In the heart of Fort Worth, Texas, at the beautiful Omni Hotel, industry leaders and innovators in the secondhand and resale communities gathered for a groundbreaking event on June 26th and 27th. The 2024 User Conference hosted by Upright Labs made an impression on more than 45 distinct companies in attendance.
Committed to delivering a revolutionary educational experience, the Upright team curated 9 hours of keynote presentations and hands-on workshops led by 16 subject-knowledge experts representing various facets of the industry. Each session was meticulously designed to provide significant value to e-commerce teams and executive leaders aiming to enhance revenues through innovation and digital strategies.
The diverse array of attendees, from e-commerce operators, managers, directors, up to C-suite executives, provided ample networking opportunities and ensured there was something to learn from every conversation. Attendees came from a wide range of businesses such as book stores, collectibles, secondhand thrift, mission-driven organizations, software providers, and more. Whether it was through years of experience, or testing out brand new strategies, everyone benefited from the collective wealth of knowledge and strategic perspectives.
Day One: Opening Remarks and Cocktail Reception
The first day of the User Conference commenced with an opening night cocktail reception, setting the stage for an engaging event. However, the evening was more than just a social gathering—it was an opportunity for attendees from the e-commerce and secondhand industries to reconnect with familiar faces and forge new connections!
Among the lively atmosphere, a special highlight of the night was the unveiling of Upright Labs’ new branding, featuring new colors and an updated logo to signal the formalized partnership between Upright Labs and Neatoscan. Together, we provide the most comprehensive secondhand e-commerce experience for our industry.
Day Two: Speakers, Panel Discussions, and Workshops
Hours before the event kicked off, attendees and exhibitors made their way to the event halls in anticipation of a full day of learning from Upright’s team of experts and their supporting panelists. Upright provided a 41 page workbook and guide to all attendees to use during discussions and to continue utilizing back at their workplace.
Building Strong Teams
The morning of June 27th kicked off with the theme “Building Strong Teams,” featuring two impactful breakout sessions designed to empower e-commerce leaders and executives alike.
Breakout Session A: Cultivating Empathy: Building Teams That Thrive with Customer Connection
In this session, Jonathan Conda, Cat Noble, and Renate Berzkalns outlined the critical role of emotional intelligence in team cohesion and customer satisfaction. Attendees learned practical strategies, such as calming techniques, daily engagement practices, and effective conflict resolution methods to foster deeper connections with clientele.
The numbers and goals are important, but you can’t forget to focus on the humans. Empathy starts with self-awareness, and once you acknowledge your own feelings, you have more clarity to interact with customers in a healthy and meaningful way. Here is a self-awareness technique you can implement today:
Take a breath:
- Breathe in for a count of 4
- Hold for a count of 7
- Exhale for a count of 8
Repeat 3x and then check in:
- How am I feeling right now?
- What do I need?
- Have I eaten, am I hydrated?
Breakout Session B: Inspiring Peak Performance in Your Teams
Team dynamics and culture are foundational components of a successful organization. Blake Amick, Lori Clark, and Dylan Lippert crafted a session that explored innovative approaches to enhance team recognition and motivation. Two main strategies they discussed included culture routines and recognition strategies:
- Culture routines: the regular, structured practices and activities that help to shape and reinforce the values, behaviors, and interactions within an organization. By listening, learning, and collecting feedback from team members, you can better craft an environment more conducive for everyone, thus helping lead to higher performance within your team.
- Recognition strategies: acknowledging, celebrating, and rewarding the efforts, achievements, and behaviors of employees in a way that aligns with the values and objectives of the organization. Examples include peer-to-peer recognition programs, career development opportunities, wellness rewards, and thank-you notes.
Elevating Software Experiences
The User Conference continued with a focus on “Elevating Software Experiences,” presenting attendees with a comprehensive lineup of speaker sessions aimed at optimizing technological solutions through solutions like Upright Lister and Neatoscan Books & Media.
Breakout Session A: Humanizing Technology: A Blueprint for Software Design
Participants engaged with Lindsay Dadic-Underwood and Drew Purcell in a profound exploration of software development philosophies through a design thinking framework that prioritized social impact and community building. The framework includes a non-linear, cyclical process of stages that feed back into each other when new information is gained. The stages are:
- Empathize: to understand the needs and experiences of the people for whom you are designing.
- Define: to clearly describe the problem you are trying to solve.
- Ideate: to generate any and all ideas in a collaborative session for potential solutions.
- Prototype: to bring your ideas to life in a sketch, model, or mock-up that represents your idea in a way that can be validated through testing.
- Test: to experiment your prototype with the people you are designing for. Gather feedback and learn what works and what doesn’t.
Utilizing a design thinking framework will help you solve any challenge your organization faces, and catalyze positive change through creating accessible and user-friendly platforms. With continuous movement throughout each stage, you are able to continuously improve and refine your ideas based on the feedback you receive.
Breakout Session B: Turning The Page: Advanced Strategies for Book Resale Success
Jake Tom and Kevin Martin offered an exclusive look at areas within an organization’s operations that are losing money to help get the most out of your business. It’s important to analyze your order reports, specifically reviewing principal amount, shipping amount, carrier, postage, ship method, product catalog, and weight, to interpret opportunities to increase profits. Also, brainstorming innovative ways to be more efficient through labor (touches) and your warehouse layout can help optimize book sales.
