On this bonus episode of Honest Ecommerce, we have Alexa Tietjen. Alexa is the Content Director at Shoptalk, where she helps shape the annual Spring and Fall agendas and recruit speakers for both shows. We talk about launching a Fall touchpoint for retail innovation, meeting industry peers for powerful networking, bringing women leaders to the forefront, and so much more!
Alexa Tietjen is the Content Director at Shoptalk, where she helps shape the annual Spring and Fall agendas and recruit speakers for both shows.
Prior to Shoptalk, she was a beauty editor at WWD, the fashion and beauty industry trade publication known as “the fashion bible.”
She wrote about beauty’s business boom and the rise of the creator economy. She has appeared on Good Morning America for her work.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
Resources:
If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!
Alexa Tietjen
So that's really what we're looking to cover at Fall is kind of all aspects of unified retail. With more of a focus on omni specialty functions like merchandising and supply chain in store.
Chase Clymer
Welcome to Honest Ecommerce, a podcast dedicated to cutting through the BS and finding actionable advice for online store owners. I'm your host, Chase Clymer. And I believe running a direct-to-consumer brand does not have to be complicated or a guessing game.
On this podcast, we interview founders and experts who are putting in the work and creating real results.
I also share my own insights from running our top Shopify consultancy, Electric Eye. We cut the fluff in favor of facts to help you grow your Ecommerce business.
Let's get on with the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Honest Ecommerce.
Today, I'm welcoming the show. I am bringing you Alexa Tietjen. She is the content director from Shoptalk. Welcome to the show.
Alexa Tietjen
Thanks so much for having me, Chase.
Chase Clymer
See, I had like a brain fart there because I was thinking about how I've had almost two dozen people on the show that I've met at Shoptalk, but I've never had anyone from Shoptalk on the show. So I'm very excited to chat with you.
Alexa Tietjen
Oh, wow. I'm looking forward to chatting with you as well.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely. And I always bring up when it is someone from a conference like that, that I met at the conference and I always tried to kind of preach just the power of getting out there and meeting people that are doing like-minded stuff out in the world.
And I think I've said it on the show before and I'll say it again right now, Shoptalk. The one in Vegas is just by far the biggest and best. And I'm super excited about the one that you guys are doing in the fall.
Alexa Tietjen
I'm glad to hear that. Yeah, we're very excited to be launching a new show. Happy to share more about that here. I know we're going to be talking about that in a second. But yeah, great to hear you had a positive experience at our past shows as well.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
So as your role at Shoptalk, you are the content director. What does that mean? What are you helping them do?
Alexa Tietjen
Yes. So as part of the content team at Shoptalk, I help set the annual agendas for our spring and our new fall shows, and then also recruit speakers for both of those shows. I also help support our meetup programs, specifically Table Talks, which is a popular program that we run on-site at our shows.
But really, just taking an editorial eye to our agenda, thinking about the main themes and topics that our attendees will want to hear about on stage, and then conducting research to see who in the retail industry is kind of leading in their respective fields, who we think would be great to feature on our stage to share their insights and knowledge with our audience members.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
And I believe that your previous role gave you a little bit of experience and some insights into helping you with your new role at Shoptalk.
Alexa Tietjen
Absolutely. Yeah. So prior to Shoptalk, I was a beauty editor at WWD, which is a fashion and beauty industry trade publication. I covered prestige beauty and influencer marketing there for some years. And it was actually during the time of the beauty boom and the rise of the creator economy and those two sectors really converged at that time.
So it was a great time to be covering both of those feats because there was so much overlap. But yeah, I was with WWD for about five years and I'd say that that really helped. It helps me in my role at Shoptalk in terms of, you know, we don't feature sponsored content across our shows.Everybody who speaks on our stage is hand selected by our content team.
And so you know that they're there because they are leading in their fields, and they have some meat to share with our audience members.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely. You guys do an amazing job with your content curation over there.
So my next question is, I know there's people listening to this that A. haven't heard of Shoptalk. So can you kind of elaborate what it is that they're missing.
Alexa Tietjen
Absolutely. Yeah. So Shoptalk is a retail conference company. We are in the business of bringing together the community of innovators in the retailer and brand space. So we have four flagship events throughout the calendar year. Shoptalk Spring, which you mentioned, we launched in 2016. That was our flagship show for a while.
We also have ShopTalk Europe, which takes place in June in Barcelona. We also have a sister show called Groceryshop that's more focused on the food and CPG industries, which takes place in October in Las Vegas. And then Shoptalk Fall, which is our newest show, is launching for the first time this October in Chicago.
