Transcripts
Welcome to Unboxing Logistics.
Speaker:I'm your host, Lori Boyer of EasyPost, and today we are going to be talking about
Speaker:something that's really interesting, actually.
Speaker:We are going to be going into the idea of moving from a brick and mortar store.
Speaker:You know, you've had your amazing boutique and moving to the online ecommerce world.
Speaker:How you do that, well?
Speaker:If you've already done that, how you grow and expand and really just how you balance
Speaker:that sort of mixture of businesses, that omnichannel kind of experience for your
Speaker:customers This is a really big topic.
Speaker:And so I have brought in Filipa Almeida of Onport.
Speaker:Filipa, can you introduce yourself to our community here?
Speaker:Tell us a little bit about your background.
Speaker:Absolutely, Lori.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker:I'm really excited to be here today talking about this really interesting topic with you.
Speaker:I'm a chief customer officer at Onport.
Speaker:I have been working with retailers and ecommerce for the last eight
Speaker:years it's been an amazing journey.
Speaker:I started off in food retail.
Speaker:I decided to move into the world of ecommerce and that's when I moved to Onport initially
Speaker:as the head of customer success and support.
Speaker:And I am now the chief customer officer and very happy with, with this last
Speaker:challenge that I've embraced to them.
Speaker:That's fantastic.
Speaker:So I'm so glad you mentioned food because one of the things we've been doing
Speaker:this season is asking all of my guests if you have a favorite comfort food.
Speaker:So at least here in the U.S.
Speaker:We say comfort food, you know what that means?
Speaker:That translates well to Portugal.
Speaker:Okay, good.
Speaker:Good.
Speaker:What would be your favorite comfort food?
Speaker:Okay, favorite comfort food, I have to say I have two go tos.
Speaker:Okay, good.
Speaker:Pizza.
Speaker:So pizza is I think the number one choice.
Speaker:Depending the time of the year, if it's winter, I will also go for ramen.
Speaker:I really like that.
Speaker:Ah, both of those sound amazing.
Speaker:I'll narrow it down to these two.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Pizza's always my go to as well.
Speaker:So I feel like we can connect and, and we can go out to eat.
Speaker:That sounds amazing.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So our topic today is about brick and mortar and that adjustment to adding
Speaker:and expanding into the ecommerce world.
Speaker:And for those who have already done it, as I said, to how we balance that well.
Speaker:So if somebody is listening, if there's a member of our community out there and they've got like,
Speaker:I only have five minutes, but I really want to hear what Filipa has to say, what are, you know,
Speaker:one or two or three, you know, what are some key takeaways you would want them to remember from our
Speaker:conversation if they don't remember anything else?
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I think the first key takeaway that I think our listeners can take from this conversation
Speaker:is what are the most common challenges that challenges that brick and mortar retailers
Speaker:face when they're moving to ecommerce?
Speaker:What should they expect?
Speaker:And what is it that many of them have faced when doing this move?
Speaker:Also.
Speaker:What strategies can they adopt to make this transition more efficient?
Speaker:How can they choose between all the options that will be available in the market?
Speaker:What should they think about before?
Speaker:And also, what's the role of technology in all of this?
Speaker:What is how does technology fit in?
Speaker:And what is the value?
Speaker:And how do they, what's the role it plays in this shift to to the online world?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:I am so excited to hear all of the answers to those.
Speaker:So this is going to be really fun.
Speaker:I want to start though, Filipa, I would say I have a friend who runs just this amazing boutique in
Speaker:this, and that's why I mentioned that earlier, in kind of a smaller town, really popular.
Speaker:She's doing really, really well, but she doesn't sell anything online.
Speaker:Okay, she hasn't moved into the ecommerce world.
Speaker:If she said to me, Lori, why should I?
Speaker:You know, I'm doing well as is.
Speaker:What, what are the reasons that you feel like are the most important reasons that
Speaker:people should move to the ecommerce world?
Speaker:And should they always, I guess, Filipa?
