After meeting a few retail service providers at last night’s networking reception and dinner, I stopped by the EXPO hall today to see some of this in greater detail. Here are three very different companies that were particularly interesting to me.

Essential Accessibility

With the knowledge that disabled Americans spend $700 billion a year, Essential Accessibility provides software so that people with disabilities can access web content and even make purchases. For example, the software features a “web cam mouse” for people without full function in their hands or fingers. Shoppers with limited mobility (like one of the 46 million Americans with arthritis) can use a radar mouse or an on-screen keyboard that will help them click without requiring them to type.

Retailers, like Canadian Tire, which subscribes to the software, can place an icon on their site where customers who might need special assistance can download a program to help them shop. (It’s free to the customer and the retailer does not need to reconfigure its site at all.) The system runs with Internet Explorer so shoppers who use the software can expect the same type of experience and security assurances that others have.

In addition to retailers, Essential Accessibility is in talks to provide this software to internet service providers, banks, and a host of other businesses on the web.

My Virtual Model

I spent quite a bit of time at last night’s networking dinner speaking with Jean-François St-Arnaud, one of the founders of My Virtual Model, which attempts to help retailers get customers over the hurdle of buying apparel online. The concept allows customers to build an avatar with their measurements and customize features like hair and eye color so that people can virtually “try on” clothing. In addition to helping customers put together outfits and get an understanding of what clothing would look like on them, the platform features a community where people can rate and comment on others’ looks, in addition to sharing their own styles.

Don’t take my word on how cool this is: check out the retail “dressing rooms” using My Virtual Model on websites like H&M, Sears and MSN Shopping. In addition to making people feel more comfortable with the idea of buying apparel online, I imagine that a platform like this could lower return rates as well.

ForeSee Results

In this environment, every conversation and most business decisions boil down to the economy. Retailers are keeping a close eye on every line-item on their budget and shoppers are making more decisions based on price. So it’s during a time like this where retailers need to strongly prioritize which initiatives can move forward and which will need to take a back seat.

But intuition isn’t enough to determine how to prioritize, which is where a company like ForeSee Results comes in to play. As the company’s President and CEO Larry Freed told me, “You can’t manage it if you can’t measure it.”

The company operates under the premise that customer satisfaction leads to greater loyalty and increased sales and that small changes to a website—say, moving an image around here or getting rid of white space there—can greatly impact satisfaction.

Here’s a hypothetical: As a retailer, you’re trying to understand why your shopping cart abandonment rate is rising. Retailers who work with Foresee Results would be able to set up a survey that would poll specific customers who have abandoned shopping carts. They survey would ask for their feedback on a variety of components of your website and their general sentiments about shopping online. Then, ForeSee Results would analyze the data and be able to provide not only the “why”, but also the “now what?” 

Knowing that the company does a lot of research and has some interesting customer insights, I also asked Larry for his opinion on more controversial ecommerce topics like free shipping (thinks it’s a no-brainer), implementing a system where customers need to wait until they put an item into a shopping cart to learn the price (bad idea), and mobile (the next big thing).

Here’s one more interesting nugget: If you want insight on how satisfied shoppers were during the holiday season, view the company’s holiday satisfaction index. One testament to how customer satisfaction increases sales? Amazon.com’s satisfaction rating rose two points from 2007, tying it for first place…and the company just reported a great holiday season.