CXO briefs on the future of eCommerce

Leapset Production and Operation Senior VP Jim O’Connor, was the keynote speaker at the CXO briefing on the future of eCommerce organised by SLASSCOM, the industry chamber for the Sri Lankan IT and Knowledge Services Companies.

The CXO briefing focused on an in depth discussion on the future of eCommerce based on current developments as well as predictions by experts. In his keynote address Jim O’Connor reviewed the latest trends in eCommerce such as the increase in mobile commerce market share, the rapid emergence of mobile friendly websites that have unchained consumers from the browser to meet their commerce needs, the online to offline (o2o) market and the innovative platforms that supports mobile payments such as Apple passbook and Google wallet.

Jim O’ Connor has over 12 years of Internet Product Management experience and is responsible for all new product design as well as customer service and client operations at Leapset. He has extensive experience in financial services and e-commerce and was Vice President of Product at Monvia LLC prior to joining Leapset. He was also Director of Product Management at Yahoo! and led the Yahoo! Finance Product team, contributing to their rapid growth over a period of 7 years. He was also an Associate at Rothschild – a financial advisory firm that operates in over 40 countries – and worked as an Analyst at Chase Manhattan. Jim is an alumnus from Georgetown University in Washington DC and holds a BSc in Science, Technology and International Affairs.

Delivering his keynote address, Jim O’ Connor added, “O2O is still in its infancy but several companies are making firm inroads. For example big box retailers such as Target and Best Buy allow in store pickup on web purchases and Starbucks has developed a popular gift card program that seamlessly bridges virtual and real world transactions and also leverages third party apps like iOS Passbook. Also passport and wallet services like Google wallet, iOS passbook and Paypal help close the O2O loop.”

He added, “Merchant driven O2O solutions must start with the core merchant operating system, the point of sale (POS). Leapset is the core operating system for SMB’s that look to get a head start on the O2O revolution. We offer core services for businesses and allow for integrations into value added online features like OLO, rewards, specials, coupons, gift cards, check-ins and mobile applications. In this model, the merchant drives the offering, not the service provider. Leapset is an open platform, API driven system that allows domain specialist 3rd parties to develop value added apps.”

Speaking at the event, SLASSCOM Chairman and John Keells Holdings IT Sector Executive Vice President and Head Sujiwa Dewaraja said, “Mobile penetration in Sri Lanka is high. There is an average of at least one mobile per person. The proportion of smartphones is rising exponentially. In this context eCommerce especially mobile commerce will consist of a larger portion of the consumer market share. It is high time that Sri Lankan Business leaders and IT professionals concentrate on adapting global eCommerce practices to suit our market and explore its possibilities.”

The interactive panel discussion that followed the keynote address further discussed possibilities, challenges and trends in the Sri Lanka market.  The expert panel consisted of Zone 24/7 CEO Livan Fernando, WSO2 CTO Paul Freemantle, Kapruka CEO Dulith Herath, Google South East Asia Emerging Market Development Jane Levene, together with Leapset’s Jim O’ Connor.

The Panel discussion was moderated by Ridgecrest CEO Sanath Fernando and the event was hosted by SLASSCOM Executive Director Imran Furkan.