Cristi Movila (VTEX) – At VTEX, every employee is a leader

VTEX is a multinational tech company delivering a global, fully integrated, end-to-end digital commerce solution.

BRAND MINDS partnered with VTEX for its 2022 edition to provide companies with the necessary tools to future-proof their businesses.

We sat down with Cristi Movila, Eastern Europe General Manager & EMEA Sales VP at VTEX and talked about the company’s vision for the future, his perspective on innovation and leadership, the company’s most important leadership lesson and much more.

1. What is the brand’s VISION for the next 10 years?

When looking to the future, VTEX aims to be recognized as the backbone for connected commerce by offering an all-in-one enterprise digital commerce platform. That means that customers and partners can onboard the VTEX platform at an extraordinary speed-to-market and seamlessly find, buy and sell products and services from each other, creating a connected ecosystem.

Our vision is that VTEX will be the single control panel for every order, so customers will be able to manage 100% of their orders from all channels through our platform.

On top of that, our solution is being set to execute our customer’s strategy autonomously or recommend the best actions. Therefore, VTEX will be the developer platform of choice for commerce.

2. What is VTEX’s LATEST impactful INNOVATION?

Building is an always evolving process, we are constantly innovating. This is a must as we are operating in an environment that is changing rapidly. Consumers are more demanding than ever, wanting to find everything they might need fast and with an experience that resembles the physical one-on-one experience but online.

We believe that retailers should have the power to sell anything, from anywhere to anywhere regardless of the channel they are performing the sale. To do that, the platform is constantly evolving to help brands deal with increasingly complex scenarios in a simpler and more strategic way.

Thus, last year we continued making progress with our new front-end framework called FastStore. We have already successfully mentored System Integrators that are now implementing this new module for VTEX IO that was built from scratch with storefront performance in mind without compromising flexibility or development productivity.

We also continued making strides related to our inStore‘s endless aisle approach. Now, physical store sales associates can use filters such as price range, department, and brand, among other configurable filters, when searching for products on inStore VTEX Intelligent Search. This results in a more dynamic and precise process, speeding up sales, and allowing them to quickly find the desired product.

Another product we are proud of is Live Shopping App, which helps our clients to create immersive live shopping experiences, increasing engagement and conversion rates, thus unlocking new growth opportunities.

On top of that, we launched social commerce, which enables sales associates in our customer’s physical stores to share products via QR codes, using the social selling feature.

Also, in order to increase the support for our customers who want to introduce sales capabilities to their conversational touchpoints, we enabled several customers at VTEX to combine the worlds of commerce and conversational platforms. We are onboarding customers from different segments, such as grocery and drug stores, to sell through WhatsApp and other conversational interfaces, a significant emerging channel that will complement physical stores, browsers, mobile apps, marketplaces and other sales channels.

3. What is the impact of the brand’s CUSTOMER CARE on people’s perception of the brand?

Our specially called ‘’hypercare’’ aims to position VTEX not just as a technology provider, but as a full-time partner to our clients.

We are not only dedicated to improving each store’s ecosystem but also helping our customers overcome real business challenges, where our commerce expert’s know-how can come in handy. We understand the clients’ challenges and their consumers’ needs, so we connect both ends.

4. What is the company’s most important LEADERSHIP learning that has impacted its organizational culture over the past year?

“Leadership” has very particular meaning at VTEX, because here we consider everyone to be a leader.

It doesn’t matter the position you are in within the company. Leadership is not about job titles, it’s about attitude.

When people feel they have ownership over their work they don’t wake up just to do their job, they wake up to accomplish goals that are beyond predictable. And such a mindset is only possible because we are building a team of leaders looking for excellence.

We also embrace and encourage failure, because failure means new data and new possibilities, with which we can do better analyses and we are better prepared for the future.

5. Name the most essential aspect of TEAM MANAGEMENT and improved performance according to the company

No matter what happens, one thing is certain: the future is not just about the right choices, it’s also about the right talent.

