Creating ecosystems to develop e-commerce: challenges and opportunities
16 February 2018
The third day of the Russian Investment Forum opened with the session ‘Creating Ecosystems to Develop E-Commerce: Challenges and Opportunities.’
Experts considered the need to create ecosystems for online commerce, the potential of this market and the opportunities it offers for small businesses.
In his opening remarks, moderator Pavel Kadochnikov, President of the Centre for Strategic Research Foundation, said the value of the e-commerce market in Russia currently stood at RUB 1.1 trillion.
Nikolai Podguzov, General Director of Russian Post, suggested creating an ecosystem – a technology platform that would bring together sellers, buyers and service companies for marketing and delivering goods to consumers in every region of the country and overseas. This would lower barriers to entering the market, which means it would help small businesses. “It is necessary for the seller to display its products for sale, while all other operations, including maintenance, procurement, marketing, sales channels such as MarketPlace, accounting systems, warehouse logistics, financing and delivery would be provided via this ecosystem,” Mr. Podguzov proposed. Logistics, the IT infrastructure and the financial engine should form the basis of such ecosystems. Each player would be responsible for its own section, “providing the consumer with a ‘one-stop-shop’ without expenses.” Russian Post, together with VTB, plans to open 40 logistics centres in Russia covering 80% of online requests from Russians. The share of e-commerce in Russian Post is rising by 30% a year and currently stands at 365 million deliveries.
According to Andrey Kostin, President and Chairman of the Management Board, Member of the Supervisory Council and Member of the Strategy and Corporate Governance Committee of VTB Bank, banks are ready to participate in creating an ecosystem for online trading. Today, financial institutions are considering two approaches to dealing with e-commerce: either to create such a platform using their own resources or find a partner for this project. VTB prefers the second option: the bank is to invest RUB 30 billion in developing a logistics system for Russian Post. “At this stage, competition is all about who will be able to integrate modern technology into products in the quickest way possible,” Mr. Kostin concluded.
Continuing the theme of technology, 1C Founder and Director Boris Nuraliev remarked that automation of e-commerce attracted small businesses because large companies have long been automated.
For his part, Yermolai Solzhenitsyn, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, pointed to the openness of such e-commerce giants as Amazon and Alibaba.com, which appealed to potential clients.
Experts considered the need to create ecosystems for online commerce, the potential of this market and the opportunities it offers for small businesses.
In his opening remarks, moderator Pavel Kadochnikov, President of the Centre for Strategic Research Foundation, said the value of the e-commerce market in Russia currently stood at RUB 1.1 trillion.
Nikolai Podguzov, General Director of Russian Post, suggested creating an ecosystem – a technology platform that would bring together sellers, buyers and service companies for marketing and delivering goods to consumers in every region of the country and overseas. This would lower barriers to entering the market, which means it would help small businesses. “It is necessary for the seller to display its products for sale, while all other operations, including maintenance, procurement, marketing, sales channels such as MarketPlace, accounting systems, warehouse logistics, financing and delivery would be provided via this ecosystem,” Mr. Podguzov proposed. Logistics, the IT infrastructure and the financial engine should form the basis of such ecosystems. Each player would be responsible for its own section, “providing the consumer with a ‘one-stop-shop’ without expenses.” Russian Post, together with VTB, plans to open 40 logistics centres in Russia covering 80% of online requests from Russians. The share of e-commerce in Russian Post is rising by 30% a year and currently stands at 365 million deliveries.
According to Andrey Kostin, President and Chairman of the Management Board, Member of the Supervisory Council and Member of the Strategy and Corporate Governance Committee of VTB Bank, banks are ready to participate in creating an ecosystem for online trading. Today, financial institutions are considering two approaches to dealing with e-commerce: either to create such a platform using their own resources or find a partner for this project. VTB prefers the second option: the bank is to invest RUB 30 billion in developing a logistics system for Russian Post. “At this stage, competition is all about who will be able to integrate modern technology into products in the quickest way possible,” Mr. Kostin concluded.
Continuing the theme of technology, 1C Founder and Director Boris Nuraliev remarked that automation of e-commerce attracted small businesses because large companies have long been automated.
For his part, Yermolai Solzhenitsyn, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, pointed to the openness of such e-commerce giants as Amazon and Alibaba.com, which appealed to potential clients.
