Fifth annual conference goes bigger with powerhouse keynote speakers, including Whole Foods Market Co-Founder John Mackey, Best-selling Author Seth Godin, Rent the Runway Co-Founder Jenny Fleiss and Kate Ancketill, Founder and CEO of GDR Creative Intelligence; plus more talk tracks, panels on emerging trends and interactive workshops

BigCommerce, a leading Open SaaS ecommerce platform for fast-growing and established B2C and B2B brands, announced registration is now open for its global Make it Big 2022 Conference which will be held virtually September 13-14. Registration is free and will stream daily on-demand at 9 a.m. CST.

In its fifth year, Make it Big’s theme, The Future of Ecommerce is Now, emphasizes mid-market and enterprise merchant growth and innovation while keeping small business merchants on a forward-thinking track to build, manage and grow their online businesses.

This year’s prominent line up of keynote speakers include Whole Foods Market Co-Founder John Mackey, Rent the Runway Co-Founder Jenny Fleiss, Best-selling Author Seth Godin and Founder and CEO of GDR Creative Intelligence, Kate Ancketill. All speakers will share compelling how-to perspectives and experiences across retail trends, modern marketing and business sustainability.

“It’s such an exciting time to be shaping the future of ecommerce. The Metaverse has great potential to become the new third channel for retail, giving fast-growing online businesses the opportunity to innovate now on how they deliver shopping experiences and drive revenue for what’s to come”

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“It’s such an exciting time to be shaping the future of ecommerce. The Metaverse has great potential to become the new third channel for retail, giving fast-growing online businesses the opportunity to innovate now on how they deliver shopping experiences and drive revenue for what’s to come,” said Kate Ancketill, CEO and Founder of GDR Creative Intelligence. “I look forward to participating in this year’s event and getting inspired together.”

Attendees can expect a variety of new session formats such as interactive workshops, the first-ever Make it Big live podcast interview and several panels on emerging trends making it easier to discover, engage and walk away with actionable insights.

Additional presenters include Ty Haney, Co-Founder and CEO of Try Your Best, John Merris, CEO of Solo Stove, Hana Ben-Shabat, Founder of Gen Z Planet, “SmallBizLady” Melinda Emerson and Founder and CEO of Resilia, Sevetri Wilson. Topics are designed to ignite growth and range from cross-border selling, international expansion and scaling to choosing which digital investments to make now for the future, how to build a global brand from the ground up and tapping into a growth-driven mindset.

“I am looking forward to this year’s conference and for sharing insights on the next generation of consumers and how they are changing everything we know about commerce. Gen Zers expect the immediacy of Amazon deliveries, the frictionless experience of Uber and the personalization of services like Netflix everywhere they shop, and they are going to raise the bar for retailers, large and small, online and in stores,” said Founder Hana Ben-Shabat of GenZPlanet.

Sample tracks at-a-glance include and not limited to:

• Panel Session: Demystifying Crypto, Web3 and NFTs with Ty Haney, founder and CEO of Try Your Best; Merrick Theobald, vice president of Marketing at BitPay and Adam Hollander, co-founder of White Sands Metaverse
• Breakout Session: The Future (of Tech) is Female with Sevetri Wilson, founder and CEO of Resilia; Tara Syed, senior director for Commerce Ecosystems, Commerce Business Group at Meta and Nicole Colwell, executive vice president and chief alliances officer at PraSaga
• Interactive Workshop: How Headless Can Bring Your Brand to Life with Contentstack
• Fireside Chat: Small Business, Big Gains: The Online Opportunity with “SmallBizLady” Melinda Emerson

Make it Big 2022 Customer Awards

As a global leader in Open SaaS ecommerce, BigCommerce will also honor and reward the best B2C and B2B customers in the industry with its Make it Big Awards program. Participants will compete for a $4,000 per winner prize package, or donation to a charity of choice. Categories this year are: Design, Innovation, Emerging Brand and Global Strategy. Submissions are currently open and will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. CST on July 29. Winners will be announced during the Make it Big event on September 14. Learn more here about the Make it Big Awards and for information on submissions.

Attendees can join BigCommerce’s conversation for Make it Big 2022 on social media with the hashtag #MakeItBigConf.

This year’s Marquee Sponsor is Google. Premier partner sponsors include Amazon Supply Chain (ASC), Amazon Pay, BitPay, Codal, Contentstack, GrooveCommerce, Jamerson, Klaviyo, Meta, Omnisend, Stripe, PayPal, Tavano and TikTok.