Stop building marketplaces and dismiss directors who need CDTO - founder of 220 Volts at TAdviser conference

It is completely pointless for entrepreneurs to invest in e-commerce now, because giant money - tens of billions of rubles - is invested there by large near-state and oligarchic structures: Sber, Yandex, Ozon. There is no place for an ordinary entrepreneur. So believes Alexei Fedorov, chairman of the Council of the CCI of the Russian Federation for the development of electronic commerce, founder of the 220 Volt chain of stores. In a speech at the IT Retail Day 2021 conference held by TAdviser on March 31, he expressed his point of view on the prospects for the development of the retail business.

It seems to me that now every bakery opens a marketplace. If a fresh sour cream merchant does not have his own marketplace, he is an underfarmer, so it counts. I see a lot of people who are trying to build marketplaces, aggregators, classified, make a new "Avito" or, for example, "halal Google." But creating your own platforms can be done if you have a lot of money and you are ready to lose it, like in a casino. If a person has money, he has the right to spend it

Digitalization, digitalization, uberization - these words sound at any bureaucratic meeting, and you can already start to identify charlatans or amateurs who have grabbed terms and are trying to look advanced, Fedorov is sure. You don't have to be like that, he recommends.

According to the founder of 220 Volt, it makes sense to invest in entrepreneurs in the development of their own physical products for marketplaces and in self-education, the skills of the "product owner," who understands the whole process from bottom to top and can precisely set a task for programmers.

In addition, he considers the Blue Ocean to be the creation of IT products that will be integrated into the ecosystems of marketplaces and will help small entrepreneurs promote their products on marketplaces.

Reality has not gone anywhere, moreover, they need it, which is why physical stores will not disappear: people use them not only for shopping, it is a social club and a place where you can get impressions. Men come to 220 volts to talk with like-minded people, discuss goods and touch tools with their own hands, Fedorov explains.

Invest in your education and in physical things, in infrastructure - it will be in trend, "calls Alexey Fedorov

Logistics, in his opinion, is also a physical product, and there is where to turn around. Retailers with their own complex fullfilm centers can develop this direction not only for themselves, but also act as a logistics operator and partner, which is in demand by other players.

Finally, you need to pay attention to the points of issuance of orders (PVZ) - this is just the niche that is convenient for a small company or entrepreneur to deal with. PVZ are going to become the personal mailbox of each client and be within walking distance of apartments. This solution needs operators.

"Probably, taxi drivers will do this after the cars stop needing drivers and start driving autopilot," Fedorov joked, but this is a fact - retail will not deal with the points of issuance on its own, the market will be able to be occupied by an individual entrepreneur.

In the second part of his speech, Alexei Fedorov talked about whether digital transformation directors (CDTO) are needed in the business.

CIO is an absolutely understandable function, everyone knows what IT directors are doing. And what CDTO does, I don't understand. I would call him director of travel to American software exhibitions. Perhaps this position is needed for a very non-digital owner of the company, who hired a digital transformation director to communicate with him about trends. But then it may be called, for example, a gaming partner

The daily work of any company now is a digital transformation, Fedorov explains.

What is your e-commerce director if you also need a digital transformation director? Let the Director of Logistics, who does not know which WMS systems exist. Or train. Or demote. Or swap places with the person called the director of digital transformation if he understands more in logistics than the current director of logistics. Imagine that at the beginning of the 20th century, the director of the introduction of motorization would be brought into the company engaged in haulage. You just need to buy some cars and teach the drivers to ride them. It goes without saying that cars will win, for this you do not need a special director. Although I myself would not refuse to be the director of digital transformation, because this is a synecure, the job does not hit the bed