emarket Services makes it easier to use emarkets for international business MARC SCHILLACI, CEO AT OXATIS: WE SHARE OUR EXPERIENCE IN SEVERAL EUROPEAN MARKETS IN ORDER TO SERVE CUSTOMERS emarket Services Spain www.emarketservices.es July 2015 Interview Marc Schillaci felt the entrepreneurial spirit of adventure at age 19, during his first year at engineering school where he created the first business planning software for pc projects. In 1996 he moved to the U.S. with his family and founded EBZ.COM, the first e-commerce platform designed for small and medium sized businesses SOHO/PYME, which he sold to a Canadian company in May of 2001. Returning to France in June of 2001, he moved to his native Marseille and founded Oxatis. In 2009 he published the book, How to succeed with your online store" and was named Businessman of the Year.
emarket Services: What is Oxatis? Marc Schillaci: Oxatis is currently the leading e-commerce solution in Europe, with more than 10,500 online stores active in Europe and more than 12,000 orders daily in all business sectors, that is to say, an order every three seconds. Oxatis offers a SaaS e-commerce solution for clients that want to open an online store. Our solution has more than 312 functionalities and is constantly evolving, so e-merchants can focus on their business; it provides exceptional technical performance and the support of our experts throughout the entire process of creating and maintaining the website. How do your e-commerce solutions assist businesses? E-commerce is an incredible opportunity and currently accounts for 12% of retail sales, soon for 15% and later 20%. Oxatis is there with e-merchants so they can take full advantage of this opportunity. Oxatis success is based on three key factors : its broad range of tools, exceptional performance and the quality of its services. Our solution has specific features that assist businesses; quick installation, constantly evolving, does not have to be updated, outstanding customer service, and it is fast and reliable. We have a great support team, more than 100 experts working with our clients to help them succeed in their e-commerce projects. Our client profiles are very different, there are those that are happy to do everything on their own, those that call our design studio and SEO experts to optimize their websites, and those that leave other websites. We offer practical advice every step of the way on creating and optimizing a website, design, SEO, marketing strategies and every aspect of e-commerce websites. We are available by phone and email, we have an online help center and help assistant, QuickLearn that guides clients step by step in creating their own website and using many of the available features. We also offer customized training sessions that are recorded so the client can reproduce them when needed. Our clients success is our success, which is why we do everything possible to help them with their e-commerce business. What are the advantages over other proposals to create online stores? Oxatis success can be summed up in four points. The first is the power of SaaS, which has a double advantage. On the one hand it lets us deliver the range of functionalities to all of our online stores, the speed and power of a platform like Amazon. And on the other hand, it assures all of our clients that they are always at the forefront of innovation with a new feature available every week without having to install anything or add any module. The second advantage is a unique range of functionalities, like the mobile version of their online store, managing marketplaces like ebay and Amazon, all of their store s content available on Facebook, faceted browsing, loyalty programs, verified customer opinions, real-time integration with major management publishers and much more. J u l y 2 0 1 5 P á g 2 d e 6 w w w. e m a r k e t s e r v i c e s. e s
The third point is exceptional graphic design, which is the basis for the appeal and diversity of our online stores and which allows the best designers to express their talent for making each online store unique and outstanding. And lastly, personal assistance every day from our experts who have contributed to the success of thousands of online merchants for more than 10 years, and that are available to users from 8 AM to 11 PM, 365 days a year. Furthermore, Oxatis is the only e-commerce solution that brings together five traffic sources: SEO Google in real time, optimized mobile website, integrated Facebook store, marketplaces like Amazon and ebay, and segmented newsletters. Thanks to this, Oxatis lets you take advantage of the behavior of modern consumers who want service that adapts to their needs at any time, regardless if the purchase is made on a computer, mobile device or through social networks. What kinds of companies do you focus on? Our solution model meets the needs of any store, no matter if it is an SME or a large company, regardless of the volume of business, from 1,000 euros a month to 10 million euros a year. Thanks to Oxatis, every month over 450 merchants set up their online store in more than 21 different sectors (fashion, decoration, sports, beauty and wellness, gastronomy, high tech, culture and leisure, etc.) How is a store created on your platform? The process depends on the type of client. There are four profiles, the client that wants to create his store with total independence, the one that wants us to create his online store, the client that studies the project with our experts so they can advise him, and the one that moves his online store over to Oxatis. Regardless of the merchant profile, with Oxatis all online stores benefit from innovation, because it is part of our DNA. That is the advantage of the SaaS model, which forms the basis of Oxatis technology and that allows all of our clients to instantly benefit from all of our functional innovations. What online merchants want is to be on a par with the most profitible online stores (Amazon, Rakuten), while at the same time taking advantage of a simple solution and the support of experts. As to Oxatis e-merchants, 68% of our clients build their webpages themselves. Clients can customize their templates, choose the design according to their business. We study the project with our clients, advise them on all aspects needed for implementation, and we are with them when during the process. Once created, are there tools to automatically make it easy to maintain the catalogue up to date? Yes, an advantage is that it is constantly evolving without the need to update. For example, we have 14 extra marketing tools that allow you to remain competitive, attract new customers and keep the existing ones. J u l y 2 0 1 5 P á g 3 d e 6 w w w. e m a r k e t s e r v i c e s. e s
