What's in a Name?

What do you call companies that sell, or allow others to sell, items to consumers? Over the last 15 years, there have been a ton of new buzzwords as young startups to innovate and disrupt, and force traditional companies to catch up. Some recent buzzwords:

• Ecommerce
• Mobile Commerce
• Omnichannel
• Social commerce
• Peer-to-peer commerce
• Bricks to Clicks
• Showrooming
• Digitally Native Brand
• B2C
• Recommerce
• Marketplace
• Dropshipping
• Subscription Box
• Pop-up Shops

And the list goes on….

Honestly, it’s getting a little ridiculous. Maybe I’m old school, but don’t all these words really mean the same thing? Isn’t this just retail? Sure, it’s a more modern version of retail, and has more of a tech bent or is tech-enabled, but it’s all retail just the same.

The dictionary definition of retail is “the sale of goods to the public in relatively small quantities for use or consumption rather than for resale.”

That’s why I called my event series Retail X Series. One way or another, it’s all about retail. Long live retail!