Google’s invite-only retail summit, Think Retail: The Future is Now, was held on July 12 in Mountain View, CA. The event reached over 950 marketing leaders and agency executives. Think Retail explored the ever-evolving marketplace, how to most effectively leverage digital assets, and how to best connect with today’s consumers.

I attended the session and it was a jam-packed day of valuable information, trends, and great examples. It sparked ideas for many marketers on “how can I integrate mobile into my back-to-school programs,” “how can I apply multi-channel online attribution to my business,” and “how the social landscape is changing with Google+.”

The event provided a new perspective on the increasingly digital consumer shopping experience and offered new ideas and opportunities for marketers to make more meaningful consumer connections and increase online and offline sales. Key highlights included:
  • Matt Nemer from Wells Fargo’s insights into why “We are on the brink of another acceleration in eCommerce”
  • Andy Mantis from MasterCard’s analysis of consumer spending trends and predictions for the holidays
  • Product experts from Google sharing trends in local, mobile and video, and how retailers can incorporate these strategies into their marketing mix
  • Avinash Kaushik's sharing of best practices for multi-channel online attribution
  • Google’s Social team's peek into the Google+ project - real-life sharing , rethought for the web. The team gave a demo on how to use circles, huddles, sparks and more. They also shared how clients using Google Analytics can gain insight into social engagement on their website (see below)

    The Think Retail website has been updated with presentations and videos from the event. You can access the content here. Enjoy!


    Posted by Atoshi Shorey, The Google Technology Market Team