e-Commerce Berlin EXPO 2017 - the coverage

The event took place in beautiful surroundings of 19th-century architecture. Originally built as Dresdner Bahnhof, STATION-Berlin to this day holds the spirit of industrial revolution and primal urge of humankind to cross boundaries by constructs delivered by the brightest minds. The Railway Station was a crucial element of German Empire’s railway network. Somehow, we can even say that this unique construct of red brick and steel still plays the same role; provides a link for people from the continent and beyond.

The gates were opened at 9, and within an hour the main hall was already packed with visitors. In spite of hundreds square meters of space, building at Luckenwalderstrasse 4 was about to burst. As a result, there were temporary problems with access to cloakroom, toilets or even coffee-spots. I can’t blame the organisers; agenda of E-commerce Berlin’s EXPO was chockablock and had no empty spots. Therefore, combined with free access (!!!), the event in Hauptstadt’s downtown must have caught a lot of interest. Personally, I prefer events where’s much to do, with busy schedule instead of “lots of networking time”; in these terms e-Commerce Berlin EXPO was perfectly organised.

Speaking about agenda, with four stages and sessions running simultaneously you can’t be everywhere. However, the topics and speakers were picked in a way which didn’t cause any conflicts. For example, all three sessions about entering Russian market (which seems to be one of the most rapidly growing) took place at one stage, so someone interested in that field couldn’t miss even a minute of a session.

From my perspective, most interesting was the C stage, where Frank Schlesinger, CTO of Immobilien24 explained the transformation of Scout24 AG following best practices of Real Business Agility. By using very simple schemes, Frank introduced the audience the process which seemed to look very difficult at first glance. Usually, when we talk about agile, we think about 5-7 team members. Frank proved that the same rules (with the same fruitful results) could be adopted in more expanded businesses.

Taking part in every session was impossible. Besides the speeches on stage C, such workshops as the one run by Jan Lastuvka from MonkeyData (Czech Republic) as well as Luca Senatore (Genie Goals, Italy) are worth mentioning. Luca provided an excellent introduction to challenges of every new e-Commerce project. The main conclusion says: listen to your customers, keep your eyes peeled, and most important - GO MOBILE!

The last one could be a motto of most of the exhibitors. All of the newest tools and solutions dedicated to e-Commerce vertical seem to support (in one way or another) their enter into the mobile market. Recent studies say that most of the customer’s decisions such as purchasing take place spontaneously, away from home or office. In order to establish predictable revenue of enterprises, retailers are actually forced by market conditions to reach their customers via smartphones. Therefore, web/native application development market growths so rapidly.

Walls of red brick witnessed the plethora of business chit-chats. Naturally, most of these conversations will never turn into anything else than gentle intercourses. However, they can be a lesson to learn. e-Commerce Berlin EXPO was the outstanding opportunity for someone who looks for… business opportunities. Besides stages, main exhibition area and coffee spots there were two points with food and (worthy of praise) chill place for exhausted visitors. Sunbeds can actually support networking efforts in unexpected ways. Relaxed business people seem to be more happy to talk. ;)

The event was about to end when the finish of last sessions was announced. Within the first quarter after 5 PM STATION Berlin became almost entirely empty. Visitors and exhibitors seemed to be on the rush trying to get their cabs, trains, and planes as soon as possible. But one Business Developer from Poland had plenty of time (late bus back to Poznan), and for him, it was a great opportunity to pay a visit to German Museum of Technology, the outstanding institution located in the close neighbourhood to the STATION.

Lured by a well preserved C-47 WWII aeroplane hanging on the top of the roof, I couldn’t resist paying at least a quick visit just before Museum was closed. Astonished by plenty of steam-driven locomotives I have discovered that some of them served in Polish State Railways during their final days. Not only locomotors but also trolleys, velocipedes, penny-farthings, and obsolete motorcycles could stimulate every boy’s imagination.

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