Footwear executive Trisha Sweeney needs to wear comfortable shoes — a pair of pony hair flats by Carolinna Espinosa, to be exact — to make the rounds of the expansive industry trade shows such as those held last month in New York. As chief merchandising officer of the leading e-retailer, shoebuy.com, Sweeney walks the marketplace aisles searching for the next big trend as well as meeting with manufacturers to develop new business networks. With the Boston-based e-commerce site offering over a million different shoes, Sweeney tries to develop merchandise that appeals to a wide range of shoppers. “If you are looking for a black plain pump or a designer stiletto, we want to make sure you can find it as easily as possible and have a great online experience, “said Sweeney, who spoke with Globe correspondent Cindy Atoji Keene about building out the footwear e-retail site.

“I began my career as a sales manager at the Jordan Marsh Department Stores. Today, a couple decades later, it’s definitely a different world out there. There are some fundamental principles about my retail business approach that have not changed — integrity, customer satisfaction, responsiveness — but the space itself has changed, from brick and mortar to the Web.

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“We need to stay on the cutting edge, both on the merchant and the technology side. A new overhauled website was just launched with more user tools, consumer reviews, bigger images, and easier navigation. Shoebuy has a hybrid drop-ship model that allows us to carry a very broad assortment of styles, especially in narrow and wide size runs, even up to size 18.

“I love working with shoes — if you walked into my office, you’d see a lot of shoes, shoe boxes, hats, and purses. I think I’m pushing over 150 pairs of shoes in my closet at home. It’s both a perk and a hazard of my job.”