We have taken it upon ourselves to create an abundance of diverse talent for the digital commerce ecosystem, and that goes far beyond our company’s needs. We invest heavily in historically under-served yet high potential regions, co-creating centres of academic excellence to develop world-class, global-citizen digital workers. We foster the emerging market leaders who will build the next generation of disruptive technologies and global businesses.

6. What is the LATEST NEWS about the brand our readers should learn?

VTEX is where commerce happens. We are building the global digital commerce infrastructure that empowers enterprises to be relevant for the modern, convenience-driven consumer.

In that context, the news about how we are working to consolidate our position in the Romanian market and also strengthening our operations in Europe are indeed very relevant.

But, on top of that, VTEX’s news is a synonym of what is hottest in the digital commerce scene, and a reference for the most important trends in this industry.

The pandemic accelerated digital commerce but simply having a website is not enough for the modern-day retailer. Now more than ever, it’s critical that businesses around the world meet consumers wherever they are with modern experiences that surpass the “in-store”.

This means that retailers need innovative new tools to make shopping easier and a seamless and exceptional experience. VTEX is providing that — as evidenced by our recent product momentum. With conversational commerce and Live Shopping, customers can avoid all the downsides of traditional in-store shopping by mixing and matching offered experiences. To know more about that, readers should follow VTEX latest news.

Marketing research done right

Either you start a new business, launch a new project / product / service or you just want to stay ahead of your competition, a strong and smart marketing research will give you the necessary advantage over the competition. Moreover, in this ever-changing and moving market, with the technology changing it day by day and with consumers always up-to- date and in control of the situation, research becomes more and more important daily. Therefore, market research is a key component of any good product team management process, sales and marketing strategy, or business growth strategy.

“Marketing research can give a business a picture of what kinds of new products and services may bring a profit. For products and services already available, marketing research can tell companies whether they are meeting their customers’ needs and expectations. By researching the answers to specific questions, small-business owners can learn whether they need to change their package design or tweak their delivery methods–and even whether they should consider offering additional services,” writes entrepreneur.com.

Research deserves its important place in a business activity and should be treated accordingly.  We are presenting you some of the steps you must take in order to make sure your research is done right.

source: AdWeek

1. Primary research focuses on gathering data from analyzing current sales and the effectiveness of current practices. It also takes competitors’ plans into account, giving you information about your competition. The pieces of information will be received following: interviews (qualitative and quantitative), surveys, questionnaires (online or by mail), focus groups.

2. Secondary research. Analyzing the data that has already been published. and that can help you identify competitors, establish benchmarks and identify target segments. Your segments are the people who fall into your targeted demographic–people who live a certain lifestyle, exhibit particular behavioral patterns or fall into a predetermined age group.

3. Study the Economy: Just like the history is important in knowing and understanding who we are as a culture and what we will be in the future, showing what we can expect, so is knowing and understanding the economy helping your business grow. You can better understand reports about some of the most important big factors affecting the industry you’re in and the customers you hope will spend their money on your products or services.

Being up-to-date with the economics world will help you know how to adjust your business, prevent difficult situations and choose the right time to expand.

4. Read Business and Industry Publications: Whatever your industry, there’s likely a trade group or research firm out there compiling industry statistics and trends that are all insights into your business. Join your industry trade group or follow key industry thought their leaders on social media and media (their TV, print, online appearances). Being part of the industry and its insights will help you find out detailed industry statistics and trends that can help you better understand the past, present and future of companies like yours.

5. Look Elsewhere:  Take example from successful local and international businesses. A similar business on the opposite end of the country may give you some great promotional ideas, or an international market could start complaining about rising commodity prices before they affect you directly.

6. Hire a smart internal researcher and a good research agency. Your researcher will be able to present you monthly reports regarding the market and your consumers, while the agency will be a key element when making an important move on the market.  They will for sure make the difference.

More ideas and steps you can find here.