Lunch & Keynote Panel
Keynote Panel Session: Fireside Chat on Enhancing Communication Across Your Teams
Attendees gained food for thought during the lunch and keynote panel session, featuring Lori Clark, Siera Smith, and Thomas R. Ulbrich. Trust is often the foundation of healthy communication, and the panel underlined two strategies for fostering a trustworthy culture with actionable insights everyone could apply to their respective teams and organizations.
- Empathy and Identifying Team Triggers – This will help to better explain how our brain perceives and reacts to social experiences and interactions, particularly in the workplace. You can then tailor your communication style accordingly to interact with your team in a more productive and healthy way.
- Proactive Communication – Being anticipatory rather than reactive. This involves initiating communication or taking action before it becomes necessary, often to prevent potential issues or cultivate transparency to build trust.
Enhancing Production and Optimization
With everyone feeling extra talkative after a delicious lunch, the education continued with two sessions centered around optimizing e-commerce operations!
Breakout Session A: Revolutionize Your Warehouse: Lean Principles for Peak Performance
In this session, Blake Amick and Drew Purcell examined the core principles of warehouse efficiency. Participants learned from real-world success stories and interactive exercises where implementing methodologies resulted in significant revenue increases. They highlighted four agile methodologies:
- 5S: A systematic approach to workplace organization and efficiency.
- Standardized Work: The consistent and repeatable way tasks are performed to ensure efficiency, quality, and safety.
- 8 Wastes: Activities that do not add value to the product or service.
- Kaizen: The act of making small, incremental changes regularly to improve efficiency, quality, and overall performance.
These all make up your Lean Starter Toolkit, and help promote efficiency, quality, consistency, cost reductions, employee engagement, and safety.
Breakout Session B: The Art of Production: Crafting Efficient E-Commerce Workflows
Jarod Pandolfi and Kristy Shaver provided a comprehensive workshop on conducting operational audits to optimize workflows. Planning is at the forefront of this – preparing for your audit, establishing your goals, setting parameters, and creating your project plan. When you’re ready to conduct the audit, you’ll collect quantitative data such as revenue and expenses, along with qualitative data like a time study and the floor plan.
To conduct a time study, grab a stopwatch and choose a process you want to make more efficient. Observe the process a couple of times to distinguish each step and then begin to time them from start to finish. Afterward, analyze your data to see which step in the workflow is taking longer than necessary, and then you can focus on improving that step to make the overall process more efficient.
This session catered to teams looking to refine their production environments and achieve operational excellence, translating operational improvements directly into financial success. Attendees gained knowledge into strategic enhancements aimed at improving warehouse team focus, increasing revenue generation, and boosting donations.
Driving Decisions With Data
Our final breakout sessions discussed refining operational strategies using data within the secondhand e-commerce industry.
Breakout Session A: Maximizing Resale Value: Data-Driven Strategies for Premium Returns
Attendees engaged with a panel of industry experts specializing in data analytics. Kristy Shaver, Drew Purcell, and Jake Adair provided advanced techniques for analyzing market trends, consumer demand, and pricing strategies. With SMART goals and an action plan, attendees learned how to leverage data as a strategic tool to identify high-value items and optimize resale inventory effectively in a competitive marketplace.
Market/competitor assessment tools you can use today include our free Top E-commerce Brands Guide, Terapeak product research, Google trends, PriceCharting, BrickLink, BrickEconomy, PCGS, silver calculator, and gold calculator.
Breakout Session B: The Book Boom: Strategies for Expanding Profit Margins in Book Resale
Tailored specifically for the book resale sector, Kevin Martin, Jake Tom, and Sam Thompson analyzed data-driven tactics for uncovering hidden revenue opportunities and expanding profit margins through strategic pricing and inventory management. Participants were equipped with practical tools to curate book inventories and implement effective pricing strategies, ensuring sustainable financial success in the evolving book resale landscape.
Key trends and challenges in the book resale market:
- Increasing demand for secondhand books
- Rise of online book marketplaces
- Impact of digital transformation
Types of data to collect and analyze:
- Sales transactions
- Online behavior data
- Customer feedback
Tools and techniques:
- Neatoscan reporting and growth support
- Online analytics (Google Analytics, etc.)
- Customer surveys
Knowing your customers better is essential for choosing a strategy to increase profit margins. By combining data and feedback your customers provide, you can hone in on what they are most likely to buy and when.
Impact on the Secondhand E-commerce Field
Through thought-provoking sessions and expert speakers, the conference sparked innovative ideas and strategies that can be taken back to every organization and implemented in some capacity. Attendees represented over 45 diverse companies and were granted opportunities to network, collaborate, and learn from each other’s varied perspectives.
Upright Labs gathered vital feedback post conference, packed with information set to curate future content, resources, and business tools. This is our commitment to drive continuous improvement and support for our customers’ growth initiatives.
By harnessing the collective knowledge shared at the conference, e-commerce teams are empowered to navigate challenges, capitalize on emerging trends, and foster innovation that propels the secondhand retail industry forward.
Acknowledgements and Thank You
We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to all attendees, exhibitors, sponsors, and speakers for their roles in making the first Upright Labs User Conference one to remember.
Connect With Us!
Whether you attended our first User Conference or are eager to join future events, there are ample opportunities to stay informed and engaged.
For those who missed this year’s conference, stay tuned for details on accessing individual session recordings and exclusive workbooks, designed to further enhance your learning and application within your organization.
We’re also excited to announce the return of our E-Commerce Master Classes starting on August 13th. Register now to secure your spot and continue to expand your knowledge base!
