The Future of Online Retail Marketing - E - Commerce conference keynote speaker

And it takes me to the online boom. Because here, all kinds of things are happening that we don't see. For example, this year, we will see.. 1 trillion dollars of e-commerce sales around the world. In my country it's now over 10 percent of all retailing. And growing very fast. And you might say, 'Its different here. Bu,t I'm not so sure. Let's look at it this is the internet use 1990 through to 2012 in Bulgaria, Greece, Romania. You can see, the lines are quite similar and where are they going? Very high. Next question: What are people buying online in Bulgaria? The statistics show that clothes, sports and goods, that 64 percent of people who are buying online are buying those, travel and holiday, books, magazines and so on. Price comparison sites are driving a huge growth in online sales. There are over 100 price comparison sites in your country alone. There are a hundreds across the rest of Europe. And these sites are a huge challenge for the future of retailing: they are very important for the customer. So, we have the customer, going at, this is me going in to a Sony store, and I come straight out because all I do is, I take a picture of the barcode of a TV with my iPhone, and within seconds, I have many, many, many different retailers I can go to for exactly the same product. So we saw here the older woman, she's very impressed with this box, in fact, she would never have believed that you could have a robot to clean your home. She had to see it. She had to touch it, to believe it was true. But at that moment, the shop is about to lose this sale because the shop assistant, before the shop assistant has even got to her, her daughter it busy on the iPhone. Her daughter has said, 'No mother, we're not going to buy it here.' 'I want to buy it now.' 'No-no-no-no-no. It will cost us too much money. We will order it from Amazon.' And so, we have, a phenomenon, in many countries now. Where the customer is going to the retail store, they're having a long conversation with the sales representative. They are feeling, trying, turning things on, and when they make their decision, they're saying 'Goodbye'. Or, they start buying inside the store, because they discover, that this same product is cheaper on the website of this company than in the store. So they're now checking the online price and say, 'I'm ordering it online'. The other day, I was ordering at present for my wife, and I was in the store. First, I started online, at home, on a computer then, on the way, I was carrying on, searching on the smartphone. I wanted to see this product, I wanted to touch it, I wanted to check it out, because there were so many models it was a food mixer. And when I had finally made the choice, I tried to pick up the box and I suddenly realised, it was too big. I couldn't take it home. I wanted to go on the train, on the metro. So, at that point, I knew I had to order it online. So, I went to the store, ordered it online, I'm now ordering it from this store, and then I realised, that I could get it cheaper somewhere else. So all kinds of things are happening, it's a big challenge, and it's not just the cleaning equipment, it's not just the, 'do-it-yourself', it's not just bicycles, it's furniture, it's kitchens. Price comparison is a tough area. And, if we look, this is just one of your price comparison sites. And, the harder life is for people in the economy, the more they are interested in ways, to save, just 10 euros. And especially with social media, because they start communicating with friends maybe in the store they are talking on Facebook. They're saying, 'Am I being silly, is this at bad thing to do? I have just seen a robot. Amazing robot. I'm just about to buy it.' And suddenly, 'bam-bam-bam-bam-bam' 10 friends are saying, 'Don't buy it. I've just see it online.' So we have friends advising friends. It applies to non-physical product. In Italy, we have seen sales increase by 58 percent on price comparison sites for car insurance. It's just part of what's happening. And all this is linked to how retailers are communicating with their customers: it's the future of Marketing.