Speaker:I mean, maybe they should, don't need to.
Speaker:Let me start with, with the, your specific example.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:You said something really important.
Speaker:Your friend says she's really already doing pretty well.
Speaker:So she's quite happy with where her business is at.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So even if it's not for the unmissable opportunity that online brings to any
Speaker:retailer wanting to expand their, their sales, expand their, their revenue.
Speaker:I think it will for in her case, it will be a lot about keeping up with their customers demand.
Speaker:So her customers nowadays, they don't always want to go into the store and shop
Speaker:at take may take the time to go into the shop and, and choose their products.
Speaker:The general customer basis is is evolving.
Speaker:Their needs and requirements are evolving.
Speaker:And they expect retailers to evolve with them.
Speaker:They expect their favorite stores to provide the experience of purchasing online
Speaker:and not making them go into the store.
Speaker:They expect to have their the the that same product offering available at
Speaker:any moment constantly, immediately.
Speaker:And and they expect to have that option of going into the store if they feel like going
Speaker:to the store or just having that same product at the distance of a click of a button.
Speaker:I love how you said that.
Speaker:It was something that I hadn't really thought of, but sometimes, it's terrible, but
Speaker:sometimes it's not about you and what you want.
Speaker:You may just love being in the store, but as a business owner, if you're
Speaker:running a business, no matter the size, your customers really do come first.
Speaker:And what their needs and demands are are probably different than what yours may be.
Speaker:So so smart.
Speaker:That is so true.
Speaker:Consumer behaviors have completely shifted.
Speaker:I, I know for myself, I am so guilty.
Speaker:You said that and I felt guilty a little bit because I am very much the type who
Speaker:likes to buy things online and not that I don't mind going into the stores, but
Speaker:yeah, getting it conveniently is, is key.
Speaker:Yes, that convenience is now I think the norm.
Speaker:I think customers expect that at all times.
Speaker:They expect their favorite retailers to keep up with that, with that
Speaker:convenience and that service.
Speaker:I think there's also an other very striking reasons that will make a retailer feel like
Speaker:they need to tackle this online opportunity.
Speaker:I think the first one is it's an it's an unmissable opportunity in the sense that
Speaker:the global ecommerce market has tripled its size in the last 10 years, and it's only
Speaker:growing it's very incredible rates still.
Speaker:Also, I think retailers realize that they can now showcase their same range of products that
Speaker:they previously was only accessible to us to the hundreds, dozens, maybe thousands of customers
Speaker:that walk into their stores, and now they can showcase them to millions of customers that
Speaker:may stumble into their website or into, or, or may find their stock available in marketplaces
Speaker:or other online retailers around the globe.
Speaker:They can reach customers that they would never reach before if they, if they didn't.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:ecommerce, global trade.
Speaker:It's huge and it's only growing.
Speaker:Those consumer behaviors.
Speaker:We've moved into this online world where people are very comfortable shopping online
Speaker:and that is where the opportunity is.
Speaker:So let's say my friend then decides, okay, what am I going to tell her?
Speaker:What are the first steps she needs to take?
Speaker:What, how do you even get started?
Speaker:She has a website.
Speaker:Obviously, most brick and mortar places are going to already have a website and whatnot.
Speaker:So, you know, what's next?
Speaker:I think next is trying to design what that distribution what
Speaker:distribution strategy should be.
Speaker:So, what will it look like?
Speaker:What will the operation look like with two channels now?
Speaker:And what do you want for that?
Speaker:So, do you want to have, like you were saying, most retailers already have an online store.
Speaker:Okay, do you want to stop there?
Speaker:Or do you want to then make your make, you were saying your friend has a boutique.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Do you want to keep your online store or do you want to reduce inventory risk by by
Speaker:implementing a dropshipping model where you have the stock of your sellers, the stock of
Speaker:your favorite brands directly available in your platform without you having to buy from them?
Speaker:For those in the, in our community who don't maybe know what dropshipping is,
Speaker:can you just give us a little explanation?
