Czech e-shops are preparing significant investments in technology this year. What does Radek Kadela from Programia think about it? How does he view the trend of internal development teams at large e-shops or the need for ever greater personalization in communication with the customer?
The video interview took place after March panel discussion E-commerce 2014. Take a look at the other two interviews that took place after the panel - with the boss of Heureka Tomas Braverman and head of ROGZ.cz, Lenka Kholova.
Radka, you represent the company Programia, which is a manufacturer of large, sophisticated e-shops. According to our study, tens of percent of e-shops are going to invest significantly in technology this year. But can manufacturers keep up with the pace of clients and the development of internet shopping in general?
I have to confirm the words that were said here: there are more and more requests from clients. I personally feel that the technology supplier is always replaced once or twice during the operation of the e-shop. Its permanence is about 3-5 years, after which the e-shop considers a replacement.
This is of course due to market dynamics and innovations. Not every e-shop manufacturer can satisfy all clients as they would like, some feel neglected in terms of innovation or perhaps the speed of response, which is crucial for e-shop operators. An e-shop cannot wait months for the change it needs next week.
I personally feel in the market that clients are thinking about changes. Often in the form of consultations, it is decided whether their current technology is the right one and what its change would bring them - what are the possible problems, will I have less traffic from search engines, what can I possibly get with the new technology, etc.
Today it was said that big companies have their own internal development teams. Do you think it is possible to maintain such a relationship with a large client that has turnover in the order of hundreds of millions of crowns that they retain an external technology supplier?
I understand and understand that the big players have internal development. This is related to the previous question and the need for quick changes.
So can a hybrid solution be found for collaboration?
Yes, it's definitely the way to go. If the manufacturer of e-shops wants to have a relationship with a big player, then a certain part of the development, especially the daily operations based on small changes, is handled directly by the client. A small, two- or three-person team working with the manufacturer can work for him. He will train all the client's employees so that they understand the system and are able to deal with quick, operational changes. The larger technological units are then dealt with with the manufacturer.
So it's a slightly different philosophy than in the past: open up to customers, a lot of trust, access to source codes, documentation…
It's about mutual trust, because the e-shop manufacturer gives the client its know-how. On the other hand, the client must also be a partner for the manufacturer who does not use this knowledge for his own benefit or as part of a competitive struggle.
There is probably no other solution for large systems and operators today. Whatever symbiosis will work, it's better to have an in-house person than some outsourced solution. An internal person lives the culture of the company, has all the information and can cooperate well with the operator - then he can transfer the requirements from the company to the manufacturer, together they agree on the next course of action and so on.
What did today's panel give you as the director of a company that produces e-shops?
For me, there are two main thoughts here. If I were to take it as a whole, I liked the variety of speakers who contributed here today, from large to smaller e-shop operators. They are different experiences from different fields. It wasn't about everyone agreeing and it could give each listener something for their business.
The second idea – and what I consider to be key in our development as well – is the personification of an e-commerce solution. This is something that e-shops can build on today and will use in the future.
This means trying to get more out of existing customers. To treat them correctly, to keep them…
Work with the customer must be graspable and systemically. Personalization, personification, transaction data, what the customer is looking for or what products they have viewed, this is all information that the website operator needs to know. And he has to work with this knowledge automatically in order to be able to communicate better with customers, to offer the right goods and not things they are not interested in.
Offering the customer products they may need is about knowing their needs. A greater degree of cooperation means that the resulting communication is more effective towards the customer as well.
As it was said today, personification is the challenge of the future, and even large Czech e-shops are not doing it 100% correctly today. So you face the challenge of making sure that everyone, both clients and manufacturers, understand the idea and the need for a personalized solution.
I have a feeling that big e-shops are already doing this. It's also about what's right on the 100 %, or the 80 %. For example, Amazon - as one of the models of personification - has a solution elaborated to the smallest detail, which is of course the dream of every Czech gamer. It's a question of technology and how the system is built: how flexible it can respond to the changes that need to be made.
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