An Interview With Orlando Zayas

Even when things were difficult, I was driven by the belief that anyone with an idea and ambition should be able to turn a passion project into a thriving business. Perhaps my friends and I were stubborn, but we truly believed in our mission and building something that would help local businesses.

As part of my series about the “5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Highly Successful E-Commerce Business”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Santiago Sosa.

Santiago graduated from the Technological Institute of Buenos Aires (ITBA) with a degree in Software Engineering. He is CEO and Co-founder of Nuvemshop (Brazil) and Tiendanube (as it’s called in Spanish-speaking countries), the leading e-commerce platform in Latin America with more than 80 thousand online stores. He leads a team of more than 500 people who help entrepreneurs and SMBs across Latin America through e-commerce.

With a lifelong passion for technology and a strong aptitude for business, Santiago founded Nuvemshop 10 years ago with friends from college. Their objective was to reduce barriers for entrepreneurs and positively impact hundreds of thousands of businesses across the region.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I’ve been interested in technology and its capacity to empower people ever since I was young. I remember receiving my first computer at age five or six and being amazed by the possibilities it unlocked. But growing up in Argentina, I saw ways technology could help local communities, though I realized that companies based in far-off places like Silicon Valley didn’t meet the needs of the people in Latin America. I went to university in Buenos Aires, where I met other like-minded people who were fascinated by tech’s possibilities for our country and our region, and that’s where Nuvemshop really got its start.

What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the idea for your current company? Can you share that story with us?

I was finishing up my degree at the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology. For a final project to get a degree, everyone was required to go work for a company and get real-world experience. My friends and I had an idea to take this one step further: We didn’t just want to get an internship and a little bit of work experience, we wanted to take what we had learned in school and what we were passionate about and create our own business, something that would help entrepreneurs in Latam. No student had ever done something like that before, but we were determined to do something different and meaningful.

My friends and I who started this project were seeing what was happening with social media at the time in Latin America, and that platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter were gaining steam in the region. We wanted to capitalize on that and leverage social media tools to drive consumer behavior and enable local businesses to market their products online to a broader audience. This was about ten years ago. Since that school project, we’ve made a lot of changes, but that was the spark that got it all started.

Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?

There were difficult times, especially when we were first starting out. A lot of our early mistakes had to do with not having a lot of real-world experience. The first marketplace that we created for that school project was not immediately successful, and it was difficult to watch friends and classmates land lucrative jobs out of school and advance with their careers while we were struggling to get our platform off the ground. I didn’t even receive a salary for the first four years of business.

Eventually, we realized things needed to change. We focused more on merchants and learned how to better meet their needs and help them connect with customers. This pivot was difficult, but after about a year of focusing on our merchants and what they needed from the platform, we started seeing more progress.

Even when things were difficult, I was driven by the belief that anyone with an idea and ambition should be able to turn a passion project into a thriving business. Perhaps my friends and I were stubborn, but we truly believed in our mission and building something that would help local businesses. I believed then and believe now that direct-to-consumer e-commerce has potential to power future entrepreneurs, and really saw the importance of building out our team and company to where it is today.

So, how are things going today? How did your grit and resilience lead to your eventual success?

Our sales are up fourfold in the past year alone, and our hub of merchants has grown 600 percent since 2015. We’ve also raised significant capital to power our next chapter of growth and are expanding throughout Latin America at a rapid rate.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?

The mistakes we made early on were largely due to the fact that my friends and I didn’t have a lot of on-the-ground experience, which is ironic considering that we started building our company for a project aimed to give us that real-world experience. It’s funny looking back now and seeing some of the early mistakes, like not recognizing when something wasn’t working. We often waited way too long to make changes in the early years.

But being young and relatively inexperienced also helped us in a lot of ways. It made us more flexible and open to using technology in new ways.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

We realized that e-commerce platforms available to merchants in Latin America didn’t meet the unique needs of local businesses. Our success comes from understanding the desires of merchants in the region and delivering a platform that gives them what they need.

For example, we allow merchants to create their own storefronts, showcase their brand and better connect with their customers. We also built a platform so SMBs and the mid-market merchant base could run store management, stock and order management, payment processing, channel management, and shipping. And from there, a third-party ecosystem has emerged with over 150 partners who have built apps to pair with the Nuvemshop platform.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Burnout is tough, especially when you’re working on something you’re passionate about. It can be hard to walk away and achieve balance in your life.

