The Update: MediaMarkt pandemic operations
VANESSA HARTLEY: In this episode of The Update,
I talk with Giuseppe Cunetta,
VP Marketing eCommerce at MediaMarktSaturn.
The company was established almost 60 years ago
and operates over 1,000 consumer electronics stores
in 13 countries across Europe.
So, Giuseppe, you moved to your new role
just as the pandemic took grip across Europe in January.
GIUSEPPE: What can I tell you? It was like running a company
that was changing so dramatically every single day.
At MediaMarktSaturn,
we were already on track with our digital transformation,
and our investments really paid out.
We’ve actually been very capable of switching
our operating model towards ecommerce very fast.
And therefore, being capable to capture and grow
in the triple digit range for the whole period.
VANESSA: So Giuseppe, how has the pandemic
impacted the MediaMarktSaturn business focus and strategy?
GIUSEPPE: We were moving from the approach of
creating promotion after promotion –
this is the bread and butter in retail business – to findability.
And findability really starts with the value of the data.
We all know that data is the currency of the digital world.
And in our business, it’s pretty important
to understand how to create value out of the data.
And you are getting there
if you create automation and intelligence.
Another important element was
how to bring offline and online together in the best way.
So we’ve been able to do omnichannel bidding,
meaning the capacity to generate conversion
out of the inventory existing in a store.
This is also dependent on the capacity to track
inventory on a store level.
And at the same time, we’ve been able to do curbside pickup,
which was another very important option
that the customer appreciated
during a period of constraints in free movement.
VANESSA: So we’re seeing huge global changes
in consumer behavior.
What were the biggest changes you observed at MediaMarktSaturn?
GIUSEPPE: We were constantly monitoring trends
and doing number crunching
using insights such as Google Trends
in order to understand the key categories.
At the beginning of the story,
it was a lot about gaming and productivity.
So computer devices and printers and video games.
After that, it was about personal care,
like hair cutters or body tools.
And finally, we had a lot of spikes
in food preparation or home care.
VANESSA: So Giuseppe, what behavior changes do you think
we’d bring with us after the pandemic?
GIUSEPPE: The pandemic worked a little bit like a time machine,
bringing everything into the future
10, 15 years in the context of making ecommerce,
and especially mobile commerce, choice number one,
platform number one, destination number one,