Akeneo has been part of the Tradebyte ecosystem for almost a year . The PIM specialist was already there as a sponsor at the ECD 2019 , our anniversary event. We have now been able to win Akeneo as the main sponsor for the ECD 2020 and are therefore very excited . But what services does Akeneo actually offer? What is the team particularly looking forward to at the ECD? And what e-commerce trends does Akeneo see in the coming year? This is what Tobias Schlotter, General Manager Central & Eastern Europe at Akeneo, tells us in an interview.
ECD: Hello Tobias, could you please briefly introduce Akeneo and summarize the services you offer your customers?
Tobias: Yes, Verena! Akeneo is the leading open source technology provider in the field of product experience management. With our Akeneo PIM, we offer our customers the most modern and flexible system for centralizing and contextualizing product information. In addition, we also have a tool for retailers for onboarding suppliers who can make their product information available to the retailer directly in the PIM via a user-friendly platform or via API.
Together with our integration partners and the strongest ecosystem in the PIM industry, we help companies become winners in tomorrow’s experience economy and accompany them on their way to becoming product experience champions. Because we believe that there cannot be a good customer experience without an outstanding product experience.
Akeneo was already part of the ECD 2019 as a basic sponsor. We are very happy that we could win you as our main sponsor this year. Why did you choose it? And what did you particularly like about 2019?
The ECD is an impressive format in many ways! The combination of first-class content, perfectly organized appointment management and the typically friendly Tradebyte atmosphere is simply incomparable. This and the fact that Tradebyte and Akeneo are a perfect dream team, especially for our customers, make the ECD one of the most important events of the year for us!
How are you preparing for the ECD 2020? How many people will you be there with? What are you planning?
For next year we are already working actively on the content and hope that we can boast a very special highlight here. We will be there with 5 colleagues. But more is not revealed at this point …
The topic of your talk is still a secret, but maybe you can already give a few pointers?
We want to live up to our role as “enabler” of Product Experience Management and deliver that in our presentation: Inspiration and best practice for everyone who wants to successfully embark on their Product Experience journey.
How do you think eCommerce will develop in the near future? What are the trends for 2020?
We have recently fully arrived in the experience economy, which some companies have not yet realized and others are already doing very well. Of course, this also has far-reaching consequences for e-commerce, and so the topics in 2020 will all be somehow oriented towards the customer and product experience. The B2B area is sure to face the greatest pressure to change, while B2C-focused companies will continue to perfect the experience to be delivered in omnichannel. The contextualized presentation of your own products at the touchpoints certainly plays a decisive role, where you and we will be very good sparring partners.
Akeneo has been part of the Tradebyte ecosystem since February 2019. How do you feel about our partnership and what plans do you have for the coming year in this regard?
Our partnership with you is essential for many of our customers and highly strategic for us in the field of marketplaces. On an interpersonal level, I would describe our partnership consistently as friendship, as we think very similarly and always manage to perfectly harmonize work and fun … We are happy to be part of the Tradebyte ecosystem and want the perfect match, the Form our systems for companies, expand them even further in 2020 and of course make even more common customers even more successful!
