from Jan Griesel
The 6th annual plentymarkets Online Sellers Congress took place in Kassel on March 2nd amid blue skies and sunshine. The rooms were laid out differently at the event this year and our guests enjoyed wide range of lectures. With 56 exhibitors and over 1000 participants, we once again managed to break our records from the previous year.
A wide range of informative lectures
As in previous years, the well-proven schedule remained and the day started off with a keynote speech, followed in the afternoon by workshops relating to shop optimization, payment, marketing, markets, legal issues and of course, plentymarkets! Several independent speakers lectured on a wide range of topics and presented the audience with exciting information about current trends in e-commerce.
In his opening keynote speech, CEO Jan Griesel introduced the plentymarkets roadmap for the year 2013 and revealed the new features that online sellers will soon enjoy in the upcoming plentymarkets version 4.501: "Each new version helps our customers stay in touch with the latest trends and assists them in exactly those areas where there is still room for improvement. Therefore, our upcoming version puts emphasis on efficient customer communication by including an even more convenient ticket system. It also focuses on making improvements to shipping by including a newly developed tool."
Dr. Georg Wittmann, Senior Consultant at ibi Research at the Uni Regensburg was one of the most popular speakers. He discussed the topic of multi-channel and followed up his lecture with a panel discussion featuring representatives from various markets. Peter Höschl (Shopanbieter) and Thomas Jäger (Edelweiss & Berge) were also very popular with a lecture that focused on corporate planning. Johannes Altmann (Shoplupe) delighted the audience with the topic "Shopflow – the consequent optimization workflow for online shops".
High demand for the accompanying exhibition
The accompanying exhibition grew significantly this year to include a total of 56 exhibitors. It was centrally located between lecture halls and therefore saw a steady stream of guests all day. Visitors used their chance to learn about a wide range of products and trends that representatives from the plentymarkets partner network have to offer. Guests also enjoyed the opportunity to talk with plentymarkets representatives and get answers to their questions about the all-in-one e-commerce solution, plentymarkets.
Last but not least - the evening program
This year's final keynote speech was given by Jochen Krisch (xciting commerce). Directly afterwards, he also presented the awards for the most successful plentymarkets online sellers. This year, the awards went to www.moebel-modern.de (Gold) www.sport-fleck.de (Silver) and www.billigerluxus.de (Bronze). Furthermore, smartsale360 received the award for the best partner in innovation with their project "smobsh", which stands for "smart.mobile.shopping".
The official portion of the event ended around 7:30pm and we celebrated a job well done by throwing an after-show party. After eating dinner together, the participants used the evening to network in a relaxed atmosphere. Many guests even tried their luck at the casino tables that were set up: the three tables were full until well after midnight as the guests finished out the day with Black Jack, Poker and Roulette.
Additional photos
A photographer was also busy capturing special moments throughout the day that help show off the event's flair. Take a look at the result here: