Grow! 2021 Recap

The B2B Ecommerce Industry's Premier Event

On Thursday, September 30th, the B2B ecommerce industry’s best and brightest assembled virtually for Znode’s annual customer event, grow! 2021.

Didn’t get to attend grow! 2021? Sign-up on the sidebar to access video recordings of the sessions.

The Morning Sessions

Rupesh Agrawal, CEO of Amla Commerce and Chief Product Officer of Znode, kicked off the festivities with opening remarks that highlighted the company’s growth over the past year. He also announced the launch of a new company initiative, the Znode Product Advisory Board.

Following Agrawal’s opening remarks, Kelly Casey, Manager of Aftermarket Communications and Ecommerce at Hyster-Yale Group (HYG), and Andy Didyk, VP of Sales and Marketing at Ntara, presented a case study that highlighted Znode’s ability to consolidate multiple legacy systems into one user-friendly ecommerce platform. Casey explained that Znode’s multi-store functionality perfectly supported HYG’s multi-brand use case and goal to eliminate friction on the path to purchase. 

Event attendees then had the opportunity to attend one of two breakout sessions. Agrawal and Frank Connelly, Znode’s Project Manager, presented Delivering Personalization with Znode’s Headless CMS. Delivering highly personalized experiences using segmentation in Znode’s headless content containers was demonstrated. Content containers are a new feature scheduled to debut by the end of 2021 in Znode’s 9.7.1 release. 

Walter Bloch, Znode’s Senior Program Manager, and Yash Shah, Znode’s CTO, hosted the other breakout session option, titled Strategic Data Modeling in Znode. During the session, Bloch explained how Znode’s data schema could be extended to achieve strategic business objectives. Attendees were then shown how to quickly and easily extend the PIM system, web stores and user data models.

B2B Ecommerce Expert Shares Industry Insights

Brian Beck, author of Billion Dollar B2B Ecommerce, delivered the event’s keynote address. In his remarks, Beck addressed the acceleration of digital commerce in the post-COVID world. More specifically, Beck explained that manufacturers and distributors need to digitize every touch point if businesses want to remain relevant with customers. This includes enabling digital commerce across the value chain, launching direct-to-consumer channels, digitizing sales teams and taking control of marketplaces.

“By 2023, B2B organizations with digital commerce offerings will see 30% more revenue and a 20% reduction in costs, compared to competitors without B2B digital commerce sites.” ~ Gartner ~

The Afternoon Sessions

Laura Dempsey, Director of Digital Experience and Strategy, and Nagesh Cowlagi, Senior Director of Digital Applications, from Polyconcept North America (PCNA) shared their Znode implementation story. PCNA’s legacy commerce platform was outdated, expensive to maintain, and did not allow for multi-store ecommerce. After investigating several replacement options, PCNA selected Znode because of its multi-store capabilities, modern search functionality and product configurability (via Artifi). As a result, PCNA shoppers now have a more seamless ecommerce experience.

During the final breakout session, attendees again had the opportunity to attend one of two presentations. Site Search Configuration: Best Practices, led by Connelly, demonstrated the options for configuring and optimizing onsite search in Znode. In addition to showcasing real-life examples, Connelly explained how to use Znode’s indexing tools, analysis and reporting options, keyword redirects, etc. to create frictionless and personalized experiences.    

Shah shared Fast Facts and FAQs About Znode which touched upon available functionalities that are not widely exploited within the platform. Examples included: utilizing parent and child themes to manage the look of multiple stores without a great deal of customization; enabling notifications for orders with an unusual amount; requiring administrative approval for user registration; Znode’s partnership with Cloudflare to prevent bot attacks and improve site performance; and more. 

What Comes Next for Znode?

For the final presentation of the day, Agrawal and Connelly presented the Znode Vision & Roadmap Update. During his portion of the presentation, Agrawal shared the company’s new vision and Connelly then touched upon product updates from the past year and outlined upcoming enhancements. In the coming weeks and months, Znode customers can expect to be able to employ (among other things) split-shipment options, the ability to accept ACH payments, page versioning, a reseller portal accelerator, and page speed optimizations. 

The day ended with a virtual happy hour where Agrawal and Jeff Morris, CEO of Ntara (grow!’s titanium sponsor), thanked everyone for making this year’s event a success. Participants were then invited to network with one another.

Event Sponsors

A heartfelt thank you goes out to this year’s sponsors for making grow! 2021 possible:

Titanium Sponsor

Silver Sponsors