Speaker:What is the dropshipping model?
Speaker:Dropshipping is a very popular model that multi vendor retailers are adopting
Speaker:to showcase their products online.
Speaker:What does this mean?
Speaker:Basically, the retailer, or let's call it the marketplace, reduces inventory risk
Speaker:by integrating the stock of their vendors, of their sellers, directly in their front
Speaker:end, in their product offering from their warehouses, from their systems.
Speaker:But into their system, into their into their front end.
Speaker:So that with drop shipping automation technology, you are able to sell in your online
Speaker:boutique a multitude of, of different products.
Speaker:And the, this stock doesn't live with you.
Speaker:You don't hold the risk of that stock and it's sitting with your, with your sellers.
Speaker:In the end, you capture a commission.
Speaker:And that's how this works.
Speaker:Let's talk about, you mentioned marketplace.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So what is a marketplace?
Speaker:For, you know, those who don't know, you have my friend here, Stacey, shout out Stacey.
Speaker:She may not even know exactly, you know, what is a marketplace and how do you kind
Speaker:of sign up to be part of a marketplace?
Speaker:Generally speaking, a marketplace is an ecommerce platform that displays a range of
Speaker:products under one single stop shop for any customer looking to buy from a given category
Speaker:or, or, or from if you're multi category, then any customer wanting to shop online, really.
Speaker:You have examples like Amazon where Amazon is a multi category one stop shop platform where you
Speaker:can find pretty much anything you'd like to buy.
Speaker:But not all that stock belongs to Amazon.
Speaker:A lot of that of the stock displayed in Amazon is coming from small boutiques in the
Speaker:countryside of any country, any big country, really, because they operate globally.
Speaker:Who are sitting in their store and they have the opportunity to sell to customers that
Speaker:would otherwise never come into their stores or their websites for that, for that matter.
Speaker:You also have marketplaces, niche marketplaces, curated marketplaces.
Speaker:So these are online platforms that specialize and focus in a niche market opportunity.
Speaker:You have examples you have examples like customers operating in sustainable industries
Speaker:where they, their offer is certified sustainable.
Speaker:You have companies operating in other niche areas like gifting, for example.
Speaker:You want your, your product offering is, is specifically focused on gifting items.
Speaker:And you're, you don't hold the stock, but you work with a lot of vendors, a lot of
Speaker:sellers whose stock you display on your, on your platform and your customers are
Speaker:available, are, are able to buy it.
Speaker:Okay, so that's fantastic.
Speaker:It's, so it's a way for you to get out there.
Speaker:How can you find, you know, the best platform, the best marketplace maybe for you?
Speaker:You mentioned there's a bunch of variety of types, different niche markets.
Speaker:How do you recommend finding what what is right, and and do you recommend
Speaker:being on multiple marketplaces?
Speaker:How does that work?
Speaker:There's very interesting options nowadays for that.
Speaker:You have your own research, of course, that everyone can do online.
Speaker:That requires time.
Speaker:So it's it's the, and, and a lot of knowledge on the on, on the marketplace scene, which
Speaker:isn't always easy to, to find centralized.
Speaker:But then you have other really interesting options like players in the market that already
Speaker:specialize in finding that network of, of supply and bringing it to, bringing it to marketplaces
Speaker:that they are, that they are, that exists already bringing it to retailers that already exists.
Speaker:So, for example, the likes of Channel Engine, Channel Advisory.
Speaker:These are all companies that they gather, they work with these smaller
Speaker:boutiques, brands that wants to go online, but they don't know where to start.
Speaker:So they work with these sellers and they bring those marketplaces to them.
Speaker:And that's a very interesting option that a lot of a lot of companies moving
Speaker:to the online world are are embracing.
Speaker:So when, when you start to branch into this, I guess it sort of brought up a thought for me.
Speaker:Do you hire, how do, I guess, how do you split your team?
Speaker:How do you do this?
