Last week I attended the eTail East conference here in Boston. I split my time evenly between the expo floor and the conference sessions. Normally I’d spend more time in sessions to take in as much of the always-valuable content as possible (the folks at eTail do a very good job with speaker selection and content vetting). But because of the show’s timing — directly following the debt ceiling debacle, the US’ credit downgrade, gold prices skyrocketing, and a stock market behaving in a Dow Gone Wild fashion – I also wanted to gain some perspective on how vendors were faring during a show that just happened to take place during a decidedly strange economic time.

On the show floor, the net consensus was one of quality over quantity; every vendor with whom I met found there to be fewer retailers walking the floor than they expected, but most were very happy with the quality and high-level titles of the retailers who were in attendance. Despite lower volume foot traffic, many vendors expressed that this was exactly how they’d want a trade show floor to be.

In the conference, far and away the most interesting session I attended was from Google. Nitin Mangtani, Group Product Manager, was asked to speak about multi-channel commerce. His opening remarks echoed what we’ve been saying here at RSR: that “multi-channel “ is really too broad a term to apply any longer. “This is the most interesting phase of the online channel’s existence; there is more comfort and spending, and for the first time, there is more demand than supply… In truth, any retailer is multi-channel the second it goes beyond the website. “ He went on to share statistics regarding mobile traffic, emphasizing that retailers who look at mobile traffic as 3-10% (the average being 5%), who then tag the mobile channel accounting for 1% of average revenue — these retailers are viewing mobility incorrectly. “You can’t view it this way. If you look at the revenue generated, you are missing the point. The sales funnel starts at the mobile touchpoint more than anyone can accurately account for – it is more frequently the opening of the sales funnel. “

With the since-announced news of Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, it is no surprise that much of Mr. Mangtani’s presentation focused upon mobile commerce. However, I was thoroughly surprised at the functionality of Google’s Commerce Search offering. “We are not a retailer, but we are increasingly bridging the gap, “ he said. GCS is product whereby a merchant controls everything on their own branded site, but Google provides its search functionality and analytics algorithms. Essentially, a retailer can have a fully customized plug and play site, where Google powers the entire website, but Google branding appears nowhere to the retail consumer. For a client example, check outwww.forever21.com, www.smartfurniture.com, or www.babyage.com. At the time, neither I, nor any of my colleagues here at RSR had any idea that Google offered such a service.

GCS also folds in recommendations, as well. “We advise that retailers never merchandise at the expense of the consumer, “ Mangtani said. “You might have a surplus of blue jeans, so it makes sense that you would want to promote them. But if a customer comes to your mobile site and searches for ‘black jeans’, that customer should never be shown a promotion on blue jeans just because you want to get rid of your overstock. “ Clients using GCS’s mobile offerings in this vein include L’Occitane, Woodcraft Supply, and GNC — who upgraded its mobile search solution in less than one week’s time.

“Whoever your vendor is, Google or anyone else, push them, “ Mr. Mangtani said. “Customers want a better experience. They want a better mobile search with sub-second response times. “ And for those online retailers in the audience who do not operate stores, Mr. Mangtani assured them they were not off the multi-channel hook: “Even if you’re a pureplay, you already have three channels, “ he said, referring to the desktop, the mobile device, and the tablet/laptop.

Even before the Motorola purchase, Google was asserting itself as a serious player in the mobile vendor landscape for retailers. In response to the only question for which time allotted, “Buying the GCS product will not affect your order of appearance in a Google search. “