Digitalization is great, but outcomes may be optimized when choosing a technology platform that has the right fit with corporate DNA

During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, global skin-care manufacturer Galderma wanted to go into e-commerce to expand its reach. However, existing e-commerce platforms such as Lazada, Shopee and Zalora were already well-established and needed to be factored into the firm’s go-to-market strategy to reduce duplication and to optimize business objectives and returns on investment.

The entry into e-commerce had to be rapid, but must also drive digitalization internally across platform design and development; performance marketing; order fulfillment and warehousing; delivery and logistics; customer service call centers; creative production; marketing planning and strategy; and channel management.

For such end-to-end digitalization, Galderma needed a technology consultancy to help in achieving e-commerce goals with high-performance digital marketing; online store development and management; data and analytics; customer care; fulfillment and delivery services.

The firm finally entered into a client relationship with aCommerce, to utilize the latter’s regional experience in enabling e-commerce at scale using proprietary omnichannel management software.

Know thy savvy customer
The tech consultancy was able to recognize a gap in the highly saturated market and developed an innovative entry approach. It formulated Galderma’s strategy on multiple channels such as Lazada, Shopee and Edamama, and expanded outright services to Grab to reduce long-term unit costs.

The firm’s analysis of market data showed that consumers were shifting towards dermatologically-backed and science-driven products in the skincare industry, and this increasingly well informed customer group inspected every product ingredient for quality, tolerability and safety.

Using analytics on consumer behavior, the aCommerce team detected that consumers usually purchased specific items together, so they helped Galderma to respond quickly to the shifting demands by creating the right product bundles and homing in on customers’ attention to ingredient quality and supporting science behind their inclusion.

The data-driven market intelligence allowed Galderma to execute agile bundling and sampling strategies that started with 50+ storekeeping units and more are being included in the e-commerce offerings. With such a balanced brand positioning strategy, the firm got off to a roaring and sustainable online presence against with competing e-markets.