Speaker:The ecommerce, so you've got a marketplace, now you've got your physical location.
Speaker:Do you assign certain team members to work on one side and not on another side?
Speaker:I know that there's different models and different ways, but do you have
Speaker:any recommendations for our listeners?
Speaker:That's a, that's a a really really interesting question and not easy to answer.
Speaker:I'd say that, I would say that it depends a lot on the magnitude of their, of their online
Speaker:distribution, whether they want to start small with their own website and they want to keep
Speaker:things separate, or whether they want to, you know, whether they want to focus on rapid
Speaker:growth, like capturing a lot of, capturing a lot of revenue with high investment, or whether
Speaker:they want to focus on sustainable growth.
Speaker:So investing little, but strategically, and ultimately on how you want your, your distribution
Speaker:strategy to, how integrated you want it to be.
Speaker:So do you want to have an independent operation where you, you need to have a team that is only
Speaker:focusing on, on, on online, or do you want to integrate your, on your existing supply chain?
Speaker:So your network of stores, your your warehouses, and you want to integrate it
Speaker:with your online operation and make it what we call, what is called an omnichannel
Speaker:distribution, where they were the offline and the online operations kind of intertwined.
Speaker:That is a much, that's a much bigger investment, a much bigger, operation that requires a lot,
Speaker:that requires technology that, that requires a tech heavy tech solutions customized based
Speaker:the, API based with composable technology.
Speaker:And it's of course, something that requires a much bigger delivery sources.
Speaker:And then you can also choose to, to outsource part of your, part of your processes.
Speaker:You can focus on what you call your core which is your assortment and your front end and
Speaker:your customer service, but then outsource things like shipping, like exactly like
Speaker:players like EasyPost are, are currently doing.
Speaker:And I think that's again, it goes back to the point of how you want your distribution and
Speaker:what your distribution strategy looks like.
Speaker:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker:So, number one, just determine what your goals are, figure out what your strategy is going to
Speaker:be, and then adjust based on what those goals are.
Speaker:So, don't just dive in, but actually make sure that you're setting goals.
Speaker:Exactly, that's really important.
Speaker:It's really important for you to start with setting your goals, how far do you want to go?
Speaker:And then what's the best platforms out there that fit my needs and my strategy?
Speaker:That's the second point that is really important for, for retailer to look into.
Speaker:So, Filipa, what do you feel like, as people start, are their biggest challenges that they
Speaker:face as a newcomer to the ecommerce world?
Speaker:They're, what are the options out there?
Speaker:Like, what do they, what do they need to, to consider when designing their strategy?
Speaker:I think that's a, that's a really big one.
Speaker:Another one that they, that they, they, they look at is how do I navigate this offer?
Speaker:Like, how do I know what is, what, what exactly is the best fit for me?
Speaker:What am I looking at?
Speaker:Another one that's a lot of customers that I've that I've this, that I've had conversations
Speaker:with and that I've supported in the past have, have struggled with is, I've always
Speaker:controlled my experience in store, right?
Speaker:I know exactly what my customers can expect from the moment they come in, and I know
Speaker:the look on their faces when they go out.
Speaker:So I know if they're happy, if they're not.
Speaker:I know exactly.
Speaker:I know it.
Speaker:I control it.
Speaker:And when, when they move to the online to ecommerce and to their online
Speaker:channels, they, they don't see it.
Speaker:They, they feel like they don't see it.
Speaker:They can't control it.
Speaker:So understanding how they can have that visibility and how they can and how they
Speaker:can get that perception is also another something that really weighs on them.
Speaker:And, and something that you're very familiar with, you've probably had these conversations
Speaker:in the past with other guests is, shipping.
Speaker:So shipping is, shipping is something new.
Speaker:Maybe not completely new, but new as a standard for them.
Speaker:And they don't have control over that over that part.
Speaker:Very, very rarely a company moving to the online also has their own distribution,
Speaker:their own transportation company.
Speaker:So that shipping side of it is really important.
