IRCE 2008 Sets A Stunning One-Day Registration Record
Registrations for the Internet Retailer 2008 Conference & Exhibition in Chicago on June 9-12 are running 20% ahead of last year thanks to a record 387 sign-ups on Monday, the last day of early bird discounts. That shattered the prior one-day mark of 162.

"We always expect heavy registration activity on the last day of the early bird discounts," says Jack Love, publisher of Internet Retailer, "but none of us dreamed we'd average one registration every 3.7 minutes from morning to night."

Given the total number of registrants who have signed up in the first three months of marketing, says Love, IRCE is now on track to register 3,200 paid conference attendees by the time the show is held on June 9-12 at the new McCormick Place West. Another 1,600 exhibitors, 140 speakers and about 50 press members will attend IRCE 2008 as well, bringing total attendance to about 5,000. That number is 20% higher than the total attendance at IRCE 2007 in San Jose, which set the previous worldwide attendance record for an e-retailing trade show. (IRNewsLink, April 1, 2008)

Internet Retailer 2008 Selects 125 Speakers
Internet Retailer has completed its selection of the 125 e-retailing professionals who will speak at the Internet Retailer 2008 Conference & Exhibition at Chicago's McCormick Place West convention center on June 9-12. It is the largest group of speakers ever to address an e-retailing conference—a 20% increase from IRCE 2007.

The June 10 Keynote Speaker is Mike Boylson, marketing chief of J.C. Penney Co., a rare mainstream retail chain that has adopted the web as a centerpiece of its multi-channel strategy. The June 11 keynoter is Buy.com's CEO, Neel Grover, who heads up a young company that has become a profitable, mainstream mass merchant by doggedly pursuing its web-only strategy and by adopting the latest web marketing tools. Sharing the top billing with these keynoters are three featured speakers. They include: Eric Faintreny, CEO of Redcats USA, who has overseen the transition of a major catalog firm from print to Internet; Laura Christine, the ecommerce vice president of SKETCHERS, a manufacturer that uses its well-known brand to sell directly to consumers on the web and has grown online sales by more than 100% for each of the last three years; and Christian Friedland, the CEO of Improvement Direct, an online home improvement site he founded in 2000, whose success story typifies that of thousands of niche merchants who have found new life on the Internet.

"These keynote and featured speakers reflect the balance that Internet Retailer 2008 Conference & Exhibition achieves throughout its entire conference agenda," says Jack Love, Publisher of Internet Retailer. "Each one represents a different merchandising channel competing on the web and a different size and sophistication level." (IRNewsLink, Feb. 25, 2008)

The IRCE 2008 Exhibit Hall Is Now Sold Out
Internet Retailer announced today the Exhibit Hall at its fourth annual Internet Retailer 2008 Conference & Exhibition on June 9-12 at the new McCormick Place West in Chicago is sold out. The publisher said that 313 e-commerce solution providers purchased 447 10'x10' equivalent booths at IRCE 2008—an increase of 33% from IRCE 2007. "This further solidifies IRCE's standing as the world's largest exhibition of e-retailing solutions," says Jack Love, Publisher of Internet Retailer. "Once again, the number of exhibitors at IRCE will exceed the total number of exhibitors at all other e-retailing events combined."

Located eight minutes from downtown Chicago, McCormick West is a state-of-the-art convention facility that allows IRCE to hold all events on a single floor. All conference sessions will be held in the 100,000 square-foot ballroom that is located across the concourse from the 130,000 square-foot IRCE 2008 Exhibit Hall. "IRCE's strategy is based on integrating the content rich experience of the conference with the solutions rich environment of the Exhibit Hall," says Love. "Having both adjacent to each other is ideal." The Exhibit Hall at IRCE 2008 will display solutions in more than 50 separate segments of the e- retailing solutions market. "It will have every e-retailing solution under the sun and offer something for every e-retailer no matter what size or level of sophistication," says Love, adding that 60% of all companies listed in the Internet Retailer Guide to E-Commerce Technology will have exhibits at IRCE 2008. (IRNewsLink, Feb. 19, 2008)