On December 6th, the first edition of the ‘Safe e-Shop’ competition, organized by the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing, was launched. The main goal of the competition is to promote the use of good business practices in e-commerce by shops, and in particular, the quality and reliability of services provided by entrepreneurs. The honorary patronage over the competition was taken by the Minister of Economy, Deputy Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak.
The share of e-commerce in retail sales is systematically growing. Throughout the year, several growth periods can be observed in e-commerce, but the greatest interest in online shops occurs in December. We then buy even twice as much as in previous months. Forecasts by the Direct Marketing Association predict that in December 2010, approximately 15 million Poles will use this form of shopping. Online shop owners often do not realize that this number could be significantly higher if e-customers had more trust in the shops. According to research by the Sklepy24.pl portal, as many as 67 percent of customers abandon or limit their purchases, even after selecting items, when the credibility of the shop is questionable. How to improve credibility? You can take part in the Safe e-Shop 2011 competition, which started on St. Nicholas Day.
– For several years, the Institute has been supporting online shops in the implementation and application of good business practices in e-commerce. We know the problems that shops and their customers face, which is why we decided to organize a competition aimed at drawing the attention of not only online shops but also e-consumers to elements of quality and security of online transactions. We have invited consumer organizations and companies that, like us, care about improving security in e-commerce to partner in this venture. Now we invite shops to participate in the competition – says Kinga Szewczyk from the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing.
Entrepreneurs who have been operating an online shop for at least a year can register their shop for the competition. The winners of the competition will be selected by a Competition Jury composed of such personalities as: Dariusz Bogdan – Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Economy, Piotr Stańczak – Director of the European Consumer Centre, Grażyna Rokicka – President of the Polish Consumer Association, Piotr Jarosz – owner of the Sklepy24.pl portal, Grzegorz Szyszka – Director of the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing, and Grzegorz Błażewicz – Managing Director of Benhauer.
Substantive patronage over the competition was provided by: the European Consumer Centre, the Polish Consumer Association, Sklepy24.pl, the Responsible Business Forum, and the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. Media patronage is provided by, among others, the portals bankier.pl and ecommerce.edu.pl.
Applications for the competition will be accepted until the end of January 2011. The announcement of the results is planned for mid-March 2011. More information about the competition can be found at http://www.bezpiecznyesklep.pl.