Interview at Fortune Greece: ΑΙ is the present and the past in digital marketing

Our managing director Katerina Dimitrakopoulou was featured in Fortune Greece for an interview with Maria Akrivou.

The interview focused on e-commerce, the role of Artificial Intelligence and e-Marketer.io our new comprehensive platform.

Read below few main points of the interview.

• The turnover of e-commerce in 2020 in Greece is expected over 6 billion euros, which is an impressive number for Greece. According to a research by GRECA (Hellenic E-Commerce Association) e-commerce increased by 170% on a weekly basis in April 2020. In addition, almost half of internet users now shop online as well: IELKA (Institute for Retail Consumer Research) and the Electronic Commerce Laboratory (ELTRUN) of the Athens University of Economics presented data that proved that at least 21% of the population shopped online in 2019 whereas this percentage was 44% in April 2020.
  Compared to the rest of Europe we certainly still have a long way to go, especially comparing to maturing markets like the UK, but our progress is steady. Beyond any doubt the percentages of online sales will continue to increase in the following years -compared to offline- this will happen not only due to COVID. The more smartphone sales increase and modern technologies offer new opportunities ecommerce will grow.
• Bill Gates said: “If your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business.” The digital presence of a business is now just as important as the physical one, and in some cases even more so. If your business is in e-commerce then with lower operating costs, less human resources and no rent has the potential to attract customers from other countries, operate 24/7 and find a targeted audience for products or services. A good online presence strengthens the brand and helps to build a relationship based on trust with the key audiences.
• AI is the present and the future in digital marketing because it offers brands the unique opportunity to provide their audience what they are looking for easily and quickly. Automation marketing solutions with machine learning algorithms reduce search time and help visitors experience a more personal navigation, service and shopping experience. The example of Netflix, Spotify and Amazon where you see products based on your previous purchases or even searches are very indicative. Platforms such as Google and Facebook also use similar technologies to deliver personalized content to their users.
• New technological tools will not only affect sales but many sectors and professions, and new professions will be needed. Those professions will be related to data investigation & analysis, AI ethics, machine risk, voice engineering, algorithm bias auditing or smart house design.
• Modern consumers buy experiences rather than products. They have less time and want to find what they are looking for fast and easy. They are more aware about where to spend money, they engage with brands on social media, claim, reward and definitely participate more actively.
• e-Marketer.io is a complete platform for improving your website performance, which includes a set of tools to increase sales and offer a personalized experience to your audience. The platform integrates AI and machine learning and it connects data from e-shops, websites, emails and apps. The result proves amazing increase on the number of returning visitors, traffic, conversions and engagement rate.
  Think of e-marketer as a personal assistant who knows and remembers what you like, shows you alternatives, recommends similar items and gives you gifts and surprises. With 47 different algorithms and 70 smart targeting criteria -from real time & past behavior data to weather, demographic and social proof- we are sure it is a tool that serves dual: it offers visitors what they are looking for in a minimum of time and reduces management costs to business owners.
• Our success packages for e-marketer start from 50 € per month and you can see the planned increase for your own e-shop. Our latest A / B testing that we did for a well-known Greek fashion brand large customer in the retail sector, resulted in 44 ROI (return on investment) and a 2.5% increase in the average conversion rate.

Read the whole interview in Fortune Greece magazine.