Interview | Be agile and perfect your user experience with VTEX

1/ Hi Tommaso, can you introduce yourself to our readers?

Hi, sure! My name's Tommaso. After working for a PIM solution and a consulting agency for 12 years I joined VTEX as Channel Manager for Western Europe. My role is to manage the relationship with partners: solution partners (agencies and system integrators), ISVs (products and services vendors to be integrated with our platform), and business partners (strategic partners and influencers for a local market).

2/ Tell us a little about VTEX: which markets do you operate in, which features make you stand out?

VTEX is a global company serving more than 40 countries around the world. The majority of our customers reside in LATAM but we are growing fast into the USA and Europe. We, as VTEX Western Europe, mainly work with Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom, but we are really willing to expand fast in other European countries where we already have customers. Here's a video that should sum it up nicely 👇

3/ What is the strategy behind joining forces with Lengow?

We understood that the effort to connect our e-commerce platform to a main marketplace was not convenient for our customers; we chose Lengow as a strategic partner in light of this. So, the first thing we did when we entered the European market was to offer our clients the possibility to expand their reach by selling in multiple marketplaces across the globe with the VTEX native integration with Lengow.

4/ You joined us for a round table on agility at Lengow Day. How can brands and retailers provide a quality shopping experience in the current context?

Regarding experience, we first have to define if we are speaking about the digital frontend (mainly focused on the UX and UI of the platform), or the experience on all the customer's touchpoints both digital and physical channels.

Our goal is to work on both experiences in many ways by:

Helping the customer with a fast page load time on every device with a progressive web app template,
Providing our solution partners VTEX IO, a low code platform to help them to build a frontend quickly with a lot of native capabilities (i.e. store locator linked to the backend, shop the look, dynamic bundles, product configuration capabilities and subscriptions);
We also have SmartCheckout™ which allows a store's customers who had made a first order to make subsequent orders without a password (only entering their email and card's security code);
The customer experience has to be omnichannel, that's why our solution provides many cross-channel capabilities: pick-up in store, ship from store, endless aisle, and inStore POS integration.

5/ To finish, what three tips can you give brands and retailers to succeed with VTEX?

Simplify your business: focus first on activities with the most added value to grow your e-commerce operation. Relying on an experienced partner will help you set priorities.
Be creative: use your clerks as store influencers linked to promotions, hold virtual showrooms (book an appointment with calendar integration and a video calling solution), share your products with other vendors (VTEX has a marketplace native capability), etc.
Expand your business: new languages, new channels, new customer segments, etc.

Naomi Botting