Speaker:So how far do we, what does shipping look like?
Speaker:How far do I want to go?
Speaker:Do I want to ship in domestically?
Speaker:Do I want to ship cross border?
Speaker:What does that entail?
Speaker:If I'm shipping cross border, what are the customs requirements?
Speaker:What are taxing implications?
Speaker:It can be overwhelming or very overwhelming for a traditional retailer to, to take this step.
Speaker:Last but not least, I think, another, and this comes from my experience with luxury
Speaker:fashion is extending the customer ambition, the customer experience ambition to online.
Speaker:I can give you an example.
Speaker:I, I worked on a project to, to integrate to integrate the operations
Speaker:of a very high end luxury brand in Italy.
Speaker:And one of the things that they were really struggling with was how am I going to,
Speaker:how am I going to know that my customers are going to feel the same exclusivity
Speaker:and personalization experience in when purchasing from me in a marketplace?
Speaker:Something that they've built on their own online, but they don't know how they're going to
Speaker:pass through to their customers when operating through a third party and a marketplace partner.
Speaker:So I remember that was something that was critical for them.
Speaker:A very simple example was the packaging.
Speaker:They had to make sure that their customers received their own packaging
Speaker:within the packaging of the marketplace.
Speaker:So they had to see the box.
Speaker:The box is value.
Speaker:The box is product for them.
Speaker:And, and that's all nuances to challenges that these, that a retailer faces when they're moving
Speaker:to the online, it's navigating the unknown and a lot of the ambiguity that's, that's operating
Speaker:online may have for, for, for these retailers.
Speaker:Do you have any tips for the retailers then when it comes to you mentioned, you know,
Speaker:they may not know what options are out there and they're navigating the unknown.
Speaker:They're losing control over things they felt like they had control.
Speaker:You know, how do they get resources?
Speaker:How do they figure out what to do?
Speaker:I think the choosing the right platform is, is an important a very important decision,
Speaker:and it's something that may resolve part of those, of those other challenges like the control side.
Speaker:So if that is something that they want to ensure that they have data insights, customer data
Speaker:insights that they, that they have them in detail that they have them at hand with a
Speaker:user friendly dashboard and experience, that's something they can look for when they're looking
Speaker:at the different ecommerce platforms out there.
Speaker:So they should start they should start isolating the critical requirements for their operation.
Speaker:So that could be one of them.
Speaker:Like I really need a platform that gives me great data insights.
Speaker:Customer data insights.
Speaker:That's what I'm looking for in this in this it's a priority for me when
Speaker:moving to the on to online channels.
Speaker:Another one can be, I need a platform that is going to be really user friendly
Speaker:because I don't have a tech team.
Speaker:I don't have developers or any tech or tech savvy people in my in my teams right now.
Speaker:So I need something that is really user friendly.
Speaker:Something that they could also think about is, okay, I, I want to, I want to
Speaker:make sure that I have little barriers to integrating different marketplaces.
Speaker:They're a small retailer and they want to be present in a lot of marketplaces.
Speaker:So I want to make sure I want to have very little barriers to this.
Speaker:So I want to choose a platform that has a broad a broad range of connectivity
Speaker:options with with other technologies.
Speaker:Something that that we see I think in the, in the ecommerce platform scene is some
Speaker:players, I'll give the example of Shopify.
Speaker:Shopify has been really I think they've been doing a great job at great job at understanding
Speaker:their customer base, understanding their customer requirements, anticipating some
Speaker:of those requirements and those needs.
Speaker:And then shifting towards adapting and evolving in that direction.
Speaker:Like Shopify has become a very common very top of mind choice for many retailers joining
Speaker:they've created different subscription different subscriptions, subscription tiers for the
Speaker:different needs of their very wide customer base.
Speaker:And of the market that they serve, really they have isolated critical key key features
Speaker:that are typically required by those, those ICP of those different subscription plans.
Speaker:And they are, and they have and the platform, they've built it in a way that
Speaker:it's it's intuitive, it's user friendly.
