The first Internet Retailing Expo (IRX) will be take place at the NEC, Birmingham from 23 to 24 March 2011. Building on the success of the Internet Retailing Conference, now in its 5th year and taking place on 12 October 2010 in London, the Expo promises to bring all the elements that have made the Internet Retailing Conference a commitment on any discerning retailer's calendar but within the trade show format allowing for over 120 exhibitors and a projected 4000 plus visitors to participate.  

The first Internet Retailing Expo (IRX) will be take place at the NEC, Birmingham from 23 to 24 March 2011. Building on the success of the Internet Retailing Conference, now in its 5th year and taking place on 12 October 2010 in London, the Expo promises to bring all the elements that have made the Internet Retailing Conference a commitment on any discerning retailer's calendar but within the trade show format allowing for over 120 exhibitors and a projected 4000 plus visitors to participate.

Mark Pigou, the co-founder of the Internet Retailing brand, said: “The Internet Retailing Conference has grown year on year as it consistently recognises the importance and accommodates the needs of this retail channel as a firmly integrated part of the overall multi-channel retailing experience. We are proud to continue our lead as the most innovative and challenging conference for this industry and look forward to welcoming both new and past delegates.”

In line with their reputation for exemplary speaker programmes, two show floor conference programmes at IRX will combine inspiration and insight on new trends, with succinct best practice and rapid learning approaches. The aim is to ensure that visitors are both inspired by new opportunities while learning how to implement lessons already learned by the best in the industry.

The two conferences are intended to cater to different needs and interests by offering fresh experiences and recent insights, showing where leading thinkers and trend-setters are finding inspiration, looking for new commercial angles or finding challenges while innovating at scale. The first will focus on “Best Practice” and will articulate how smaller businesses and those currently at an early stage of multi-channel can get insights, understanding and the ability to implement rapidly. The conference presenters will bring people up to the speed of the best. The second conference, entitled “Growth and Innovation”, will give delegates the opportunity to learn from the experiences and ideas of leading, enterprise-scale retailers and to understand the issues with which they're grappling, their insights into customer behaviour.

Both conferences will open with a major industry or entrepreneurial keynote, and close with an industry trend-based keynote. Post-lunch the first sessions will comprise rapid-fire insights with a series of presentations and provocations at around 10 minutes in length, to up the pace and provide a dynamic start to the afternoon.

The end of the conference programme will anticipate the challenges and opportunities through 2011 and of course feed into the themes of IRX2012.

A series of workshops, master classes and JumpStart briefings will complete the programme.