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VANESSA HARTLEY: In this episode of The Update,
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I talk with Giuseppe Cunetta,
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VP Marketing eCommerce at MediaMarktSaturn.
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The company was established almost 60 years ago
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and operates over 1,000 consumer electronics stores
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in 13 countries across Europe.
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So, Giuseppe, you moved to your new role
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just as the pandemic took grip across Europe in January.
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GIUSEPPE: What can I tell you? It was like running a company
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that was changing so dramatically every single day.
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At MediaMarktSaturn,
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we were already on track with our digital transformation,
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and our investments really paid out.
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We’ve actually been very capable of switching
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our operating model towards ecommerce very fast.
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And therefore, being capable to capture and grow
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in the triple digit range for the whole period.
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VANESSA: So Giuseppe, how has the pandemic
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impacted the MediaMarktSaturn business focus and strategy?
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GIUSEPPE: We were moving from the approach of
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creating promotion after promotion -
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this is the bread and butter in retail business - to findability.
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And findability really starts with the value of the data.
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We all know that data is the currency of the digital world.
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And in our business, it’s pretty important
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to understand how to create value out of the data.
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And you are getting there
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if you create automation and intelligence.
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Another important element was
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how to bring offline and online together in the best way.
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So we’ve been able to do omnichannel bidding,
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meaning the capacity to generate conversion
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out of the inventory existing in a store.
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This is also dependent on the capacity to track
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inventory on a store level.
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And at the same time, we’ve been able to do curbside pickup,
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which was another very important option
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that the customer appreciated
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during a period of constraints in free movement.
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VANESSA: So we’re seeing huge global changes
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in consumer behavior.
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What were the biggest changes you observed at MediaMarktSaturn?
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GIUSEPPE: We were constantly monitoring trends
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and doing number crunching
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using insights such as Google Trends
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in order to understand the key categories.
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At the beginning of the story,
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it was a lot about gaming and productivity.
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So computer devices and printers and video games.
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After that, it was about personal care,
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like hair cutters or body tools.
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And finally, we had a lot of spikes
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in food preparation or home care.
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VANESSA: So Giuseppe, what behavior changes do you think
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we’d bring with us after the pandemic?
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GIUSEPPE: The pandemic worked a little bit like a time machine,
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bringing everything into the future
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10, 15 years in the context of making ecommerce,
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and especially mobile commerce, choice number one,
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platform number one, destination number one,
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even for older generations.
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VANESSA: Switching gears a little
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and looking forward into 2021, Giuseppe,
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tell us about your business priorities.
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GIUSEPPE: We are all about growth, quality, and speed.
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And talking about growth, we believe that digital sales,
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ecommerce will be the dominant channel
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in the months and in the years to come.
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Therefore, we are determined to play an even stronger role.
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We are already one of the biggest ones.
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We will continue to do that,
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obviously in a fully integrated, omnichannel approach.
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On the second side, we are also talking about quality.
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And we know that quality is coming out of
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the relevant conversation.
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Meaning, that we need to use the data.
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We need to use information
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in order to prepare for our customer demands.
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We need to fulfill and even exceed every customer’s expectation.
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Finally, we believe that agility and speed are the same thing.
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So we need to be able to
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do, test, learn, fail, adapt continuously in this business.
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Because things are changing so fast around us
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that we need to adapt continuously
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to remain on the competitive edge.
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VANESSA: Your role combines ecommerce and marketing.
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How has the role of CMO changed over the years?
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GIUSEPPE: We are coming from the old, nostalgic time
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in which marketing was all about creating
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emotional campaigns or branding stuff,
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which are also important, very important,
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but only in the context of
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getting those together with data and analytics.
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And the job now is much more about
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understanding from all the data opportunities,
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from all the data points,
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what are the desires and the opportunities
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and trying to fulfill against customer expectations.
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So, the responsibility in that context of marketing
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is much more to listen than to shout,
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is much more to fulfill rather than to influence.
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VANESSA: And finally, Giuseppe, what one piece of advice
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would you give to business leaders for 2021?
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GIUSEPPE: I think my general recommendation is
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that obviously we need to be brave.
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We don’t know about the rest.
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We need to be flexible
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because we need to adapt for a changing reality.
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And we need to be open-minded
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because this will certainly be an interesting year to come.
