Last week, Shop.org announced that it is co-producing the inaugural Global E-Commerce Summit, scheduled for October 27-29, in one of my favorite European cities – Amsterdam.

This global event is being organized by the leading e-commerce associations from North America and Europe. Shop.org is launching this event in partnership with the European E-Commerce and Mail Order Trade Association or EMOTA, which is a federation of 23 associations representing 22 European countries including bvh in Germany, La Fevad in France and Thuiswinkel.org in The Netherlands.

Shop.org and EMOTA have been very busy the last couple of months.  We are excited about the line-up of speakers, which includes industry leaders from Germany, the United States, Belgium, France and The Netherlands, Canada and Austria.  More speakers from other parts of the world will be announced soon.

Last March, Shop.org hosted networking dinners in London and Paris.  I had the opportunity to attend these dinners and one thing was clear: there is no room for borders when it comes to the sharing of information and best practices.  This is the primary reason why Shop.org has taken this first step of expanding its presence beyond the United States.  We are also launching this event because we know that the online retail leaders of tomorrow will be global. 

If you are one of the many online retailers that is currently operating internationally or considering international expansion, I hope you’ll join us in Amsterdam at the end of October.