Speaker:It has great it, it lives in its own ecosystem.
Speaker:They have an app store where they make available third party apps that provide
Speaker:services that compliment the, the operation and the, the, and the, the range
Speaker:of services that they offer themselves.
Speaker:They also go beyond the platform.
Speaker:So I think
Speaker:when a retailer is looking at the, at, at which platform to choose, that's what they
Speaker:need to look at is what, what am I looking for?
Speaker:What is critical for my, for my business and for my operations?
Speaker:And then isolate that, try to narrow down the, the, those critical requirements,
Speaker:those priorities, and look at the, at the options available in the market.
Speaker:And I'm, it will be intuitive.
Speaker:Sometimes there are platforms that are, they specialize in a niche.
Speaker:Like they're very popular amongst fashion retailers in Italy, for example, or platforms
Speaker:that they have a broad range of the features and it's easy for you to make changes to
Speaker:your business model using those platforms.
Speaker:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker:And I think that it's such a great insight as you're moving into the ecommerce
Speaker:space there are a lot of resources.
Speaker:And as you mentioned, people have been there before.
Speaker:From the technology, but the people behind the technology as well as you reach out and talk
Speaker:to them, they're gonna give you advice, give you suggestions of things that you can do.
Speaker:And and so they'll help you move forward, I think, is what I'm I'm saying.
Speaker:So, Filipa, so let's talk about maybe a business that has gone online.
Speaker:Maybe they you know, started out as a brick and mortar or they got themselves on a marketplace.
Speaker:What is kind of the next step?
Speaker:You know, so you're saying we're doing pretty well.
Speaker:How do you expand that?
Speaker:What, what are the ways to continue scaling and growing?
Speaker:Top of mind for, for most retailers that tap into the ecommerce scene and that
Speaker:really want to continue growing is I think mapping out their, their possible
Speaker:routes, mapping out their, their options.
Speaker:What have they done already?
Speaker:And how can they grow that?
Speaker:So let's take the example of their own online store.
Speaker:They already have their own online store.
Speaker:Great.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So knowing what to do to grow that online store.
Speaker:Is it's going to be growing that online store by making those products available, by growing
Speaker:their assortment or is it going to be by investing a lot in, in, in, in, marketing
Speaker:for example, or that's one, one route, but they can also think, okay, I have all
Speaker:this I have this, all this online operation already going and already well set up.
Speaker:I have all this stock that I'm selling in, in online channels.
Speaker:Where do I want to grow?
Speaker:Do I want to go to to through an integrator to other marketplaces?
Speaker:Do I want to go do I want to become a marketplace?
Speaker:Like, do I want to start doing dropshipping at, is my technology ready for that?
Speaker:Looking for other technologies that complement their platform and that may open up both
Speaker:doors to them to become a marketplace and to connect to other marketplaces.
Speaker:So really exploring the, the
Speaker:available range of, of platforms it's that are out there and that open those doors to them.
Speaker:But having.
Speaker:Yeah, I was gonna say, I like the idea of kind of deciding, am I wanting to expand my
Speaker:inventory or am I wanting to expand my reach?
Speaker:You know, am I trying to get my current inventory out there more?
Speaker:Do I want to join, multiple marketplaces.
Speaker:Am I wanting to spend more specifically on marketing?
Speaker:So kind of making your decision on your next step.
Speaker:And then it seems to me at this stage, technology and automation is going to
Speaker:become even more critical as we get into that omnichannel kind of experience.
Speaker:What, I guess, recommendations do you have around technology and automation?
Speaker:I think especially when it comes to kind of creating a similar customer experience online
Speaker:as in your actual brick and mortar store.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:The point around tech groundbreaking technology innovations like
Speaker:artificial intelligence machine learning incorporating that into your into your
Speaker:into your channels both online and offline.
Speaker:I think that is absolutely important when you're looking to grow your your operation.
Speaker:I think you can.
