INTERVIEW

AHMET ABACI

Vice President, Spalding Product Marketing & Brand Strategy
Fruit of the Loom

“When it comes to these global eCommerce marketplaces, I see them bringing convenience and choice to the consumer,” Abaci says. “Brands should see this as positive not only because it benefits the consumer, but because it drives innovation. Competition, in the end, helps everybody.”

When customers are faced with abundant choices, decisions center on trust, which is why brand building, centered around building trust with consumers, becomes even more important in today’s world. Abaci explains that a key benefit provided by eCommerce marketplaces is that they bring efficiency in the path-to-market. This forces everyone involved in the value chain of bringing solutions to market to be innovative for sustained success. These platforms also allow brands to gain increased visibility to a whole new set of customers while gathering immediate feedback from them.

“Having instant feedback can show us how our products perform, how customers are reacting to them, what they like and dislike about a given product, and how they are using it—all in one place—which is a huge benefit to us,” he describes. “At the same time, every product manager should be very closely monitoring online reviews, discussions and questions about their products. That information is powerful, so we need to look at what opportunities these marketplaces bring to us rather than looking at the threats they may pose.”

 

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