So our events are really to gather retail innovators to talk about the future of retail. We have a focus on tech innovation across all of our shows. And we found that attendees really come to our shows because they want to learn, they want to network. And they also want to meet with tech solution providers who could help take their business to the next level.
So that's a brief overview of who we are and what we do.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
And you alluded to your launching Shoptalk Fall. And as of recording this, we're about a month out from that. And this is going to hopefully come out in a week or two. And we're going to get some more eyes on that.
But what made you decide to launch Shoptalk Fall?
Alexa Tietjen
Yeah, I would say there are a few reasons why we decided to launch Shoptalk Fall. But one was really... It came out of the need that we heard from our own community about their needing to be another touch point throughout the calendar year. And I can also just say anecdotally, the pace of change and retail is so fast now that it made sense to have a second show.
An example that I've been sharing with people I talked to is in 2023, everyone on our show floor was talking about generative AI, because that was just a few months after ChatGPT had kind of exploded. Everyone was wondering what this means for our jobs, what does this mean for retail.
And we didn't actually really talk about AI thoroughly on our stage until spring this year. And so having another touch point throughout the calendar year will allow us to keep pace with change in retail.
We also know that fall is a time when retailers and brands are thinking about their budgets for the year ahead and what investments they want to make in retail technology for the forthcoming year.
So it's a good time. It makes sense to gather people at that time to kind of reconsider their tech stack.
And then I'd also say from a content perspective, Shoptalk Fall gives us an opportunity to talk more about topics that we don't go super in depth on at Shoptalk Spring. The majority of our content at Spring tends to be focused on digital marketing, Ecommerce. And of course, we do touch on topics like supply chain operations, merchandising, and in-store.
But Shoptalk Fall will really focus more on those specialty topics that we, you know, just don't get enough time to cover in Spring. So that will really be the focus of the content at ShopTalk Fall. It's going more in depth on merchandising, supply chain operations, and then the in-store experience.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
And I know that you guys are doing something a little unique for the keynote lineup this year.
Alexa Tietjen
Absolutely.
Yeah, we're very excited to announce that our mainstage keynote lineup at ShopTalk Fall will only feature women, which is the first time that a retail conference of our scale has committed to an all-women mainstage lineup. And something that we're personally very excited about. It's important to us to highlight women in retail, especially women leaders who are at the helm of their organizations.
And also it coincides nicely with the launch of our Meetup for Women program, which is a previously virtual event that took place last year. And we received a lot of positive feedback from our community. And we decided that with the launch of Shoptalk Fall, it would make sense to have that program in person for the very first time.
So yeah, lots of exciting news at ShopTalk Ball. But definitely excited about our mainstage keynote lineup only featuring women.
Chase Clymer
Oh, absolutely.
Now, the meetups, I feel, are, at least for me, one of the most valuable parts of ShopTalk. And just like even taking a step back, just going to conferences in general, networking is almost like the number one. And I'd love that... Even if you have insights on this, I assume it might be the number one answer of what people get out of the event is the power of the networking. But the way that you do it with the meetups is just so awesome.
Could you explain a little bit more about how those work for the listeners?
Alexa Tietjen
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you're right. We know that people come to our conferences for the content, but even more so for the networking opportunities. So Meetup is our program that facilitates double opt-in meetings. So basically how that works is you will only ever meet with someone who also has chosen to meet with you.
There are 15-minute meetings that take place in our meetup hall. The energy in there is absolutely buzzing when you're on site. So basically, you select who you want to meet with ahead of time, and then our algorithm will pair you with other executives who have also chosen to meet with you.
So it's a really great way to, you know, connect with other people in the industry, whether you're looking to connect with peers or you're looking for new talent or you're looking for your next career move, whatever it might be. Meetup is a great way to go about doing that.
Chase Clymer
Yeah. It's not to cheapen it, but it's kind of like Tinder for business meetings.
Alexa Tietjen
Yes, that would be accurate to think about it in that way. Yes. Speed dating.
Chase Clymer
Yeah, it is speed dating. And that's what the people got to refer to it as.
And the amount of tables and meetings at Shoptalk Spring is mind blowing. Just how much connection you guys are letting happen in there.
Alexa Tietjen
Yeah, it's the size of two football fields, I believe. It's huge.
But I will say our app is very efficient in telling you where you need to go. So even though the meetings go by pretty quickly, we found that it's a very efficient program overall. And we've gotten a very positive response to it.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
So you mentioned earlier that AI was a big component of what people were talking about at Shoptalk Spring.
