Managing partner of GS&ECOMM points out opportunities in software
GS&MD – Gouvêa de Souza and GS&ECOMM promoted the Post Shop.org event, on October 29, at the Brazilian British Center, in São Paulo, to share the conclusions of Shop.org, the world's largest meeting of professionals linked to e-commerce , held last month in Chicago, USA.
The event was opened by Marcos Gouvêa de Souza, general director of GS&MD and the insights from Shop.org 2013 were presented by Ricardo Michelazzo, managing partner of GS&ECOMM, and Alberto Serrentino, senior partner of GS&MD.
Portal ABES covered the event and features an exclusive interview with Ricardo Michelazzo, who highlighted the importance of new technologies for the growth of e-commerce.
How can new infrastructure and software technologies contribute to the current phase of Brazilian e-commerce focused on improving performance and profitability?
Technology is currently one of the three main pillars of e-commerce operations, along with people and processes. We are at an early stage of e-commerce in Brazil with large volumes of growth and, therefore, the systems must support a large volume of accesses and, mainly, seasonality peaks. Today, this is a reality, cloud hosting plays this role very well and technology companies specifically focus on improving their product, developing new tools, features, thinking about increasing conversion and improving the user's shopping experience. In addition to platforms, many other systems are used to better manage the operation, such as Back Office, WMS, Sponsored Links Management, price management, among others. This set of systems allows us greater control over information and greater speed in decision making.
What is the impact of the SaaS technology model on national e-commerce?
I'm a big fan of the SaaS model, especially if the company doesn't have a specific e-commerce model. It allows the company to have an absolute focus on business development, without worrying about technology evolution, hosting, maintenance, among other aspects. I consider this important for national and global e-commerce.
In your opinion, what is the role of information technology in structuring the omnichannel model?
The IT function is to integrate channels, information, processes, customers and transform the customer's shopping experience. In today's retail, IT is no longer a support role and becomes a fundamental part of the business. Companies that have not yet realized this will pay a high price for delaying innovation.
What are the main opportunities in the e-commerce market for software companies in Brazil?
The opportunities are as big as possible. There are still few companies (retailers) that are in e-commerce, not to mention the industries that are choosing to sell directly to the final consumer. In addition, if we are to analyze the supply chain from the sale of raw materials to the sale to the final consumer, only the latter is carried out via e-commerce. There is an underexplored B2B market that is a great window of opportunity. I also see software companies launching products to meet a specific functionality, with low cost, quick and easy implementation and that bring tangible results in a short time.
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