I recently went to lunch with editor of Drapers, Lauretta Roberts and Keely Stocker, the Digital Content Manager of the Drapers Online website.

For those of you not aware of Drapers, it’s a weekly fashion retail industry magazine being a must-read for everyone in fashion, from the up-and-coming to the retail elite.

I have written a blog for Drapers since last summer, and was on the judging panel of the Drapers Etail Awards which took place earlier this year.

The awards will be back next year, and I am told it will be much bigger as the January event was sold out and there were a huge amount of entries; proof that the e-commerce sector is booming, and a testament to Drapers that such an industry accolade is so sought after.

There may also be new award categories too, which is great, as it opens up options to online retailers.

I asked Keely if there would be a separate navigation tab on the Drapers Online website for E-Commerce, as it’s such a popular area, and she said it was being looked into.

Lauretta mentioned there is a Drapers conference dedicated to online retail planned for October, which is around the same time we should be hearing about the next Etail Awards.