Participants of the international conference on e-commerce, eCom21 , which came to an end today, emphasised the primary role of improving service and focusing on customer’s needs for the successful development of online business. According to the experts, this competitive advantage comes to the foreground in global Internet business.
Head of the Payment Card Department of Rietumu Bank Mark Andreyev, who opened the final day of the conference, spoke about the advantages of servicing transactions on the Internet via European banks. He noted factors such as the availability of universal licences for servicing transaction businesses and versatility, which allows a qualitative service to be provided for both traders and their clients – holders of payment cards. “Using the example of Rietumu Bank, which services both international business and high net worth individuals, I can say that such a combination is a unique advantage,” said Mr. Andreyev.
The importance of the role of service was also emphasised by the spokesperson of the payment service provider PayOnline Marat Abasaliev. In his report, he provided the results of the research, according to which only 15% of clients are ready to move to another service provider because of the price, another 15% - for the purpose of trying out novelties and innovations and 70% - in the event of dissatisfaction with the service. “All stages of the service chain, not only yours but also your partners, must work faultlessly. The ideal situation is when a service provider maintains the position – “Your client is our client”. One should also not forget about the emotional status of clients and the importance of having feedback from them, which allows deficiencies to be revealed and eliminated,” said the Pay Online spokesperson.
The growing insistence on high standards on the part of clients was also noted by the ECommPay company spokesperson Michael C.G. Charalambides. He emphasised that the specialisation of companies is the future: “In the future it will be important to specialise and differentiate services for the needs of clients. If earlier, it was often sufficient to just have a good reputation, now clients are becoming more sophisticated and demanding. Therefore universal solutions where one approach suited all are not efficient anymore.”
Maris Sperga, Data Centre Business Development Director of the biggest telecommunications operator in Latvia Lattelecom, emphasised the importance of the customer-tailored approach. He noted that, for example, Lattelecom offers a full range of such services, starting from installation of the equipment or the IT infrastructure of a client’s company in the DATTUM data centre, certified in accordance with the TIERIII reliability level, up to the support, administration and planning development of the used equipment and systems in compliance with the business tasks and functional requirements of the client. “It is important that we take an individual approach to every client with an orientation towards the specific project, during the implementation of which, the optimal technical solution is being developed, introduced and supported," he said.
In turn, Polina Dobriyan from RBC Money spoke about the specifics of work in e-commerce in Russia. According to her, successful development on the Russian market is impossible without taking account of its specifics, which are often not considered by global providers. “According to statistics, 90% of buyers in the USA and Europe now pay by card and only 10% by cash. In Russia, the situation is the opposite – 81% pay by cash and only 19% by card," she noted. Ms Dobriyan recommends entrepreneurs who are thinking about business development on the Russian market, to choose an experienced local provider who knows the psychology of the buyers and can create and offer convenient conditions of payment for them, providing qualitative client support and combining payment options – online and offline.
The experts, who made reports on the conference, also noted the large potential of the e-commerce market. According to the forecasts, by the year 2016 an annual growth of transactions in the internet environment of 10% is expected. In particular, the specialists recommend paying attention to the region of South-Eastern Asia, including China, which is becoming increasingly more attractive for e-commerce development due to factors such as the growing incomes of the population and the spreading of electronic means of payment.
Today, participants of eCom2 have also discussed issues such as the operation of data centres and hosting, fraud prevention, trends in the field of payment development, specifics of the use of search systems, modern models of participation and partnership in online gambling and others.
The second international conference eCom21 was held in Riga on 21-22 November. The organiser of the conference is Rietumu Bank. Partners of eCom21 are the global provider of online payments ECommPay, the leader of the instant payment market QIWI and the biggest telecommunication operator in Latvia Lattelecom. Eleonora Gailisha Mass Media and Public Relations
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