Past Speakers
David Marshall
David Marshall has 30 years’ experience in sales and tech. Over the past four years, Marshall has concentrated his attention on live chat for sales and support with a focus on bots and artificial intelligence.
With his impressive global client base, Marshall is best positioned to guide us in turning a website into a professional and robust sales and customer service tool.
CEO and owner
ChatMarshal.com
Sell
Providing online support and chat
Ryan Bacher
Ryan Bacher founded and runs NetFlorist – South Africa's best known and longest serving online florist and gift emporium. He is a named board member of the Entrepreneur’s Association and the South African Forum for Retailers.
With 21 years of skin in the game, Bacher will introduce us to the fundamentals of user experience design.
Founder and managing director
NetFlorist
Plan
Introduction to user experience
(UX) design
Humans are the users of objects
Graeme Lazarus
Graeme Lazarus is a doyen of the last-mile logistics industry – the service that delivers our products to our customers.
With an acute understanding of all its intricacies, Lazarus will unlock the criteria we need to consider when weighing up delivery solutions.
Managing director
RAM Hand to Hand Couriers
Deliver
Packaging your product
in the best way
Anita Erasmus
uAfrica.com offers a custom-built shipping solution that helps online merchants streamline their shipping and selling processes.
Anita Erasmus’ years of experience working closely with eCommerce merchants and courier companies positions her to guide us through the criteria of selecting the best online tracking and security systems.
Business manager
uAfrica Technologies
Deliver
How not to lose money when it comes to eCommerce logistics
Richard Frank
Richard Frank is head of digital at Flow. He has extensive experience in managing large development teams, complex web projects and setting digital strategy and protocols.
He will use this knowledge to share a checklist with us that ensures we build a site that delivers optimally.
Director of digital
Flow Communications
Build
Is your website firing on all cylinders? What to check
for right now
Rahul Jain
Rahul Jain has advised some of America’s largest retailers and airlines on how to improve their conversion rates. Locally, he has worked with Pepkor, Zando, SweepSouth and many more.
He’ll cover the Holy Grail of eCommerce – how to make sure leads convert to cash.
Co-founder
Peach Payments
Sell
Why checkout conversion matters
and how to optimise it
Lars Veul
Pargo is a smart logistics platform that creates accessible, convenient and reliable delivery for anybody in Africa through a tech-enabled network of Pargo pick-up points.
Lars Veul has worked at Groupon, is an Alibaba eFounder fellow, an Endeavor Entrepreneur, holds a BSc in Communication Science from the University of Amsterdam and propedeuse in Law from Amsterdam University – and he delivers.
Director and co-founder
Pargo
Deliver
How to overcome logistics challenges and grow revenue by ensuring accessible delivery to your online customers
Michael Harf
A trained engineer, Michael started the first local coffee drive-through which later pivoted into the largest supplier of office coffee machines in South Africa. This company grew primarily through data-driven digital marketing which led Michael to found Syte — a data-driven digital marketing sales agency which specialises in ecommerce and b2b lead generation.
In this talk Michael shares many of the tricks of the trade that lead him to success.
CEO
Syte
Market
Increase leads and sales on your site without spending money
Josh Jaffe
Josh founded Brand Infusion, a creative agency focused on print and digital media in 2010. Since then, Brand Infusion continues to provide Branding, Design, Web and Mobile Development to clients in various sectors, including National Banks, Hedge Funds, International Hotel Chains, Fintech Companies, Diamond Groups, Nonprofits and Start Ups. Their clients are based in South Africa, Israel, England and America.
In this sessions, Josh reveals 10 years of trade secrets
Creative Director
Brand Infusion
Build
Building your online platform:
Who to use, What to use,
and Why to use it
Brett Perlstein
Brett Perlstein, chartered accountant turned Google Ads specialist, gave up his suits for trainers to carve out a niche offering in the Google agency landscape of South Africa. He has spent the past five years nurturing businesses and unlocking their true potential online through the power of Google Ads and SearchKings’ custom-built technology.
In this session, Perlstein unlocks the value of understanding our distinctive and varying needs underpinned by data.
CEO & founder
SearchKings Africa
Market
Digital marketing:
Understanding Google Ads
Derek Cikes
Derek Cikes is our 1+1 = 3 kind of guy. He leverages off 21 years of financial services experience building successful ventures at Hollard for Edcon, Wesbank and Ooba. Cikes and his team at Payflex are revolutionising online payment solutions.
A keen believer in win-win models, Cikes will guide our businesses on a journey to increase online sales and add real value to customers.
Commercial director
Payflex.co.za
Sell
How to decrease cart abandonment rates by 30%
Andrew Smith
Co-founder and CEO
Yuppiechef
Plan
The Yuppiechef story
Andrew Smith is the co-founder and CEO of South Africa’s leading kitchen and home retailer, Yuppiechef. Founded as a part-time venture, Yuppiechef has since grown into one of South Africa’s leading omnichannel retailers.
Yuppiechef has won a ream of technology and service-related awards, and continues to delight consumers with best-in-class customer service, logistics and a wide range of the world’s most premium kitchen and homeware brands.
Find out how in this session.
Melissa Rowlston
Founder
Maverick Marketing
and Maverick Web
Plan
The A-B-Cs of getting online
Think Shopify South Africa, think Melissa Rowlston. This maverick of the South African eCommerce industry leads a team of designers and developers who work their magic to launch businesses into the eCommerce space. Her specialities range from simple stores to highly custom-designed user platforms.
There’s no one better to take us through the A-B-Cs.
Peter Richards
Senior SEO Manager
Jellyfish
Build
Super power: Championing SEO best practice in web builds
Joining us from the UK, Peter Richards has over 10 years’ experience within the search engine optimisation (SEO) industry. He has managed a wide variety of campaigns and contributed to high profile web builds as part of a highly motivated and dedicated team of professionals at one of the world’s leading digital agencies.
His super-power will be revealed...
Tara Turkington
CEO
Flow Communications
Market
Digital marketing: What you
need to know
Tara Turkington founded Flow in a spare bedroom in her home. Fifteen years, 50 awards, 60 employees and work in 30 countries later, Flow is now one of South Africa’s largest and best-known marketing and communications companies.
Turkington was awarded the Best Individual Influencer Marketer of the Year Award at the prestigious New Generation Digital and Social Media Awards. In this talk, she gives us the low-down of what we need to know to get on the road to digital marketing.