And to be honest, I don’t think there’s one right way to go about running a business. For some, it might be best to start your career at an established company to learn the ins and outs, then take what you know to create a business you’re passionate about.

Starting my business while still in school allowed me to really focus, though I was working so hard that there was a risk of me burning out. One thing that really helped me was surrounding myself with smart people who inspired and encouraged me.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

The tech community in Argentina and Brazil has been central to our success, and I’m grateful that it’s a community that’s generous and open to helping young entrepreneurs. When I was 23, having the guidance from people even three or four years older than me was invaluable.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. The Pandemic has changed many aspects of all of our lives. One of them is the fact that so many of us have gotten used to shopping almost exclusively online. Can you share a few examples of different ideas that eCommerce businesses are implementing to adapt to the new realities created by the Pandemic?

In Latin America the transition to online shopping was even more dramatic than in the U.S. and Europe. For many local businesses we work with in the region, that shift was sudden, and they needed support to make the move and continue operating during lockdowns.

For example, we worked with businesses with no prior online presence that found themselves sitting on stockpiles of perishable goods; they needed to pivot and find customers online in a hurry. I’m reminded of a family-run chocolate store that was facing tough times because they couldn’t sell their inventory of chocolate eggs for the Easter holiday in 2020. But they were able to use our platform and launch an online campaign via YouTube and WhatsApp that went viral, and ended up having their best Easter ever. And that’s really the core of what we do: leveraging technology and social media to help merchants thrive.

Amazon, and even Walmart are going to exert pressure on all of retail for the foreseeable future. New Direct-To-Consumer companies based in China are emerging that offer prices that are much cheaper than US and European brands. What would you advise retail companies and eCommerce companies, for them to be successful in the face of such strong competition?

Even though the Amazons and Alibabas of the world are massive and growing, they still rely heavily on small merchants and retailers. Many consumers don’t realize it, but when they’re buying something on Amazon, it doesn’t necessarily mean the product is coming from an Amazon warehouse. Oftentimes, there are small merchants at the center of these transactions.

There’s a real opportunity here for those merchants to leverage social media to connect directly with customers, and work with e-commerce platforms like Shopify or Nuvemshop, which can facilitate the transaction. That’s something they should really double down on: establishing meaningful relationships with their consumers while focusing on quality and innovation.

Of course, there are certain products people will always buy from Amazon or Walmart. But there’s an opportunity to differentiate yourself as a retailer, by offering great service, establishing the kind of meaningful relationships the e-commerce giants can’t provide, and selling products that are unique to you. That’s hard for the Amazons and the Wal-Marts of the world to do.

What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start an eCommerce business? What can be done to avoid those errors?

Cash management is really the biggest pitfall I’ve seen in the retail space. While companies like Nuvemshop make it easier and more affordable for retailers to start an e-commerce business, it’s still an endeavor that requires a lot of investment. You need to purchase stock, pay for advertising, hire personnel — the list goes on. I’ve seen founders overhire and buy too much inventory, which can lead to disaster. It’s something you really need to be careful of.

In addition, I’ve seen retailers think that opening an online store or e-commerce site will immediately lead to strong sales. It’s not like opening a store at a busy mall, which will automatically drive traffic to you. You need to be proactive to bring customers to your site.

In your experience, which aspect of running an eCommerce brand tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?

As I mentioned, attracting attention to your brand can be very difficult. And as you scale operations and bring on larger teams and acquire more stock, you really need to focus on efficiency so you’re delivering on time and maintaining high standards of quality.

Can you share a few examples of tools or software that you think can dramatically empower emerging eCommerce brands to be more effective and more successful?

Of course, we’re big believers in the power of social media to connect merchants with customers, and to promote brand awareness.

Beyond that, there are some tools for e-commerce that can serve as good allies when it comes to boosting your business, including CRM (customer relationship management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) software.

CRM monitors the customer’s buying journey, as it allows you to understand the consumption habits of each buyer in your store, which allows you to better meet the needs of your customers. ERP allows you to manage information such as inventory and invoices that are critical to any efficient retail operation.

As you know, “conversion” means to convert a visit into a sale. In your experience what are the best strategies an eCommerce business should use to increase conversion rates?

There is really no magic answer here. One thing I would say is that experimentation is key: What works for one brand may not work for another, so it’s critical to measure results.

