13:24 04.11.2015

Kyiv hosted 600 representatives of Ukrainian e-commerce

7 min read

On October 24 at the NSC "Olympiyskiy" the largest industry event of the market of e-commerce E-Commerce Congress in 2015 was hosted. E-Commerce Congress - communication platform dedicated to business processes and management of companies in the Ukrainian market of e-commerce.

The domestic segment of e-commerce shows the highest growth rate among the other sectors of the economy. Over the past year the market grew by 40% *, which made up 1.5% of total retail trade. Experts predict that in 2016 the industry is expected to grow by 25% in local currency (Euromonitor data and UADM).

"The market of e-commerce operates by its own rules and requires state regulation, strategies building, attention to brand development, and that is why we have focused on these issues at the panel discussions, building a dialogue in a way that information will be useful for both large internet stores and and those who are just starting their business," - said Irina Kholod, head of E-Commerce Congress.

During 10 panel discussions, participants talked about the issues of state regulation, investment in the industry, strategic planning, financial instruments for online retail, fulfillment and variety of delivery services for online stores, data arrays analysis and management (BigData), mobilecommerce trends and transformation of classic retailers to online trading.

Speakers were 63 Ukrainian e-commerce experts: founders and directors of the largest online stores, trade platforms, financial services, investment companies, delivery services.

Alexander Olshansky, Daniel Pasko, Jaanika Merilo, Dmitry Gadomskii, Artem Rafaelyan, Alexei Titov, Ruslan Kalnitsky commented on the most controversial aspects of the new law "About electronic commerce", as well as on some issues of state regulation of the industry. "Business and consumers were waiting for this law for 2 years. It brings the market out of "gray" areas which will help to attract investments to the industry "- says Ruslan Kalnitsky. At the same time, the law requires improvements. For example, it doesn’t define the status of the courier who delivers the goods and takes cash payment. Experts also noted the need for bills monitoring. "We must offer our position and defend it. If we do not take advantage of this historic opportunity, we will blame ourselves later on "- said Jaanika Merilo.

The head of the retail practice Fedoriv.com Igor Didok together with representatives of large retail chains Comfy, Foxtrot, Eldorado, Intertop discussed the features of transition from the multi-channel retailers to sales omnichannel. «Omnichannel - is unified user experience between the channels. The company produces a variety of interfaces through which the customer comes to one and the same retailer, and all processes are being run by the same CRM-System "- says Igor Didok.

Founder and CEO of Prom.ua Nikolai Palienko, OLX.UA CEO Sergey Gapochenko together with Lamoda.ua CEO Katerina Mikula, Uklon founder Sergey Dyatlenko, PayForce executive director Ivan Istomin, under the leadership of Admicer Director of Development Ivan Fyodorov told about the experience of mobile technologies application in their projects, and the situation in Ukraine in general. "Now in Ukraine there are 15 million mobile devices, 35% of users access the Internet using multiple devices, - says Ivan Fedorov. In 1.5 years mobile penetration will take 50% of the total number of users. " Experts agree with the statement that it is necessary to rebuild the business now in order to be successful in the future. According to forecasts, the share of mobile shopping will increase. "Before the end of 2015, 14% of orders and purchases will come from mobile devices. In 2016 it is expected to reach 20% of the total share of online shopping, "- said Ivan Fedorov.

The owner of a marketing holding OSD Group Valentin Kalashnik and project managers from Pampik.com, Gold.UA, Repka.UA, Fotos and Yakaboo told about the basic principles that enable efficient management and customer service experience. "We form the information field around our companies with our services. If we want to have business in the future, it is necessary to form an opinion about us "- said Valentin Kalashnik. Experts also pointed out that the complaints have a very important role in improving company performance. "No secret buyer will give you as much information as the real buyer with complain," - said Dmitry Pokotilo, co-founder Fotos.

Irina Rubis, Ekonomika Communication Hub CEO together with Maxim Rabinovich (Nova Posta), Katerina Mikula (Lamoda), Natalia Koshevaya (Comfy), Alexei Filanovskii (Prom.ua) and Alexei Kavitskiy (Umber Firm) paid special attention to the peculiarities of creating lovemark network. "Being logistics operator, we see each retailer from the inside. And if a brand is major, it builds its operational activities seriously. Nowadays the technology division in logistics compete with each other much more than in marketing, "- said Maxim Rabinovich, " Nova Posta " development director.

Denis Dovgopolyi, founder and director of BVU Group, and Eugene Sysoev (AVEnturesCapital), Dmitry Lissitzky (All.biz), Vitaly Yanicki (DV Bank), Vasile Tofan (Horizon Capital) gave some practical advice on what to do to be attractive to investor. For example, small companies need to build their own cash flow and look for niches for success. "For investments and efficiency small businesses need to optimize their activities and to seek their own business model," - said Vitaly Yanicki. Industry is prognosed to grow in the coming year. Thus, Dmitry Lissitzky noted that the market has already hit the bottom. At the same time, Denis Dovgopolyi said that in 2016, some negative trends will remain. For example, the lack of reform, which is why the level of investment will be lower.

Marina Krasnopolskaya, DV Bank Head of Development, together with the representatives of Privat Bank, Portmone.com, FC "Center of financial decisions" (TM CreditMarket), Platon, Forpost, GlobalMoney and FinTechCluster discussed the development trends of financial services in Ukraine for the e-commerce. "The next 5 years the market will move to non-cash payments", - says Taras Volobuev, Portmone.com Director of Development. "But now e-commerce is not ready to accept cards for payment. The reason - a "grayness" of our market (gray delivery, tax savings). Although now at least 3 million people are using cards in Ukraine. " Experts named the key future trends: single button payments, increasing the number of users of financial aggregators, open API of banks to their customers for the purpose of convenient payment from buyers and cross-border shopping increase. "Business needs to define its own model for the selection of a financial instrument - cards, cash on delivery, advance payment" - says Tamara Solovey, Forpost General Director.

This year's Congress was the record-holder for the number of guests. The event was attended by nearly 600 ukrainian e-commerce representatives. 1-C,Bitrix, UCMJ, TMM, Platon, MTI logistics and more than 20 companies presented their services at the exhibition.

The general partner of the congress was the "Nova Posta" company. "We support E-Commerce Congress so far as we see considerable growth potential in the e-commerce market. Our company, from is side, is actively promoting the development of e-commerce in Ukraine, offering online stores a significant expansion of the geography of sales, "- said a spokesman for the company, Maxim Arslanov.

Partner of the event was DVBank. "In view of current trends, banks are no longer able to fully satisfy the needs of business and stay away as a banking institution with a classic set of services" - said Marina Krasnopolskaya, head of the Department of DVBank. "Congress was able combine retail and financial service providers, as well as explain the advantages of the online service with practical examples."

"Mist Express" CEO Yuri Avdysh commented on the company's participation in the following way: "The scope of electronic commerce - one of the most stable and developing fields of business not only today but also in the future. At the same time, Ukraine has not used most of the potential of this market. For example, in Europe, the turnover of online trading is an essential part of the market share of total trade, while in Ukraine purchases over the Internet still makes up a minimal part of the total turnover. Trends that were discussed at the congress in panel discussions are very topical and in demand. These are the vectors which will largely determine the direction of the development of online trading in Ukraine".

Interfax-Ukraine - general information partner

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