Wrapping Up Retail Fest 2022

It's official, Retail Fest 2022 has come to its epic conclusion.

After three days with over 75 exhibitors, 150 speakers, and more than 1500 attendees, Australia's online retail community has returned to their places of business more inspired and insightful than ever before.

That also includes us.

Interparcel was on-site at the exhibition on the Gold Coast, and we got to attend workshops, listen to speakers, interview other ecommerce specialists, and help several attendees with their shipping and fulfilment strategies. Here are just some of the highlights from our time at Retail Fest 2022.

Wonderful Workshops

When we weren't assisting small businesses and entrepreneurs with their shipping and fulfilment needs, we had the opportunity to attend a fantastic workshop from MI Academy on cross campaign optimisation.

They provided real-life examples of how to make project management more efficient and successfully incorporate customer journeys into your initiatives. MI Academy even provided additional resources after the session, including a template to use for work in progress meetings and 90 Day Project Plan to help organisers get down to a granular level.

Sensational Speakers

We also had the chance to listen to some amazing speakers at Retail Fest 2022. Naturally, we attended The Last Mile Panel, which discussed delivering products to customers quickly while sticking to a budget. We also went to the Future Retail Trends sessions to gain an insight into what the industry will look like over the next three, seven, and ten years. Some of the topics discussed included the growing role of technology and long-term consumer trends.

A highlight for the Interparcel team was the Growth with Social Media Panel. The speakers discussed how to build a considered approach when utilising social platforms, work within your target market, and the importance of being authentic and genuine in your posts. They also talked about choosing the right platform to promote your business.

Insightful Interviews

We had so many visitors to the Interparcel booth. They weren't all retailers. Some offered ecommerce solutions to help brands scale their businesses and delight their customers. Retail Fest 2022 was the perfect place to bring the community together to share insights, discuss trends, and ponder where the industry will go next.

We're sure plenty of you wish you could have been a fly on the wall during these discussions. That's why we filmed as many of them as we could. We picked their brains on all things ecommerce and asked for tips and advice they would give to retailers that they would find beneficial for their business. Keep an eye on our YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram accounts for these interviews.

Helping the Retail Community

The best part of Retail Fest 2022 was all of the people we met. Some have been using Interparcel's services for some time, and others were brand new to our offerings and wanted to learn more about how we can help them with their shipping strategies.

We took them through how the Interparcel Shipping Manager works, including some of the features like automated label generation, address validation, and combining multiple parcels using Smart Boxing. The attendee's eyes lit up when they saw how it could save them on processing times and reduce costs, especially due to the recent introduction of fuel surcharges.

Our team also demonstrated the Branded Tracking Portal. We changed the colour scheme to match the retailer's brand, showcased the ways customers remain up to date on where their parcel is and explained how business owners could update the page to include coupons and offers to encourage buyers to make another purchase.

The Countdown Begins

Everyone from Interparcel who attended Retail Fest 2022 had a fantastic time. We were inspired. We learned so many interesting facts and got some insight into the hottest trends. We got to meet so many amazing fellow vendors and pick their brains about all things ecommerce. But most importantly, we got to meet loads of Interparcel customers and (hopefully) some new ones too. Now we start counting down to Retail Fest 2023!