After closely monitoring the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, Online Retailer has decided to shift to a hybrid format for its next conference and expo.
The new event, Online Retailer Fusion, is held on Tuesday 20 October as a limited capacity face-to-face conference at ICC Sydney, which will be live-streamed for those who cannot attend in person.
“Prior to the recent escalation of Covid-19, we were optimistic that Online Retailer Conference & Expo would run as planned in October this year,” the organisers said in a statement.
“As time has passed and after extensive consultation with our customers and stakeholders, it has become clear that delivering our traditional conference and expo model would no longer be feasible in the current environment.
“However, it has shown that appetite remains in our industry for face-to-face meetups and access to premium content.”
In addition, there will also be a free-to-attend online stream of case-study focused content, running concurrently with the conference.
Attendees will also have access to virtual meetings and business matchmaking, new connections, and many more features to help drive business growth for their companies.
The Australia Post Online Retail Industry Awards (ORIAs) will also take a different format this year, but details are not yet available.
“We appreciate that it is disappointing that not everyone will be able to meet in person this year, however, we have made this decision with everyone’s health and safety as our number one priority, and importantly, with a view to meeting the needs of our community.
“We would like to thank our exhibitors, visitors and partners for their encouragement and support during this challenging time and we look forward to the official launch of Online Retailer Fusion in the coming days.”