What are the fees? Do they differ according to the companies needs? We have an all-in-one plan that allows companies to access our solution with no obligation and with web hosting and support services included. Our fees go from 19 euros to 199 euros, with a broad range of prices in between depending on the client s needs. In addition, we have a service where our experts design a package (design, SEO, consultation) for a customized store, tailored to fit the client s budget. As we mentioned earlier, you have 312 additional tools which include multiplatform management. Which e-marketplaces can be managed using your solution? Thanks to our solution, our clients can be on multiple marketplaces (ebay, Amazon) and price comparison sites Google Shopping, Mercamania, Twenga Furthermore, our solution lets e-merchants integrate their store with Facebook. In your opinion, why is it important for companies to have a presence on those e-marketplaces? At first, new merchants do not know how or aren t able to determine their marketing ROI. The marketplaces allow them to control those costs (with the e-marketplaces fixed fee). They allow millions of potential customers to see us on ebay and Amazon, those portals provide greater visibility and it is a good way to get noticed. And a primary advantage is that it helps attract new customers. At the same time it helps increase the e-merchant s brand image. In that regard, Oxatis offers a series of major advantages like centralized and synchronized management, automated synchronization of store stock with sales on ebay and/or Amazon, and publishing that is quick and easy. How can they stand out from the competition on those e- marketplaces? The best way is to adopt a price policy that fits the channel, carefully select the items to showcase by choosing those that are less likely to be returned, have enough stock to fill orders made through this channel, and be very attentive to customers. Another important requirement is to thoroughly study the competition. You also have to choose your marketplaces well, depending on the products sold. There are many marketplaces (general, specialized...) and it is useful to know that you do not have to sell on all of them if there is no profit. Are you planning to increase the number of platforms that can be managed from this tool? J u l y 2 0 1 5 P á g 4 d e 6 w w w. e m a r k e t s e r v i c e s. e s
Oxatis aims to satisfy its clients by offering them good tools so they can benefit. Oxatis is a European solution, that is, we only have to integrate international platforms, therefore we included Amzon and ebay. However, we have several partners with market specialists in every country that allow you to sell on other e-marketplaces (Rakuten, Cidscount). Oxatis is present in various European countries. Does it somehow assist the international expansion of those companies that use your services? Thanks to our presence in difference countries, we can share our experience in each of those markets and make it available to clients in those places. For example, in Spain, where e-commerce is beginning to appear, we can offer advice that has worked in more advanced markets like France and Britain. We offer our clients an international online store where their business can grow worldwide through an online store that operates in many languages and currencies. Visitors can access the home page directly in the browser s language. For added flexibility, fees can be separate, but stock is still actively synchronized and shared. The entire customer process, creating an email account, orders, international payment processors, shipping cost calculator, etc. adapt to the visitor s language. According to a survey we just did, 19% of Spanish online merchants export their products abroad. This figure is much higher in other European countries. In France in particular, 52% of them sell overseas. Can you tell us a success story of a company that created its online store with you? A client that we are very proud of is Confort Online. An entrepreneur that had a brick- andmortar store for many years and decided that it was time to go online, contacted us and together we created his virtual store in 2011. Thanks to our solution, we were able to get them good placement. They sell through Amazon (more than 41% of their sales), and 7% of their sales are done on mobile devices. We stayed with them throughout, and now they are selling on social media. It is always constructive to see our clients grow. Another example is Commencal, a leader in sales of mountain bikes for competitive cycling. Formerly housed in the free OS Commerce software where they made less than 100,000 euros in business annually, their sales have increased twenty-fold in only two years. The company is connected to SAGE 100 and 6% of its sales are made via mobile app. It also has a tailor-made store with a bike configurator. With the configurator developed by the Oxatis team, customers can create a unique bike that matches both their technical and esthetic preferences. Do you have any advice for companies that want to start selling? J u l y 2 0 1 5 P á g 5 d e 6 w w w. e m a r k e t s e r v i c e s. e s
First, they should have a clear idea of what they want to achieve, their objective, and then select the right solution for every need. Once they have found a tech partner, the best thing is to carefully choose the catalogue and channels where they want to sell. And above all, do not be frightened by that which is unfamiliar. Have you thought about offering your services to more countries? We are always considering new markets where we can offer our services and increase our client base, but also get to know more about the countries where we can help our online merchants export. In the case of Spain, we are actively working with Latin America, which we see as an opportunity for Oxatis. Any other plans for the future? Oxatis is always looking for the best way to help companies be successful in e-commerce. Therefore, we will soon announce a major partnership in Spain that will allow tens of thousands of retailers with management software to take advantage of a fully efficient e- commerce site. J u l y 2 0 1 5 P á g 6 d e 6 w w w. e m a r k e t s e r v i c e s. e s