VTEX: “AI Will Play a Key Role in Optimising all Aspects of a Trading Platform”

On the occasion of the VTEX CONNECT EUROPE 2024 congress, to be held on 7 June at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, we interviewed Santiago Naranjo, Chief Revenue Officer of VTEX.

This company specialises in developing a modern e-commerce platform for any company wishing to sell its products online and maintain a high degree of traceability throughout their life cycle.

Naranjo talks about all this and more, with a special focus on the application of artificial intelligence in these platforms:

E-commerce is in a moment of enormous expansion compared to traditional commerce, what trends and keys are you finding in this sector?

The trends that set the pulse of digital business this year are AI and personalised experiences to increase conversion and recurrence, something that will be clearly seen in the next VTEX CONNECT EUROPE. We are leveraging our solutions on AI to develop and drive business. We recently launched VTEX VISION, a series of innovative solutions and upgrades that will undoubtedly enable businesses to stay agile as they innovate, optimise and grow, thereby improving customer retention and increasing conversion rates for enterprise brands. With solutions such as VTEX Data Pipeline, VTEX Shield and our WhatsApp integration, all strategically incorporating AI integrations, we enable enhanced analytics, additional revenue streams and personalised marketing segmentation. Our goal is to put our clients’ brands on an easy growth path, which is why we will be offering these updates twice a year. You can read about them here.

We are also seeing an increase in voice-assistant shopping as a trend. Consumers can now make purchases using their voice through assistants such as Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri. These are assistants embedded in smart speakers for home use or accessible via mobile phones, an innovation that relies on advanced AI algorithms that accurately interpret consumer requests, guiding them through the shopping process. Globally, e-commerce transactions using voice assistants have grown to $20 billion, quadrupling since 2021. The appeal of Voice Commerce lies in the widespread adoption of smart speakers and voice assistant apps, offering a simplified shopping experience through voice and Conversational Interfaces.

Live Shopping is also on the rise. This is a strategy that allows retailers to showcase their products with a live stream and simultaneously interact with shoppers in real time. The Wall Street Journal went so far as to claim that social media shopping will become a $100 billion market in the US by 2025. Live Shopping has proven to be a tool that can help ecommerce operations, regardless of the type of product being sold. The Live Shopping app offered by VTEX allows you to create interactive experiences for online shops, strengthen the connection with customers and drive online sales, with significant impact on metrics such as a 28% increase in engagement rate and a 16% increase in ad to cart.

To get into the nitty-gritty and introduce the company, what does VTEX do and how is it different from other e-commerce platforms?

VTEX, as a composable, end-to-end commerce platform, provides efficiencies and lower maintenance costs for companies looking to improve their IT investments and modernise their technology stack. Composable architectures offer numerous benefits for both B2C and B2B e-commerce brands that value flexibility and adaptability. It allows these companies to focus on innovative solutions to improve their operations and customer experiences. However, composability may not work well for companies that require rigid, standardised processes, as they will have limited room to enable customisation or frequent changes. That’s why at VTEX we offer both a composable platform and what we call a ‘complete’ platform, which provides all your needs in a plug-and-play package. We help e-commerce companies accelerate time to revenue and reduce complexity.

We have a strong commitment to listening, reviewing and collecting data on B2C consumer and B2B buyer trends. And through these insights, we actively collaborate with enterprise brands to understand their needs, help them reach new audiences, meet sales targets and integrate innovations that unlock new growth opportunities. At VTEX, we believe strongly in growing together: we grow when this entire ecosystem grows with us. This is achieved not only through the offer of innovative and cutting-edge products, but also through the specialised knowledge of the VTEX team, and the commitment to the generation of valuable spaces such as the VTEX CONNECT EUROPE event, which will undoubtedly be a point of connection for people immersed in the technological field and businesses seeking to develop digital commerce not only in Spain, but also in Europe.

-How does your platform work and what are its modular capabilities?

Thanks to our pragmatic composability approach, we empower brands, distributors and retailers with unparalleled flexibility and end-to-end solutions, allowing them to focus solely on what provides a clear competitive advantage and increases profitability. The concept of composability involves combining different software solutions to create the architecture that meets the needs of your organisation both now and in the future.

VTEX has devised pragmatic composability, a new concept that enables companies to make the transition to a composable architecture that allows them to adapt to the changing demands of a dynamic marketplace. It is about achieving the benefits of a new approach: agility, scalability, flexibility and resilience. Pragmatic composability focuses on integrating these benefits into an existing architecture through a gradual migration.

A pragmatic approach to this concept enables companies to minimise disruption and maximise time to value. It avoids the pitfalls of the dreaded “platform migration” project and, at the same time, leverages the benefits of the new technology.

