With every new device type, browser version and mobile app to emerge, digital design for e-commerce faces an even bigger challenge. How can design bridge the gap between the display requirements of so many website access points to serve up a shopping experience that works across all of them?

The 70-plus speakers at IRCE Focus: Digital Design 2015 will bring a wealth of expertise to bear on that question across the four days of the conference, which will run March 15-18 at the JW Marriott L.A. Live hotel in Los Angeles. Here, attendees will see and learn about how some of the top e-commerce companies in the world as well as their smaller peers are selling across multiple screens, as well as the new technology that is shaping the e-commerce industry. 

Previously known as IRCE Focus: Web Design & Mobile Commerce, this conference has an eight-year history as the Internet Retailer Web Design Conference and Mobile Marketing and Commerce Forum.

Consumers’ rising use of mobile and new technologies supporting that shift are two key themes at the conference this year.

Newegg chief marketing officer Soren Mills, joining the agenda as a featured speaker, will share how design choices are helping the web-only electronics retailer replicate the in-store experience of a specialty retailer. Toward that end, Newegg is expanding its collaboration with vendors of new digital technology.

“Technology partners help us drive innovation, at an increasingly early stage of development,” he says.  The re-platforming of GameCrate.com this month, with rich content to give tech-savvy gamers a place to stay current on gaming news and connected with each other, is but one example.

Keynote speaker Thomas Parkinson, chief technology officer of Peapod LLC, will kick off the conference’s first main day with a look at how technology evolution is embedding the convenience of online shopping into more places in the consumer’s day.

“The Internet of Things is entering into the refrigerator—meaning reordering your groceries is becoming automated,” Parkinson says.  “Imagine if your refrigerator knew you were out of milk, and automatically placed a fresh gallon into your Peapod cart.  Customers want their refrigerators to order for them.”

Digital design is moving far beyond the standard offering available on desktops even a few years ago as more exchanges between consumers and merchants occur away from desktops.  “Mobile and tablet is now driving e-commerce,” Parkinson adds. “Mobile and tablet are now the primary platform that we design for—desktop follows.”

From the latest in site design, mobile apps, user experience and more for established businesses looking to improve, to the key design basics that offer an introduction to the issues retailers face as they begin to sell and compete online, the conference will highlight information, stories and real-life solutions today’s top e-commerce design questions.

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