What it is
eTail Palm Springs, long known as eTail West, is one of the oldest ecommerce conferences in the US. The 2027 edition runs from February 22 to 25 at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert, California, the resort area that gives the event its name.
The audience is senior: around 60% of attendees are VPs or directors and about 19% are in the C-suite, with marketing and ecommerce as the largest functions. New for 2027 are two dedicated AI summits, one on growth and customer engagement and one on business transformation, plus expanded customer journey content, problem solving roundtables and informal cabana meetups.
Why it matters for smaller online stores
- Smaller and more intimate than NRF or Shoptalk, so it is easier to have real conversations with the people running ecommerce at well known brands.
- The two AI summits focus on how retailers actually use AI for growth and customer engagement, not on vendor pitches.
- Roundtables let you bring a concrete problem, such as retention or paid media costs, and hear how peers solved it.
Who should go
- Ecommerce and marketing leads at growing DTC brands
- Founders who want to learn from senior operators at larger retailers
- Teams planning their AI and customer experience roadmap for 2027
How to get the most out of it
- Sign up for roundtables early and choose the ones closest to your biggest problem this year.
- Use the informal formats like cabana meetups. Much of the value of eTail is in the hallway conversations.
- Fly into Palm Springs (PSP) and plan for a short drive to Palm Desert.