Speaker:You can already see that it's playing in not only the not only you're optimizing your supply chain.
Speaker:So through inventory management, automations making sure you have, for example, real
Speaker:time stock updates throughout your entire supply chain, or you have the ability to and
Speaker:automate drop shipping to your to your vendors so that they have they can become more
Speaker:and more efficient in supplying your orders.
Speaker:And you can provide a better service to your to your customers.
Speaker:But also automating processes through robotic robotic task automation for any in your in
Speaker:this really helps your customer service teams to provide better and better service because
Speaker:they can focus, they can shift their focus from routine daily tasks to strategical and, and
Speaker:more complex tasks.
Speaker:So using all of using, knowing the technology, knowing where to implement that technology
Speaker:and, and then following through with monetization and and measuring results.
Speaker:That's, I think that's, right now, that's key to sustainable growth across any online platform.
Speaker:Filipa, as we get into this kind of larger, you've grown a little bit with
Speaker:your online presence, how does automation and technology become even more important?
Speaker:And I guess, what kind of specific areas do you feel like retailers should
Speaker:focus on automating at this point?
Speaker:The first thing that, that comes to mind is the increasing importance of
Speaker:profitability before the market the investor, the investor, our, sorry, before investors
Speaker:were looking for growth, rapid growth.
Speaker:So companies were focusing on showing that growth investing a lot of resources, people
Speaker:technology as well into showing that growth.
Speaker:And there's been a shift lately in the, in, in, in
Speaker:in the market to look for profitability more than rapid growth.
Speaker:And that's, I think, where, technology and groundbreaking innovations like AI,
Speaker:machine learning really come into place.
Speaker:These solutions are key to helping you optimize your operations achieve cost efficiency by
Speaker:making what were before routine tasks, tasks that that required manual work but they
Speaker:were quite simple, straightforward rule based.
Speaker:Making, to putting to using technology to, to perform those tasks instead
Speaker:of having a resource, a person there.
Speaker:So you have you, you have opportunities to do this, this across your, your entire
Speaker:supply chain and your entire fulfillment operations, like with inventory management
Speaker:Inventory syncing order order processing return processing.
Speaker:There's a lot of manual tasks that before companies had to do, and now they can
Speaker:they can implement robotic process automation that will do that for them.
Speaker:And they can free up those resources to focus in other things.
Speaker:They're both improving the customer experience because they're becoming more competitive
Speaker:in their in their processing times, for example, or in the regarding stock in
Speaker:their, they're really minimizing their, their no stocks and out of stock sales.
Speaker:But also you see that in customer service, you have leaner and leaner customer service
Speaker:teams that are focusing in delivering value.
Speaker:They're delivering value because they're using their skill set to perform complex
Speaker:and strategic tasks rather than manual and, and routine and rule based tasks.
Speaker:I loved, I kind of had an aha light bulb moment there where, because we're talking growth and
Speaker:I'm always talking scaling, growing, growing, growing, and you said something so cool.
Speaker:You said.
Speaker:Look for opportunities for profitability growth, not just overall growth.
Speaker:And I think that's huge, Filipa.
Speaker:So often we are, we're taking technology around everything.
Speaker:Okay, time to grow.
Speaker:That means more inventory, more storefronts, more.
Speaker:No, we could just be finding ways to become more efficient.
Speaker:As you mentioned, improving using automation to get rid of all those inefficiencies and
Speaker:optimization and customer support and stock outs and all of that, where growth can
Speaker:actually just be a growth of your bottom line.
Speaker:Which is actually a reduction of all of that waste.
Speaker:So I just thought that was so cool.
Speaker:Yeah, it's, it's, it's becoming, I feel like the conversations around where,
Speaker:like you were saying, where to grow, what, where to go, where to grow, what to do,
Speaker:how to become more and more competitive.
Speaker:I think technology plays a huge role there.
Speaker:And and coming from a, so slightly biased opinion, coming from a platform
Speaker:that that focuses exactly on that, on, on creating a solutions composable solutions.
