Red Letter Days Managing Director Bill Alexander explored the crucial importance of building a strong brand to cut through the clutter of today’s noisy marketplace, differentiate yourself from the competition, cultivate customer loyalty, create a consistent voice across all marketing touch points, and translate brand awareness into online traffic and sales. In particular, Bill talked about how the power of the Red Letter Days brand enabled the company to recover from administration in 2005 and retain its position as the UK’s No.1 gift experience company.

Scot set the stage for the Catalyst conference by providing his insights on the latest online multi-channel trends. Attendees had an opportunity to learn why it is critical to understand growth, structural changes, and competitive elements within marketplaces, comparison shopping, and search. Scot also shared his thoughts on how online merchants can prepare themselves to successfully navigate through this consistently evolving and always challenging landscape. He also provided an overview of how ChannelAdvisor’s products and services will assist online retailers in reaching their sales goals.

Mark Lewis, managing director of eBay.co.uk, set forth his vision for how the company aims to add value, action and service to the leading online marketplace. Recognising that many retail customers need assistance in trading via eBay, Mark spoke about removing barriers that prevent businesses from listing their entire product catalogue on the site.

Colleen Aubrey invited us all to join her as she updated us on the latest opportunities for retailers on Amazon's third-party merchants platform, Merchants@. Colleen shared some of Amazon's top priorities for 2008, talked about the power of the 'Buy Box and what it takes to get into it. She also updated the audience on the latest developments in Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA).

Retailers depend on Google Product Search, Google Analytics, Google AdWords and Google Checkout to launch, track and optimise campaigns and enhance the customer experience. How will Google's solid foundation of e-commerce tools colour the future of the retailing world?  This presentation will offer an inside look into Google's road map for the future and the steps you can take to make sure your business gets results.