Penza, 4 December 2014. PenzaNews. A roundtable discussion “A regional online shop from A to Z” was held in the Penza innovative business incubator on Thursday, December 4.

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The event was organized by companies “Internet-proekty” and “1C-Bitrix,” Shopolog smart retailer club, Grrow.me project and JSC “Center of cluster development.”

It attracted representatives of the Penza region intellectual clusters, including the IT group which is considered one of the most perspective and developing.

As the head of web-studio “Internet-proekty” Vladimir Popov informed PenzaNews agency, the event aimed at getting Penza developers acquainted with new trends in e-commerce.

“The roundtable discussion was directed to SMEs – producers and trading companies. Each respectable company now has its own website, and many work online. The advantages of such business is all-known, but not every organization optimally uses the potential of its portal. I hope some people will take a different approach to e-commerce after our event,” said the agency interlocutor.

During his speech, Vladimir Popov told the audience about the steps that lead to developing a website: he explained what should be taken into account before beginning, how to formulate its mission, find a developer, calculate expenses of upkeep, promotion and advertising. Moreover, he placed special emphasis on the advantages of CMS “1C-Bitrix.”

In his turn, leader of Shopolog smart retailer club Igor Nazarov discussed issues of competition survivability issues against federal store chains for regional online stores.

“Most large online stores are investment projects that do not conduct business the way we usually imagine it. Almost all of them spend enormous money on marketing, which basically leads to losing profits. In these conditions, a regional store may win by providing quality service, since the main problem for an online store is shipping and logistics. Large outlets come here and open pickup points, but they must go a long way to create them. A regional store has no such issues – it is already in the place. To set up logistics, it only needs to start moving and partner up with somebody,” he explained.

The event also featured presentations by project leader of “Internet-proekty” Vadim Kichkidov, co-founder of Grrow.me Timur Salyukov, and owner of Magazinpnz.ru online store Vladimir Zhivankin.

They spoke about ways to attract customers through social network, means of cutting expenses and ease routine with “1C-Bitrix,” and slimming down upkeep costs.

The event also held thematic round tables and a plenary meeting where the audience were able to ask their questions to experts.

Sharing his impression, a web designer Dmitry Afonin spoke of them as non-obsolete and useful.

“Internet site field is expanding quickly, and one must always monitor the changes. I can tell you I’ll slightly change my approach after the event. I saw some errors in it,” he noted.

The participant also added that he is currently developing the website for his own online store and learned useful information in the event.