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Impressions after the First edition E-commerce Expo
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Impressions after the First edition E-commerce Expo

E-commerce is growing in importance, I am sure that everybody is aware of it. Entrepreneurs, retailers, must all learn to adapt to the new constantly changing environment. However, still many are hesitating to step into e-commerce.  Entrepreneurs fear the lack of knowledge, for safety, or simply lack the time to step into this new channel.

To help those professionals, E-COMMERCE Expo was launched by Unizo and Kortrijk Xpo. I visited the first edition and was pleasantly surprised.

Seminars were definitely the highlight of the show

With the current economic situation, it was quite risky to organize such an event. So for a first event I was already preparing myself for small glitches in the organization, the attendance or even the content of the seminars. However, I was more than pleasantly surprised.

In terms of organization, I don’t see any big criticism possible. The registration was easy, the parking too, entering the fair was done without queuing … I was even surprised by the fact that a free catering was organized (clean and well maintained). The only comment I would give about the organization is about the opening hour (from 14.00 to 21.00). This was to me an odd choice and could be reconsidered for the next edition.

In terms of content, the exhibitors were segmented in six zones: Webshop Development, Pay Systems, Online Marketing, Logistics, Services and Advice & Consultancy. So organizing your visit was pretty easy. As an established business, one could easily target his visits. If you were a novice, it was just easy to find your way in an environment well segmented and quite exhaustive.

Finally, the pleasant surprise came from the seminars. Only 30 minutes per session seems like a short time. But when you think of it, the format was quite well thought off. Indeed, 30 minutes in your overall fair visit, is not a huge time investment. But most importantly the content was interesting. I had the opportunity to follow two sessions: "Unpacking the Digital Consumer" by Bert Hendrickx from GFK, and "Is Mijn Webshop juridisch waterdicht?" by Mien Gillis from Unizo. And at the end of both sessions I had no regrets or feeling that my time was wasted. Apparently I must not have been the only one with this feeling about the seminars, as all sessions were packed and there were not enough seats for everyone.

Next edition

To my knowledge, no date has been set for the next edition. But I guess that if it was widely communicated as a ‘first edition’, the organizer expect to continue the adventure in the future. Personally, I don’t see why not as this was a pleasant event, with the content and networking I expect from such events.

 

www.ecommercexpo.be

Kortrijk XpoEcommerceFairTradefairSeminarUnizo