Ritu Malhotra / Chris Wong

Price:
$20 at the door for non-SVForum members
No charge for SVForum members
No registration required

For more information visit: www.svforum.org/websig