Speaker:So something that you can build as you go and that you can select, pick and choose what
Speaker:makes sense to your, to your operation and not.
Speaker:And having that, having those having technology provide and opening those
Speaker:doors to you and connecting you and your business and, and, and your partner's stock
Speaker:and just creating that network and that symbiosis between all of the stakeholders.
Speaker:It's really, it's, it's been really exciting to, to, to witness and to contribute to.
Speaker:Filipa, let's talk, we're out of time.
Speaker:And so I want to hear, though, a little bit about Onport.
Speaker:You mentioned, you know, having a little bias because you love being a
Speaker:part of this company and what they do.
Speaker:So for our audience, for our listeners who don't know who Onport is what is Onport?
Speaker:What kind of services do you provide?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Thank you for asking that.
Speaker:So Onport, we are in the ecommerce marketplace and drop shipping platform.
Speaker:We're powering companies to leverage their marketplace and drop shipping models with
Speaker:next generation, composable technology.
Speaker:Composable I, as I was saying before, it's, you can build on, you can build on, on top of it.
Speaker:You can pick and choose what you want to leverage on and what you want to hold off on,
Speaker:and then you can make that decision later on.
Speaker:You can make that decision from the get go.
Speaker:So it's, providing that that service to, to our customers through more than 35 prebuilt
Speaker:integrations with third party with third party apps, third party providers and through
Speaker:more than 3000 API endpoints that we support.
Speaker:So you can either choose to use our beautiful products and the capabilities and features
Speaker:that it already offers, or you can choose to use our range of APIs and build on top of it.
Speaker:So Filipa you know, my friend Stacy, for instance, can she access it?
Speaker:She's in the Dallas, Texas area.
Speaker:You know, is it global?
Speaker:Obviously you're in Portugal.
Speaker:How does that work?
Speaker:Yes, we, I'm in Portugal.
Speaker:We're a fully remote company.
Speaker:So our, our team is scattered across the globe.
Speaker:We do have several customers in the U.S.
Speaker:We support customers in the U.S.
Speaker:So yes, she can absolutely contact us, have a chat with us and see if this would be
Speaker:a platform that would serve her needs in case she wanted to bring her business online.
Speaker:Either, either through, well, the most direct option, I would say the most obvious one would
Speaker:be by converting into her online channel into a marketplace since she has a multi brand boutique.
Speaker:Or to understand how she can connect with other marketplaces.
Speaker:We can also help with that.
Speaker:So, yes, that's that would be a yes.
Speaker:Okay, so how do people connect with you personally?
Speaker:So, you know, are you on LinkedIn or something if they wanted to follow you
Speaker:or just have questions for you about moving from brick and mortar to ecommerce?
Speaker:How would they connect with you personally?
Speaker:And also how would they learn about Onport?
Speaker:Where can they connect with Onport?
Speaker:So I would suggest that I'm absolutely available to to answer any of those questions.
Speaker:And so please feel free to find me on LinkedIn and shoot me a message
Speaker:and I'll be happy to to support.
Speaker:They can find a lot more information on our website.
Speaker:That's www.onport.com.
Speaker:There's also available channels on our websites to contact us.
Speaker:So, in case you're looking for a demo or just a chat to understand if that's, if it would
Speaker:be a good fit with your, with your business.
Speaker:Please do contact us, reach out.
Speaker:We're available to help and to, and to help you figure all of this out.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:This has been just a really great conversation.
Speaker:I think that there are so many of those, especially kind of smaller businesses
Speaker:who are scared of this move to ecommerce.
Speaker:And so that's just a wealth of information.
Speaker:Really appreciate you today.
Speaker:Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker:And we'll be excited to talk to you soon.
Speaker:Thank you, Lori.
Speaker:The pleasure was mine.
Speaker:It was great talking to you and I'm looking forward to speaking soon.
Speaker:Perfect.
Speaker:See you, everyone.
Speaker:Bye bye.
