Speaker Bio

Jon Bovard

E-Commerce Manager, Identity Direct

Jon is a veteran eCommerce manager with over 8 years in high volume Online retail operations, both in Australia and the UK. Previously with NET-A-PORTER.COM - now one of the largest online retailers in the world - Jon has a career spanning fashion, luxury and more recently toys and gifts.

Jon now heads up the e-commerce channel at Identity Direct, a Sydney based, personalised gifts online retailer with 2009 turnover of over 500,000 orders.

Jon's area of specialisation include strategy, technology and online marketing.

Jon's Presentation Thoughts

We asked Jon the following questions about his upcoming presentation at Online Retailer. Here are his responses...

Please summarise the content of your session (in your own words):
Maximising conversion without undermining margin. Why having the lowest price is the lowest form of online marketing. How to avoid competing on price alone in the online retail world.

What can attendees expect to take away from your session?
Where the real, tangible and measureable quick wins are, in terms of getting the most from your e-commerce website's conversion, efficiency and commercial performance.

The hottest thing in online retailing right now is:
Social Media, although there is much lower hanging fruit to be had.

The biggest danger in online retailing is:
Lack of suitable skills, expertise and e-commerce suppliers in the Australian market means it is a real challenge relative to the UK or the US.

Some of the best examples of online retail best practice are:
Zappos and NET-A-PORTER.COM, with valuations exceeding $500 Million USD. Profitable growth is founded on building a large repeat customer base. Both these businesses operated on this principal from day one.