Challenges of Ecommerce in a “Traditional” Company

Interview with Ion Elizalde (E-commerce Director at BM Supermercados)

After these years of pandemic and lockdown, we have seen how e-commerce in the food distribution industry has gained a very relevant role, winning over a good number of customers who have made online grocery shopping a habit in their daily lives.

BM Supermercados is a company with extensive experience, already with almost 7 years of history in the digital channel, that has been able to pave the way and maintain constant growth from the very beginning. BM Supermercados currently operates online both in northern Spain (Basque Country, Navarra, La Rioja, and Cantabria) and in Madrid.

Ion Elizalde is the E-commerce Director at BM Supermercados. He holds a degree in Economics and Business from the public university of the Basque Country and a master’s degree in Digital Marketing from ESIC Business & Marketing School. Ion was already involved in the early stages of defining and designing the entire digital channel operation and knows better than anyone all the challenges a “traditional” company faces when it wants to seriously start operating in the digital channel.

Q: What do you think was the most difficult part of getting the digital channel operation up and running?

A: Driving the necessary changes to adapt long-established processes to the new reality. Opening a sales channel in a consolidated company has its pros and cons. On one hand, you have the resources and the necessary support, but at the same time, many barriers must be broken so that those same resources embrace and adapt to change. In short, as in any major change, the challenge is the people.

Q: From a corporate strategy point of view, how do you think online sales have influenced certain decisions?

A: Online sales undoubtedly help in making decisions along the company’s digital transformation journey. The channel itself pushes to “digitize” processes and to think more digitally.

"AS IN ANY MAJOR CHANGE

THE CHALLENGE IS THE PEOPLE"

Q: What do you think are the most important challenges today to continue growing in the digital channel?

A: Although penetration has increased significantly, there is still a lot of audience to attract to the channel. In my opinion, success lies in offering these customers a frictionless, personalized (tailored to each person’s convenience), and omnichannel experience.

Q: We understand that the online channel is approached from various angles. Can you summarize the different actions, areas, or systems you use to be successful in online sales?

A: For us, the service is made up of 4 major phases in which we work to achieve excellence in each one of them: the e-commerce platform, picking, delivery, and customer service.

Q: In your opinion, what are the main threats in the sector regarding online sales? How do you think the arrival of new players such as Amazon affects it?

A: In this sector, trust is one of the keys. In addition, the vast majority of customers combine online shopping with in-store shopping, and it is common for the customer to buy online from the same retailer where they shop physically. In my opinion, the biggest threat is internal: not meeting expectations.

Obviously, the entry of new players, especially giants like Amazon, keeps us on alert. Above all, because they do things very well and raise the level of demand. This, in my opinion, is something good. It seems that the trend is for large marketplaces to concentrate e-commerce sales. We will have to adapt.

Q: Is the online customer different from the traditional one, more demanding? What differences do you see between them?

A: 2/3 are women, and the age groups that buy the most are 45-55 years old with 32%, 35-45 years old with 25%, and 55-65 years old with 18%, with a significant weight of large families.

FACED WITH THE PUSH OF NEW PLAYERS LIKE AMAZON

"WE WILL HAVE TO ADAPT."

Q: BM Supermercados is characterized by having a very wide and very deep assortment with special emphasis on the quality of its fresh products. We often read that fresh products are not sold much online. Is that true at BM Supermercados?

A: In our case, the share of fresh products is above the market average. This is logical because we have always done this very well and we are managing to replicate it in the online channel.

Q: BM offers wide geographical coverage both in large cities and in smaller towns. How does the big city consumer behave compared to that of smaller towns?

A: In our case, there are no significant differences.

Q:Did the expansion to Madrid bring any significant change to your e-commerce strategy?

A: No. The strategy is the same. We will have to adapt to the environment, but as a company, not only in the online channel. We have been there for a short time and still need to build brand awareness. We do see that predisposition to the channel is higher, but we still have a long way to go.

Q: How important do you think it is to have a good e-commerce platform and a good technology partner to accompany you and help solve day-to-day problems?

A: Online grocery shopping is not an easy process, especially the first time. Therefore, having a good platform is crucial to success. In my opinion, it is very important to have one that is adapted to the sector. Selling a mobile phone or a handbag is not the same as filling the cart with 40 products. In this regard, we are happy with Aktios since its platform offers a very good front-end experience as well as very good performance.

Q: What aspects do you plan to strengthen or improve in order to continue growing and gaining share in the online business?

A: Continue taking steps toward omnichannel, working on the 4 major phases we have mentioned above, and making an extra effort in customer acquisition. We need to give more visibility to the service, and that’s what we are going to do.

Q:Finally, what recommendations or advice would you give to those who are thinking about starting activities in the digital channel?

A: I don’t give advice. I don’t like to. From my experience, I can recommend starting as soon as possible. It can be done relatively quickly and in a controlled way. This is the good thing about the channel and we must take advantage of it.

“Online grocery shopping is not an easy process, especially the first time. Therefore, having a good platform like the one from Aktios is crucial to success.”