I felt like a kid from the planet’s biggest candy shop when I walked to the 2017 IRCE ecommerce conference in Chicago that summer. In fact, I no doubt resembled Dr. Suess’ Thing 1, bouncing from booth to booth, trying to take in all 600-plus ecommerce vendors had on display.
When I stopped at one of several free coffee stations scattering the exhibit hall floor, just one question filled my head: Why had I never attended before?
Before writing about everything ecommerce for FitSmallBusiness, I founded and ran a small ecommerce business for 16 years. While the whole experience was powerful rewarding, I, like most budding entrepreneurs, found it difficult to break away in my everyday demands. Vacations were rare, and also what time I did split out was largely spent on merchandise purchasing excursions. I certainly never thought that an ecommerce convention was worth the time or cost.
Boy, was I wrong!
I now see that the IRCE and comparable ecommerce conferences have to have topped my to-do list every year. Had they, I undoubtedly would have saved myself plenty of trouble and time Googling various ecommerce business solutions and struggling through online demos through the years. Plus I might have helped my company grow faster and increase efficiencies by viewing firsthand what worked for other vendors.
So, if you’re on the fence, here are 5 reasons why you should seriously think about attending the IRCE. Fair warning! Once you do, you are likely to make it an yearly pilgrimage.
Reason #1 to Attend the IRCE: No Business Is Too Small
This was my biggest excuse not to attend over recent years. At around $1.5M in annual earnings, I thought my firm fell under the radar for the services I’d find in the IRCE. Imagine my surprise when I finally made it there this summer. I found a massive number of exhibitors offering a variety of solutions to match bootstrap startups on up.
“IRCE is a one-stop shop where online sellers of all sizes
can find over 600 professional ecommerce support and solution providers prepared to discuss their business needs, challenges, and goals.”— David Southworth, Vice President, IRCE
Small-business friendly ecommerce platforms BigCommerce, Shopify, and lots others were there with live demos and pros prepared to answer all questions. Plus, several great $0-cost startup-friendly platforms like FreeWebStore and WooCommerce were prepared to talk shop.
The teams in BigCommerce and FreeWebStore had prepared answers for all my e commerce questions.
Beyond store platforms, I uncovered a bevy of budget-friendly solutions that assist small sellers compete with the net’s biggest names. I’ll be featuring many high discovers in upcoming articles, but here’s a quick peek:
APC: easy, low-cost Global shipping solution for small business
Doba: one-stop dropship seller option for vendors of all sizes
Blispay: retail financing for any size and type of retail company
Fulfillify: nationwide fulfillment company with great pricing and custom packaging solutions
SellBrite: a complete multichannel list and order management alternative
SellerEngine: an al-la-carte package of Amazon seller and FBA management tools
Avalara: multistate sales tax management for businesses small and large
Snap36: 360-degree product photography solutions and gear
Chargeback Gurus: chargeback resolution and prevention solutions
Signifyd: ecommerce credit card fraud protection and trade insurance
Wish to learn your fulfillment choices? Hit the IRCE to discuss your requirements with a variety of satisfaction specialists, like the friendly folks at Fulfillify.
Reason #2 to Attend the IRCE: It’s Not as Expensive as You Believe
Two-day exhibit hall passes start at only $80 per person and permit access to all keynote speaker presentations too. Believe me, the hall exhibitors and keynote apps easily fill two times in the IRCE. Or, you can take part in a variety of information-packed educational workshops before, during, and after the two chief days. These moves start at $399 for a single-day workshop and also include complete screen hall access.
If you’re thinking about attending, remember to buy your tickets early as prices increase closer to the seminar date. Here’s the 2017 IRCE Pass cost list to assist you plan for next year. The same is true for your journey, of course. Since it’s in Chicago, flights are usually cheap, plus you have loads of hotel options to meet any budget. There’s another explanation the window out.
IRCE takes place in early summer which is Chicago at its best, so aim to take in some sights. At the very least, stop by the observation deck of the John Hancock building to take in the opinion above, then stroll down Michigan Ave. to catch a Giordano’s stuffed pizza whilst downtown.
Reason #3 to Attend the IRCE: Educational Workshops are Worth Every Penny
As stated above, the IRCE provides several full-day workshops which cover a range of online selling subjects. I was happy to find that many are geared toward assisting new and growing sellers find success in their own websites and on marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay.
“This season, we had over 200 industry specialists providing
130 educational content sessions organized into 16 topic-focused tracks, including: Amazon Selling, B2B Ecommerce, Ecommerce Technology, Fulfillment & Customer Service, Omnichannel Experience, Marketing, and much more. There’s truly something for sellers of all dimensions in our marathon sessions”— David Southworth, Vice President, IRCE
You may stick to one educational course or attend sessions across a number of tracks, too. This is a large plus for small sellers seeking to attend specific sessions pertaining to their enterprise. After attending sessions covering a variety of subjects, I think it’s a fantastic price. You will leave armed with many real-world approaches to help take your company to the next level.
Workshop costs vary based on the amount of workshop days you wish to attend, but expect to pay between $399 and $1399 for workshop passes in case you buy your tickets early.
Reason #4 to Attend the IRCE: It Gets Your Creative Juices Flowing
At every turn, I uncovered yet another fantastic solution to help online sellers succeed. If you already market online, you are going to come away from the IRCE with completely new online merchandising thoughts, selling tools, advertising outlets, and operational plans. If you do not yet sell online, you’ll discover the way to efficiently move your offline business online. And when you’re just kicking the e commerce tires, you’ll find ways to break into ecommerce with minimal upfront costs utilizing various online shop, dropship, print-on-demand, internet affiliate marketing, and payment solutions on screen.
Found at the IRCE: Blispay buyer financing that businesses of any size can easily offer for customers.
Reason #5 to Attend the IRCE: You’ll Save Yourself Hours of Research & Trial-and-Error
I stored my main sorrow for last. In my 16-plus years’ conducting an ecommerce business with two product-laden sites, nine workers, along with also a 10K sqft. Warehouse, I surely enjoyed success, but also made lots of mistakes. My biggest was slow to adopt better, faster, and cheaper technologies and solutions to run my sites and entire operations. I know that a trip to the IRCE years ago would have saved me plenty of time spent testing, troubleshooting, migrating, and re-migrating different business systems.
At the IRCE, the platform techs and third-party service pros you want to speak with are in your disposal. They’re ready to walk you through complete demos in person, address your operating concerns, and answer all questions which crop up. Assessing the IRCE lets you directly compare a large number of platforms and management methods, explore their bells and whistles, and uncover any shortcomings, all in one place. Believe me, this really is a glorious timesaver compared to struggling through presentation after demo in your limited spare time.
The Bottom Line
I know what it’s like to become a one, two, or ten-person store, and to always wonder what else you should do to help your company grow. Section of ecommerce achievement is keeping up with all the latest-and-greatest, and as fast as things now alter, that is possibly the biggest challenge now’s online sellers face. Should you provide the IRCE a try, I think you’ll agree that those two or three days in Chicago are a wonderful first step in meeting this specific challenge, and several others, head-on.
Can you attend the IRCE this season or in the past? Can you attend another ecommerce seminar? We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.
