Long time, no blog... (aka June is going to be busy!)

Phew, it's been a very busy couple of weeks here at ChannelAdvisor and my normal midnight-2am blog time has been occupied by a variety of other things and thus I haven't had much time to blog.  A lot of time has been spent on two upcoming shows that I wanted to alert readers that we'll be at in full force:

1. Internet Retailer - (IRCE for short is in Chicago this year June 9-12).  ChannelAdvisor has a huge booth at this event (booth 453 - it's the one in front of the entrance just left of center).  As ecommerce channels have grown in importance, IRCE has become a cornerstone tradeshow for us.  With 5-8k internet retailers under one roof what's not to love about this conference?  One interesting trend I'll be reporting on for you eBay-focused folks is that over the last 2-3 years we've seen more of the larger eBay sellers choosing to go to this event vs. eBay Live.  With eBay skipping Live in 2009, it gives IRCE a chance to really take over.  I'm speaking at IRCE at the June 9 "Advanced strategies for marketing your website" Workshop with the folks from Vitamin Shoppe about PPC advertising.  There's some great content our team came up with here so I'll make sure to put it on the blog or our sister site (our paid-search blog), www.searchmarketing.com.
2. eBay Live - is ALSO in Chicago the next week June 19-21.  ChannelAdvisor will be at booth 911 (Got an eBay emergency? come to booth 911!).  eBay Live is going to be very busy with Wall St. events, talks and panels.
   
   • For the Wall St. readers in the audience we are co-hosting three sell-side events (a breakfast lunch and dinner so all of your culinary needs can be met!) featuring a wide variety of our top sellers- shoot ashley@channeladvisor.com an email if you want more info.
   • 6/19 - 3pm - I have a talk on 12 tips to improve your DSRs (rm w375a)
   • 6/20 - 10:30am - Sitting on a panel on using CSP software and tools to improve efficiency (rm W180).  This one's fun because I get to talk about how often Blackthorne crashes all the time and what not. (that's for John).
   • 6/20 - 1pm - I'm hosting a panel entitled 'how to run your back-office for top sellers' (this is going to be strong as we have a rockstar panel) - (rm w375c)
   • 6/21 - noon book signing (I guess in the book store?)
   • 6/21 - 3pm - Is a repeat of the DSR talk for those that couldn't make the earlier one (rm W179a)

So preparing for all of this has taken a big time investment, but I think we're ready.  I'm definitely looking forward to meeting tons of customers, industry folks and blog readers.  See you in Chicago!

P.S. I have a couple of pent up blog items I'll try and get out today/this weekend.

Comments

[froliky]

Hammer Time.
What tricks and gimicks are next? Is there a rabbit in eBays hat? Is this a marketing or business arrangement experiment, or is this a very disturbing and sinister version of company value manipulation? Is there going to be yet another secretary document shredding investigation?
It may appear suspicious that eBay would form a business arrangement with Buy.com at the same time as the implementation of the controversial reputation and revenue damaging feedback policies.
Whether or not management is "padding the numbers", (with questionable Buy listings), in a veiled attempt to keep up appearances, allowing time for new empowered buyers to gather is debatable. Whether or not there is a solid case against eBay for the Better Business Bureau, the FTC, the SEC, the Attorney General or a class action lawsuit, or even a criminal prosecution is a matter to be very seriously pondered. Whether or not John Donohoe will ever face justice, whether or not these policies constitute a criminal act, whether anyone is liable for irreparable harm is yet to be determined.
Seemingly beyond an attempt to "cook the books", these combined policy decisions may appear to be the opposite of a "pump and dump" investment scheme, - a "bear attack"- (an attempt to drive down the value of company stock,) and bears close scrutiny.
If this is not a clumsily masterminded conspiracy, or misleading and deceptive practices, or some attempt to monopolize certain category sales for under the table profit, then what is it?
Is leadership on the line with an attempt to defraud investors while the company poses to repurchase an announced 1.9 billion dollars worth of company stock, and is this going to become headline news?
If there comes an announcement at the Live! convention of the cancellation of the questionable Buy.com agreement, if there is a sudden rollback of the feedback policies all this will just be coincidence and management comes out smelling like a rose, right?
Wrong.
When the gavel drops, company reputation, member trust and potential revenue have been wasted. The rising global flood of competition grows, steadily eroding this pathetic sand castle.
Obviously at the very least, these decisions will be the focus of investigation and study by students of economics and law, by business law specialists and by media now and for many years to come.
Until proper member safeguards are adopted, from the perspective of countless users, eBay company reputation is no better than that of their worst member.

google this to find it: froliky

[John Slocum (Blackthorne)]

Ouch... taking potshots at me behind my back... why I oughta...

[DarenThompson]

I will be attending both events...See u there!!!