All at E-Commerce 2008!

Already this week, on October 9 and 10, Moscow will host the E-Commerce 2008 conference, which will bring together Russian Internet commerce specialists for the fourth time. But to go there, despite my brisk headline, of course, not everyone needs it. Despite the certain popularity of the topics announced for discussion with participants, it is becoming increasingly clear every year that e-commerce in our country is gaining self-identity and the outlines of a full-fledged industry. And to work in it, enthusiasm alone is no longer enough: the market has its own legal base, serious “offline” capital comes into it, and the need for new non-standard methods of work becomes topic number 1.

This is not the first time Oleg Prusakov, the head of the consumer protection department of Rospotrebnadzor, has become the highlight of the event, again acting as the “human face” of the most active regulatory organization. And Konstantin Yakunin, the chief by the quality of work at the Russian Post, will deliver a report, apparently designed to dispel at least a little the idea that working with this structure looks like a natural disaster.

The round table on payment systems, in the context of the emerging legal overtube in this area, generally stands apart in importance. After all, such a variegated set of Internet currencies, like ours, is probably not found anywhere in the world. And world experience says that they are unlikely to manage to get along without running into niches.

More and more are those who have something to say. And more and more of those who understand that sharing their exclusive knowledge in the long run can be helpful. This year, many reports are devoted to quite mundane things: an analysis of the main mistakes in the strategy, technical and organizational subtleties, which today do not have to get bumps. For example, Allsoft.ru CEO Irina Kuznetsova will talk about the growth problems of a small online store, and Dmitry Dvoretsky from Euroset will talk about optimizing his business processes.

There will be enough statistics and results for the year: both business people and professional analysts will tell about them, whose research alone costs a lot of money.

Amid a stormy stream of reports and round tables (this year for the first time they go in as many as three parallel branches) there will be time to relax. Apart from coffee breaks and dinners, you can listen to traditional beautifully structured discussions about the high from the representatives of SUP (this time they will be Eduard Shenderovich, and the “difficulties” in investing in electronic commerce will be “high”) and watch for sure an incendiary presentation about viral marketing (Maria Ivanova, of course, “XAN”).

In general, and I insist on my optimism, it will be interesting. If you are sure that sales on the Web are yours, then go ahead.