What are some of the ideas and some of the concepts are going to be discussed at Shoptalk Fall?
Alexa Tietjen
Yeah, so Shoptalk Fall's overall theme is unified retail, which is Shoptalk's way of referring to omnichannel. And so we will have topics like merchandising, supply chain operations, the in-store experience, in-store design.
We will have a couple of AI topics, also topics on retail media networks. So we're really looking to program sessions that we know are of interest and timely for our audience.
But I think at this particular moment in retail, there's kind of this shift back to basics when it comes to merchandising and stores. We know that the majority of retail transactions still take place in person in stores. And especially after the past few years, retailers are really thinking about their in-store experience, how to make it better, how to maybe re-strategize when it comes to merchandising, maybe reformat their stores.
And then, of course, how they can make their operations more smooth to facilitate all of that. So that's really what we're looking to cover at Fall: all aspects of unified retail, with more of a focus on these specialty functions, like merchandising, supply chain, and store. And I think you'll see that reflected both on our agenda and then also on the main stage.
So, so far we've confirmed the president and chief operating officer of Ulta Beauty. She will be talking about some of the investments that they're making in their supply chain to facilitate unified retail.
We will also feature Kyle Leahy, the CEO of Glossier on the main stage. They have a really cool in-store design and experience. There's often people queuing up outside of the store, at least here in SoHo, to get in there.
So Kyle will be talking about their in-store experience and merchandising as well. And Build-A-Bear Workshop, we have their CEO Sharon Price-John slated to speak, who will be talking about their in-store experience and operations as well. So yeah, that's a little preview of what we're looking to cover with the agenda.
Chase Clymer
Absolutely.
And I know that you will be releasing more and more as it gets closer. So if I'm listening to this, and you have piqued my interest, and this is something that I want to do, do you have any advice for me as a first-time attendee, as a direct consumer founder, Ecommerce store owner?
Alexa Tietjen
I would say plan ahead. We packed a lot in, in the three days of our show. And that's on purpose. We want to deliver maximum value to our attendees.
But I would say sit down beforehand. Plan which sessions you want to go to, definitely participate in the Meetup program. It's just a great way to meet other people in retail.
And also I think what's great about Shoptalk is when you get a ticket to our show, you attend everything. There's no tiered tickets to attend certain things and not others. So once you're in, you're in for the full three days.
You have to come to the Shoptalk party. We are kind of famous for throwing really great parties at our shows.
And then I'd say from a practical standpoint, wear comfortable shoes, bring a sweater if you're like me and you tend to get cold. And then at the very end of the show, we will have a key takeaway session, which I will be taking part in. So I'm kind of biased in suggesting that.
But I do recommend that you stay for the end in case you weren't able to get to all the sessions that you would have liked to. We will be sharing key takeaways there too.
Chase Clymer
That's amazing.
Now, Alexa, before I let you go, is there anything I didn't ask you about that you think would resonate with our audience?
Alexa Tietjen
I guess I would say, you know, we didn't really talk too much about who attends our shows.
And I would say the majority of our attendees are retailers and brand executives. But I would also recommend this to people who are just starting out in their retail careers or who are just starting their retail businesses. We intentionally create an environment at Shoptalk where it's easy to learn from each other.And so if you are kind of a small business owner or you're just starting out in your retail career, it's a really great place to learn and also to network with other people.
And with fall in particular, I think it's a great place to kind of start out and then join us at our spring show in March in Las Vegas next year and kind of build the relationship from there.
So, yeah. I would say we're really for people of all stages in retail, whether you're just starting out or you've been in the industry for a long time.
Chase Clymer
And finally, before I let you go, if I am interested in this, where should I go for more information?
Alexa Tietjen
You should go to fall.shoptalk.com. We have all of our information on our website. You can read more about our Meetup program, our agenda, our speaker lineup, everything that you need to know is on our website. fall.shoptalk.com.
Chase Clymer
Awesome. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Alexa Tietjen
Thank you so much, Chase.
Chase Clymer
We can't thank our guests enough for coming on the show and sharing their knowledge and journey with us. We've got a lot to think about and potentially add into our own business. You can find all the links in the show notes.
You can subscribe to the newsletter at honestecommerce.co to get each episode delivered right to your inbox.
If you're enjoying this content, consider leaving a review on iTunes, that really helps us out.
Lastly, if you're a store owner looking for an amazing partner to help get your Shopify store to the next level, reach out to Electric Eye at electriceye.io/connect.
Until next time!