Q&A: Martim Avillez Oliveira , Chief Executive Officer Europe, ESW
ESW accelerates market entry and global ecommerce expansion for brands and retailers.
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I have more than 15 years of leadership experience within retail, global sourcing and end-to-end supply chains, notably serving as Executive Vice President at Li & Fung. I have worked with the world’s leading fashion brands and retailers in my career, including Inditex, Marks & Spencer, American Eagle, J.Crew and many others.
What does your company do? / What is your USP?
ESW accelerates market entry and global ecommerce expansion for brands and retailers. We help them create the multi-local, domestic-equivalent experiences that grow revenue and increase customer loyalty. We provide sales, delivery and payment solutions on an expertly-engineered proprietary platform or we can integrate with a retailer’s current e-commerce platform.
Our USP is our ability to help clients deliver global consistency in shopper experience for international online shoppers who resent being surprised by slow delivery, hidden fees and extra charges – a leading factor in shopping cart abandonment rates. No matter how well-integrated and user-friendly the global shopping cart may be, the transaction is not complete until the retailer’s merchandise is in the buyer’s hands.
What’s special about the platform and your approach?
The special element is in how the end customer gets a seamless experience from beginning to end. They see their preferred payment method, local currency, fully transparent pricing, including all shipping, international taxes, duties and customs charges. They pay once at checkout, then enjoy the efficient shipping, clearing of customs, and delivery to their doorstep.
Customers can track their package through the retailer’s website and if merchandise must be returned, ESW customises the returns handling and reverse logistics as per retailer’s policy.
We also include Optional Secure International Payment Processing. All risks associated with international fraud detection and currency conversion are assumed by ESW. We settle with the customer’s bank in local currency and the retailer is guaranteed payment in their currency of choice.
What advantage does it add?
ESW’s strategic partnership approach aligns its clients’ goals and values to deliver accelerated business growth through expertise, fast solutions delivery, and operational excellence. This approach enables retailers and brands to engage in cross-border or multilocal commerce without the risks of going it alone and the often unpredictable associated costs. ESW clients also have the competitive advantage of our global economies of scale and l expertise to create demand and maintain customer loyalty at a market-level.
How does a product/service implementation actually look like and how do you measure success?
The implementation phase involves a brief discovery with the brand to understand the solution to be implemented, and then an integration and testing phase which utilises our off the shelf platform plugins.
We measure our implementations based on solution quality, go to market duration and ultimately client growth once live. We ensure all are monitored, and we believe in continuously improving the retailer experience with ESW.
How are retailers using your systems to gain competitive advantage and what does best practice look like? Can you share a case study with us?
ESW has a proven track record with large and enterprise clients, achieving business growth through large scale, complex solution implementation in areas such as omnichannel, apps and unique business models. Brands that use our systems and services obtain faster speed to market, increase their conversion rate and revenue from delivering a consistent brand experience across all markets and channels. One of our clients, a global apparel brand, achieved global expansion into 34 new markets in 6 months vs. 1 year per country prior to ESW. In addition to this fast expansion without running into cross-border complexities, it benefitted from our local market expertise to deliver hyper-localised offerings in each market – to continue being a best loved brand in each one of them.
Are there other companies you partner with?
ESW collaborates with merchants to define and implement the solution which best suits their brand growth. We have off-the-shelf plugin integrations for leading platforms such as Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Magento, BigCommerce and WooCommerce, which enables very simple implementations and an expedited time to launch.
Central to our success is a solid bedrock of high-value partnerships with the world’s leading technology, payment and logistics providers, which is critical because a market-leading e-commerce experience can’t be delivered in isolation. In the past year alone we have announced strategic alliances with SEKO Logistics, international marketplace facilitator Mamenta and UPS to improve cost, time and risk to market expansion.
What challenges and opportunities do you see in UK retail for 2023
In 2023, of course continued upheaval in different parts of the world has a knock-on effect on the global economy by creating supply chain disruptions, which contributes to inflation, lower risk tolerance and rising import costs for countries with weak currencies. However, consumers are resilient and demonstrating continued confidence in shopping cross-border. There is an opportunity for brands to capitalise on international growth but getting the model and process right is crucial for business success.
How will you address these challenges and turn them into successes?
In response to these challenges we will continue our commitment to making global ecommerce simple and to enable it anywhere and everywhere. This demands that we continue to invest in technology, launching new relevant products that will help brands deepen and localise their relationships with consumers. Finally, perhaps more important than anything, we will invest in our people, the ones who deliver to our customers and partners every day.
to find out how ESW can help your bottom retail operation, visit their website here.