To adopt a pragmatic composability approach, companies need to look for solutions that are designed to integrate into the existing architecture. Some technologies only work in a greenfield environment, where a company develops a best-of-breed architecture from scratch.

-How can VTEX help organisations expand their sales capabilities into new markets and gain more visibility?

We can support them through different strategies and tools, as mentioned above. Some keys to expanding into new markets are:

B2B Marketplace: we offer an architecture that allows you to operate as a marketplace, which makes it easier for B2B and B2C companies to expand and reach a wider audience, sell complementary products without assuming the costs of production or storage, increasing visibility and product offerings. In addition, VTEX’s network of marketplaces facilitates collaboration and alliance with new partners, which can increase revenue and brand exposure.

Omni-channel and scalability: We provide a platform that supports omni-channel strategies, integrating online and offline sales to deliver a consistent customer experience. This flexibility and scalability allows companies to quickly adapt to changing market and consumer needs.

Support for digitisation and transformation: we accompany companies in the process of unifying and standardising their e-commerce operations across multiple countries, ensuring that all regions have access to the same technological capabilities. This strategy has enabled significant growth in sales and better integration of our clients’ marketing, sales and operations teams.

Increasing business agility: we are partners in the digital transformation of businesses. We incorporate the latest technology trends and innovations and deliver them to our clients, which accompanies the digital adoption process in companies.

-You are putting a lot of focus on improving the customer experience through the use of artificial intelligence, what can you tell us about it?

We agree that customer experience today is more relevant than ever. Therefore, businesses are focusing on providing a positive customer experience in order to be more competitive and increase their profits. This approach becomes a challenge in the omnichannel experience, where the customer interacts with the brand across multiple channels. This is where, in the digital age, something similar to the personalised service provided by a concierge in a luxury hotel, the “Concierge Commerce”, is born. More and more retailers are turning to this concept to virtually serve the needs of consumers: a concierge who acts as a digital assistant, not only welcoming customers, but guiding them through their journey, offering personalised recommendations, assistance and support every step of the way. Concierge Commerce simplifies the way we shop online, driving emerging trends such as voice shopping, video commerce and live shopping. It’s no longer just about selling products or services, it’s about creating unforgettable experiences and building lasting relationships with customers.

Looking into the not-too-distant future, what capabilities can be further enhanced with the gradual implementation of increasingly sophisticated AI algorithms?

In the foreseeable future, the gradual implementation of more sophisticated AI algorithms holds immense potential to improve various capabilities in unified commerce. These advances will only improve the customer experience, streamline operational processes and drive innovation on multiple fronts. From predictive analytics to personalised recommendations, conversational commerce and supply chain management automation, AI will play a pivotal role in optimising all aspects of a commerce platform.

Today, AI algorithms continue to improve in areas such as data collection, and personalised marketing and retargeting with our WhatsApp integration. Continued AI improvements can also be seen in our unified commerce products such as AI-powered intelligent search, VTEX Pick and Pack, Live Shopping powered by AI Chat and more. Ultimately, this continued evolution will enable VTEX customers to remain leaders in B2C and B2B commerce, as recognised by industry leaders IDC, as well as being recognised by Gartner as the digital commerce platform of choice for customers, delivering unparalleled value to our customers and ensuring their sustained success in an ever-changing landscape.

-Given the lack of skilled digital commerce professionals, you recently launched the Digital Commerce Specialist training programme, what is the state of the industry in terms of employment, and what conclusions have you drawn from the training programme?

In response to the growing demand for digital commerce talent, we launched the VTEX Digital Commerce Specialist (DCS) programme in 2021. What started with just 14 students has evolved rapidly, with 80 new students enrolled this year alone and two classes per year.

Our rigorous 18-month programme offers an immersive, on-the-job learning experience, cultivating critical thinking and problem-solving skills while delving into five crucial dimensions of digital commerce: Sales and Merchandising, Digital Marketing, Logistics and Supply Chain, Data and Technology, and Finance.

The curriculum is meticulously designed to equip participants in three broad domains: business, technology, and architecture. Leveraging more than 20 case studies drawn from Yale’s Raw Cases and executing more than 25 real-world projects, students contribute directly to the growth and expansion of retailers and brands.

Along the way, DCS participants have the opportunity to obtain the prestigious certifications in business (CMX) and architecture (CAC) through the EICOM Institute. This not only accelerates their career path within VTEX, but also opens doors to international opportunities.

The resounding success of our graduates is a testament to the programme’s effectiveness in mitigating the talent shortage in digital commerce. We are developing skilled professionals to meet the industry’s key challenges. The programme prepares young talent to tackle complex problems and we believe that the impact on the market lies in developing this talent and preparing them to lead the industry, using all their experience and knowledge gained through the DCS programme. We are proud to shape the next generation of leaders and contribute to the flourishing industry landscape.