BostInno's State of Innovation is in full swing, with around 1,000 professionals, entrepreneurs, industry leaders and in-the-know companies getting the front row seat to discussions surrounding current and future innovation in the mobile, retail/e-commerce, transportation, venture capital, education, robotics, advertising, and fitness industries of Boston.
If you weren't able to get tickets to today's conference, we have you covered. After an opening address and quick Q&A session with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, the audience broke into different discussions, and at the retail and e-commerce panel, four local leaders took the stage to talk about innovation in the realm of retail and e-comm in Boston.
Greg Selkoe, CEO and founder of Karmaloop; Susan Standiford, CTO of Rue La La; Mark Bollman, president and founder of Ball and Buck; and Larry Meyer, CEO of Uniqlo USA, which will be opening six new stores in Boston and surrounding areas by next year, all fielded questions surrounding their businesses, be they online or brick and mortar based. With their answers pre-determined, they defended their thoughts and beliefs, and while they're all successful, the difference in tactics and priorities shown through.
Questions spanned multiple topics, including the importance of being not just mobile friendly, but mobile optimized, to which Rue La La's CTO Susan Standiford answered: "Rue's model is 100 percent made for mobile. [It] screams mobile, portable shopping." Mark Bollman of Ball and Buck agreed, stating that as apps evolve, people aren't going to settle for anything less than a user experience that's "second nature." As for Uniqlo, a brand we here in Boston likely know only online, they're still building their brand. "We're a brick and mortar mentality primarily; we'll embrace technology next," CEO Larry Meyer said during the panel discussion.
Also displaying the differences between brick and mortar-based and online-based brands was the prompt: What is most important to your business? Both Standiford and Selkoe, representing e-commerce sites, answered "time spent on website." Meyer, representing Uniqlo (a company that saw its US success spread from its prime flagship real estate on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, he later explained), said "time spent in store." And Bollman of Ball and Buck spoke to the Newbury Street store's personable priority by answering "time spent speaking to employees in store."
Rob Go of NextView Ventures moderated the panel, and brought up – naturally – the fact that for a city not acclaimed as a fashion hub, there are still a plethora of retail and e-commerce brands uprooting from the streets of Boston, evidenced by the industry leaders in the room.
"Is it an anomaly that there are so many great retail brands in Boston?" Go asked, to which Selkoe answered: "Boston wins for 'most improved' when it comes to fashion. There's a burgeoning fashion scene; we're special here. People are rooting for us." Selkoe launched his company out of his parents' basement, while Bollman, a graduate of Babson College, began by selling shirts out of his dorm room as a student. Selkoe also pointed to the shoe brands that hold their headquarters in or around the city: Puma, Converse, New Balance, Reebok. "I wish the city would do more to promote that," he said (while wearing Nikes, not headquartered in Boston).
Bollman agreed to Selkoe's sentiment that Boston, if not a leading fashion district, is a supportive one. "What you get with Boston is a city that has soul."
To close out the discussion, Go fielded questions from audience remembers, who asked about analytics, social media, paid social ads and how e-commerce sites pick brands ("We've gotten to the point where we dominate streetwear, so we can pick any brand in the world," answered Selkoe). For Meyer, the only panelist just now introducing his company to Boston rather than introducing it to the world from here, he believes that the drive in customers from the brick and mortar stores (the first of which will pop up temporarily in Faneuil Hall this June) will also serve to boost online traffic.
"If that doesn't work," he said, "I'll have to rethink my theory."
This afternoon served to demonstrate that even in a city often overlooked for its fashion reputation, innovation is sprouting up and holding strong in the retail and e-commerce worlds. Join the rest of the conversation for State of Innovation 2014 by following the hashtag #SOIBoston on Twitter.
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