We recently had the chance to participate in the Shoptalk event. At this event, we interacted with experts from the e-commerce and digital world. In particular, we were able to talk to Mathieu Robin, Sales Director at Bloomreach.
Can you tell us about your background and how you became the Commercial Director at Bloomreach?
I have over a decade of experience in digital transformation, having worked for Philips, Tesla, Staples, Renault and E-Commerce SaaS companies. At Bloomreach I am responsible for the French market and I help clients to drive more revenue and conversion by providing to their consumer the best personalized customer journey.
What are some of the key challenges you face in your role as the Commercial Director at Bloomreach?
One key challenge is to manage priorities. The key challenge for a Commercial Director is to balance short-term revenue growth with long-term profitability and market leadership. This requires a deep understanding of the market, strong financial acumen, effective leadership skills, and a willingness to take calculated risks.
Focus and time management are crucial to make sure that we can better serve our clients. While doing this, it is also important to make sure we continuously generate brand awareness, prospects pipe and keep up to date with the latest trend and market needs.
Last but not least, developing an Ecosystem of partners is also key to make sure that our solution fits our client tech stack and we have a network of agencies and system integrators that can support us and our clients.
How does Bloomreach differentiate itself from other companies in the eCommerce space?
Bloomreach has a unique positioning by having a three Pillars solution (Engagement, Content, Discovery). The Engagement Pillar enables our clients to understand their customers better. They have a 360 vision of every single client thanks to our CDP (Customer Data Platform) and can activate them in real-time on multiple channels (Emails, Mobile Apps, SMS, Social Networks…). Discovery Pillar offers AI-driven search and merchandising and Content offers a headless CMS.
Can you talk about a successful project or partnership that Bloomreach has undertaken recently?
Recently we have helped many large organisations to replatform their current IT Stack that was becoming too complex and lacking agility and capabilities. The common trends were that they had a lot of silos due to multiple bricks of softwares that was integrated over the time. Having a one solution to understand their client and activate them in all channels in real time thanks to our CDP and Marketing Automation solution, has been a game changer. In addition, by implementing our discovery solution (Site Search Optimization, Recommendation and Merchandising) they managed to provide the best customer journey possible and strongly increased their commercial and financial performance.
How do you stay up-to-date with industry trends and changes in the eCommerce landscape?
Participating in fairs and conferences, talking with Partners, Pairs and clients is one of the best ways to stay up-to-date with the latest trends. We also have a marketing and product team with highly experienced and passionate people who are coming every day with new ideas based on market trends and client feedback. Bloomreach solutions are evolving every day and always adding more features to drive more value for our customers.
Lately we have launched a Chat GPT integration in a couple of weeks to help our clients saving a lot of time on the content creation process and supporting them for their campaigns. It is already being used by multiple customers that have seen a strong impact on efficiency, cost and time to market.
What qualities do you think are essential for a successful Commercial Director at Bloomreach?
Articulating the strategic vision while being able to execute it on a daily basis is key for success. Being able to listen to the clients needs and market trends is also crucial. We are here to serve our clients and support them to deliver value and revenue through unique and personalized customer experience.
How does Bloomreach work with its clients to deliver the best possible results?
Listening and understanding clients’ challenges and IT Infrastructure is the first step toward success. We are also thriving for Operational Excellence and make sure that before we start working with a client, we have a very detailed scope and we set up the right expectation with timeline and ownership associated with.
ROI is key in our industry. Clients are investing X euros/dollars and they want to make sure that the Return on their investment can be seen as soon as possible to reach their target growth and KPI.
Our current process and technology enable us to be implemented 2 to 3 times faster than our competitors to make sure we provide . Once our solution is implemented, it does not stop here, we help our clients to iterate, to do A/B testing, to analyze the results to make sure it can be continuously improve and provide the best value. Our AI and Machine Learning is also running by itself and progressing every day.
How does Bloomreach ensure that it’s keeping pace with the fast-moving world of eCommerce?
Bloomreach is embracing new technologies and staying informed about industry trends. Working closely with other tech partners within the MACH Alliance for exemple. To be successful in E-Commerce, being agile and having best of breed composable solutions is recognized as key for success.
The acquisition of the CDP + Marketing Automation solution Exponea in 2021 by Bloomreach has also been a game changer. The mix between the product data expertise of Bloomreach and the client data expertise of Exponea enables Bloomreach to get the best from both worlds and provide ultra personalized customer journeys.
How does Bloomreach measure success for its clients, and what metrics do you focus on?
We focus on Return on Investment. THe main metrics we are impacting are the conversion rate, Average Order Value, Revenue Per Visitors, Return on Ads Spent (ROAS) Click Through Rate, Customer Acquisition and CLTV (Customer Lifetime Value).
The Time to Value and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is also very important. Having a solution that can answer your needs in the short term is important but making sure that the solution will evolve with the latest market trends and support your growth for the next 5/10 years is essential.
Last but not least, Adoption to change is crucial. Our platform DNA has been developed for marketers to make sure they can operate and deliver more values on a daily basis. They do not need to rely on their IT teams that are often overloaded to use our platform. Our UI/UX make it easy to use for anyone and we provide full support via our Customer Success Team and
What do you think the future holds for Bloomreach, and what are the company’s plans for growth and expansion?
With the rise of generative AI, we are on the edge of seismic change and unlocking innovation beyond what we’ve previously imagined. Bloomreach is a long standing leader in AI for e-commerce and we are planning to actively contribute in shaping a new future in online shopping – from marketing, to site search and beyond.
We are talking about Shoptalk, what do you think of this edition and have you participated in the previous ones?
We have participated in many Shoptalk editions in the USA but it was the first time in Europe. It was a great opportunity to meet with prospects, clients and partners.
All the discussions we had and the conferences that took place, reinforced our conviction that the personalization of the customer journey is a major growth driver for e-commerce.
E-Commerce and Digital marketing is all about: getting the right product in front of the right customer at the right time in the right channel – to drive business growth.
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