Last week, Cake & Arrow co-founder and Chief Design Officer Josh Levine gave the keynote address at Finpro’s eCom Growth UX Day 2017 event in Helsinki, Finland. The event featured expert speakers and training sessions focused on helping Finnish retailers realize their potential for international growth. The theme of the event was User Experience and Levine spoke about recent and emerging ecommerce design trends and shared strategies for how small and midsized retailers can prepare for the future.
In his keynote, How Has Ecommerce Site Design Changed–and What Changes Are Next?, Levine explored the rapid evolution of the industry’s digital landscape, covering industry developments, technology advancements, and the emergence of new design tools and methodologies. He shared strategies and tactics for how small to medium sized retailers can differentiate themselves from giants like Amazon by leveraging design and storytelling in order create a unique, emotional connection with their customers. Topics included conversational ecommerce, next-gen personalization, brand storytelling, and how to optimize for conversion in omnichannel world.
The event, which hosted over 90 Finnish brands, was put on by Finpro, and is a part of the Finnish government’s eCom Growth Program, a three-year growth program aimed at developing the ecommerce ecosystem in Finland and promoting the internationalization and growth of small and medium-sized Finnish companies that trade online.
“We were thrilled to have Josh share his expertise at our event,” said Simo Heiskanen, Program Manager at Finpro’s eCom Growth Program. “Finnish brands make amazing products, but to be able to compete in a very competitive global market, they need to be able to crystallize their message and engage customers with meaningful storytelling and great customer experience. It was empowering for retailers to hear Josh’s message: that great design, which uses creative storytelling about products to connect with customers on an emotional level, can be an important differentiator for small to midsize retailers, and help them be competitive with global giants.”
The event was also covered by Kauppalehti, Finland’s top business newspaper. A video interview and article featuring Levine both appeared on the newspaper’s website.
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About Finpro
Finpro helps Finnish SMEs go international, encourages foreign direct investment in Finland and promotes travel to Finland. Finpro is a public organization consisting of Export Finland, Visit Finland and Invest in Finland. Our 240 professionals work in 37 offices in 31 countries abroad and 6 offices in Finland. Finpro is part of the Team Finland network.
