Interview with Enrica Visco Marigliano

Lucy James: Can you please start by telling me what is the biggest challenge facing brands and retailers in today’s fragmented market?

Enrica Visco Marigliano: B2C and B2B brands and retailers are navigating a dynamic environment shaped by rapidly evolving trends and advanced technologies which may lend to a few challenges in the market. For instance, a key challenge we are seeing brands and retailers face is having to adapt swiftly to meet the rising expectations of digital-savvy consumers and business buyers. In order to stay competitive, they must build great shopping experiences to attract and keep modern shoppers from across channels to engage and convert those shoppers into repeat buyers and brand loyalists.

In 2025, advanced technologies such as AI and GenAI will continue to play a significant role in shaping the customer journey. AI has the potential to act as a force multiplier for in-house teams, automating processes, optimising operations and providing data-driven insights that fuel strategic decision-making. And that’s scratching the surface.

The retail landscape has irreversibly shifted for the better to allow for more innovation and growth. And the path forward for retailers is to embrace change, explore immersive technologies and enhance personalisation in order to thrive in a rapidly evolving market.

LJ: The BigCommerce description states “commerce without compromise”, can you tell me more about that?

EVM: BigCommerce is an open, composable ecommerce platform that gives brands and retailers such as Selle Italia, De Agostini, Boxeur de Rues and Bestway Europe, the freedom and flexibility to create differentiated digital experiences without the typical cost or complexities, so that they can focus on what really matters – enhancing the customer experience and scaling the business.

In essence, BigCommerce’s open API architecture, its large and growing set of pre-integrated apps, Multi-Storefront and the company’s ongoing commitment to the MACH principles of composable commerce enable customers to customise a functional ecommerce tech stack with best-of-breed interchangeable solutions that suit their unique business requirements and adjust components as needs evolve and as the business grows.

LJ: How is it possible for the BigCommerce platform to be adaptable to different market sectors?

EVM: Over the past five years, the BigCommerce platform has reached full maturation as an enterprise-ready platform with new innovations at the forefront of ecommerce. From adding new AI-powered features to expanding Multi-Storefront capabilities to revolutionising B2B ecommerce with B2B Edition to empowering brands and retailers with buy online, pickup in-store functionality, BigCommerce enables customers to deliver unprecedented shopping and buyer experiences, cross-border sell and grow and scale their businesses by selling more at every stage of growth.

BigCommerce’s extensive open partner network distinguishes BigCommerce from competitors alongside our open and composable commerce approach, blending the best elements of SaaS with API-enabled flexibility. This framework enables customers to selectively integrate enterprise tools and solutions tailored precisely to their unique business needs, facilitating quicker time-to-market and often at a reduced total cost of ownership compared to alternative platforms. By providing customers such as USCO, Faba and MUJI with a robust ecommerce foundation, BigCommerce eliminates the complexities associated with maintaining an online store, allowing customers to allocate resources towards enhancing customer experiences and effectively scaling their business operations across borders.

This year BigCommerce launched “The Next Big Thing,” a biannual event highlighting the company’s latest product releases, enhancements, features, and partner integrations. This initiative empowers our B2C and B2B customers, alongside our partners and developers, to innovate boldly and achieve greater success in their digital transformations.

LJ: Why do you think it is key to implement a successful omnichannel strategy?

EVM: Having a successful omnichannel strategy is an imperative, and no longer an option. Implementing an omnichannel strategy provides a seamless shopping experience from the first touchpoint to the last, everywhere you sell to meet your customers where they are, regardless of the channel your customer is using. As a result, retailers have the great opportunity to build customer relationships that transcend channels including marketplaces, social platforms, online stores and physical stores.

BigCommerce recently released results from its Ecommerce at Hand Report and in Italy, a significant 64% of respondents chose to purchase through marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay with an additional 10% opting for direct purchases via social media platforms. This data is telling how a strong omnichannel strategy gives retailers the power to maintain a cohesive brand identity across all channels, reinforcing their brand values and positioning in the minds of consumers.

LJ: What are your main tips for companies to turn their data into useful actionable insights?

EVM: How to make data valuable, that’s the big question of our time. Consumers shop in a lot of ways — in stores, through search, on brand websites and through social media, affiliate programs and marketplaces — and in order to have their products discovered regardless of the channel, retailers need to optimise their product data to enable better search accuracy for shoppers.

Effective decision making starts with data. However, before a retailer can start making decisions, the right technology solutions need to be in place to translate raw data into actionable insights. Utilising the right combination of data solutions is one way merchants can generate insights that allow them to make data-driven decisions and create customer experiences that help their businesses grow. Data warehouses, business intelligence solutions such as Google Data Studio, customer data platforms – such as tracking omnichannel customer journeys – and data analytics solutions to better understand customer shopping behaviours in order to gain powerful insights into what’s working and what’s not on your ecommerce site.

Having an ecommerce site that supports your data strategy is crucial. In summary, the best advice is to ​​choose the right data solutions from warehousing to analytics that best support your business intelligence goals and have them able to easily communicate with each other. Doing so will make all the difference in honing a streamlined data strategy.

LJ: Is there anything about customer loyalty and how data can be really actionable?

EVM: Collecting the right data to better understand customer needs and wants will go a long way when it comes to loyalty and building brand ambassadors who love your products. When there’s knowledge about which products a customer has interacted with, and which channels they have used, then it’s possible to make better decisions with targeted marketing campaigns, building loyalty programs, branding and messaging, to name a few.

A colleague of mine is working on a super interesting project at the moment with a high-end skincare retailer in the UK. They have built an ecommerce site that integrates with multiple channels and offers an experience that leads to collection of data to visualise the consumers. The consumers take a test to discover which are the best products for their routine, they then receive recommendations to encourage them to sign up to the newsletter. The newsletter then offers one-to-one consultations with some of their beauticians. This helps to improve the loyalty of the consumers because they feel they’re related to the brand. A real connection. As consumers, we’re looking for more and more hyper-personalised shopping experiences to connect. We want everything to be made exactly for us.

LJ: So BigCommerce has the structure to support their clients with business intelligence and advice?

EVM: Knowing your customers is vital for providing exceptional customer support experiences. What really differentiates BigCommerce is the fact that we are very human and our Customer Support and Customer Success teams aim to always be present and fully armed with the intelligence needed to address issues and provide strategic advice with a solution. Dedicated individuals work directly with our customers whether it’s live chat, by phone, email and providing knowledge-based written articles and instructional videos to further elevate the experience. Tracking every note, every interaction and staying on top of health checks really shows our customers they mean more than just the sum of their online store.

LJ: What is the prediction from BigCommerce about how e-commerce will change in the next five years?

EVM: 2025 is shaping up to be another year where digital transformation and investments in advanced technologies will be prioritised to deliver hyper-personalised shopping experiences. Furthermore, B2B ecommerce adoption is trending up as manufacturers and distributors recognise the value and need to modernise their legacy business practices with buyers. In addition to hyper-personalised customer experiences and B2B ecommerce which will continue to evolve over the next five years, we will also see continued growth of online shopping, emphasised importance on sustainability and new practices that shoppers will expect brands to have, alternative digital payment methods and of course AI.