eTail Built a 25-Year Legacy in E-Commerce Events | Chet Silverman
From Talk Commerce by Brent W. Peterson
June 8, 2026 · 11 min · Episode 431
About this episode
Chet Silverman discusses his 25-year journey in e-commerce events and the evolution of the industry.
Brent Peterson sits down with Chet Silverman, aka Mr. eTail, the Director of Sponsorships at eTail. With 25 years in the e-commerce conference space, Chet shares stories from the early dot-com crash days, how he convinced Google to exhibit before they were a household name, and why conferences remain the best way to connect with retail executives in a post-COVID world. He also breaks down the current AI startup boom and predicts where the technology is heading. Chapters 00:00 - Meet Mr. eTail: Chet's origin story and joining eTail after the dot-com bust 01:05 - The evolution of e-commerce technology over 25 years 01:59 - Cold-calling Google and convincing them to sponsor eTail Boston 03:07 - The rise and fall of hot tech categories: CRM, mobile shopping, social commerce 03:56 - Watching companies grow up at eTail, from startups to acquisitions 05:12 - The AI explosion and why it will follow the mobile shopping pattern 06:15 - Why companies should sponsor eTail and how COVID changed B2B sales 07:23 - Quality vs. quantity: the 50/50 retailer-to-vendor ratio 07:56 - Strategic timing: Palm Springs in February, Boston in August 09:08 - eTail as a community and kicking off the…
People in this episode
Host: Brent Peterson
Guest: Chet Silverman
Topics covered
- e-commerce
- conferences
- AI technology
- business networking
- retail industry
Keywords
- e-commerce
- conferences
- AI
- retail
- B2B sales
- technology
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Google, eTail, AI
Places: Palm Springs, Boston
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