The past ten years have been a journey through the commerce sector for Martin Smolka, both as a consultant and on the client side. He speaks with a mix of pride and humility about his experiences. His most recent assignment was at Colorama, where he led their e-commerce efforts and witnessed the industry’s extensive digital transformation from within. With 170 physical stores, it was a challenge to create a cohesive customer experience both online and offline, but it was also incredibly educational and exciting.
Martin sees both strengths and areas for improvement in Consid’s current customer offering and comes in with a clear ambition to enhance it. “I want to take a more defined role as a partner to our clients, working more proactively,” he says, elaborating:
To take the customer experience to the next level, companies first need a holistic view of their customer experience. Many companies today have different teams or departments working on various parts of the customer journey, which means no one has the complete overview. This easily results in the customer having a disjointed experience of the company.
Having a CX mindset is crucial. He emphasizes that without customers, there is no business, and without focusing on the customer and their experience, a company risks disappearing from the market in the long run.
Right now, companies should pay attention to generative AI within Commerce. Especially how product information will be transformed and improved with this technology. It is now possible to create a completely personalized experience by generating images and text in real-time based on who is visiting the product page.
Quick Q&A with Martin Smolka
What’s your latest Google search? – I wondered if you’re considered old if you can’t drink coffee after 6 PM.
Advice from the coach? – A basic trick for happy customers is common sense – think about what you appreciate yourself and start there. A concrete piece of advice in CX/Commerce is to dare to exclude things, start simple, and get really good at the basic flows before moving on.
Who is your greatest inspiration? – I’m inspired by Volvo Cars, which early on took ownership of the customer journey with their car configurator, a digitization that many competitors are still struggling to catch up with.
And what should one keep an eye on in Commerce? – Consid, of course! he concludes with a smile. There will be a lot happening within our commerce offering in the coming year.