Having said that, we have learned that merchants who can offer free shipping or fast delivery times enjoy a much faster conversion rate. A lot of merchants aren’t aware of that, or have a hard time achieving that.

And there’s something that’s big in Latin America that’s less common in the United States: buying products in installments. You’re starting to see companies offering “buy now pay later” innovations in the U.S., but that’s something that has been embedded in our banking system for a long time. So in Latin America, offering consumers financing or allowing them to pay in installments at a low rate has an important impact on conversion rates.

Of course, the main way to increase conversion rates is to create a trusted and beloved brand. Can you share a few ways that an eCommerce business can earn a reputation as a trusted and beloved brand?

If you want to create a great reputation, you have to focus less on reviews and more on quality. That includes the quality of the product, delivery time and lowering prices over time. Other key factors include the quality of the support you provide, which entails converting a possible problem into an opportunity to offer a positive experience, and creating small moments of delight that frequently exceed the customer’s expectations and help build up the brand. This focus on the core experience will improve your reputation.

One of the main benefits of shopping online is the ability to read reviews. Consumers love it! While good reviews are of course positive for a brand, poor reviews can be very damaging. In your experience what are a few things a brand should do to properly and effectively respond to poor reviews? How about other unfair things said online about a brand?

There are always things out of your control, including bad reviews. And as I said before, you first need to focus on the core experience, but secondly, you need to make sure someone is managing the review process. That way, every time a bad review appears, you can take steps to understand what happened, how you can fix the process, and how you can address the concerns of the unsatisfied buyer or customer. And when you have good reviews, you need to think about how to amplify them on social networks or the broader world.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things one should know in order to create a very successful e-commerce business? Please share a story or an example for each.

There are a few key items to consider when creating a successful e-commerce business. I’d start by saying that one mistake I see is people focusing too much on the idea of e-commerce, and not enough on building a business. E-commerce is really a means to an end, and when you’re building a business, you need to have a holistic approach and view.

In building any business, you need to consider your customers and what you can offer them that’s new and unique, and you need to understand who your customer is. Is there anything you can do to improve the customer experience with your brand or to increase your conversion rates? An example of this, which is something I touched on earlier, is offering the option to make purchases with installments, or offering customers a buy-now-pay-later option. If you know your customers well, you can decide if options like this are useful to offer.

And consider how you’re communicating your brand. After a decade in business, we’ve seen the difference it makes for merchants who are able to customize their digital storefront and visually create a brand on their e-commerce site. Consider how new and returning customers are viewing your brand when they visit your sites or social media pages. What information are they looking for and how easily accessible is it? Are there steps you can take to optimize this customer experience and better showcase what makes your brand unique?

Use social media to your advantage. This is a cornerstone of what Nuvemshop was built on. Brands should consider what channels their target customers are using and how they can reach and make a lasting impression. This comes in many different forms from running targeted ads to regularly posting on social channels and fostering a community. Social media is a great and free tool available to all and it empowers brands even in small markets to expand and reach customers from all over the world.

Surround yourself with a great team. Business owners should identify what areas they may be lacking in and where they need help and hire accordingly. And avoid overhiring, especially at the start, and bring on highly engaged people who believe in the vision of your company and brand.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

As you know, there are a lot of stories of boom and bust in Latin America, which leads to swings in unemployment and economic instability. That makes it hard for people to make ends meet, and leads to social and political unrest. And while many people look to our politicians for answers, I truly believe regular citizens have the power to improve our standing.

And those people are our customers. They’re not the Silicon Valley elite, they’re the new mothers just starting to build a baby apparel brand, or friends from school with an entrepreneurial spirit and a great idea for a product. Many of these merchants start out on their own, then they hire one or two people and grow over time, bringing on five then ten then twenty new employees. Those jobs have a tremendous impact on society and the wider economy.

And that’s what we’re all about at Nuvemshop: We help people convert their passion into a brand and a business, which has a ripple effect throughout our region.

How can our readers further follow you online?

I’m on LinkedIn, and you can follow Nuvemshop on Twitter.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!

||||I|||| Published in Authority Magazine Orlando Zayas, CEO of Katapult Follow Jul 6, 2021 · 13 min read Santiago Sosa of Nuvemshop: 5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Highly Successful E-commerce Business An Interview With Orlando Zayas Even when things were difficult, I was driven by the belief that anyone with an idea and ambition should be able to turn a passion project into a thriving business. Perhaps my friends and I were stubborn, but we truly believed in our mission and building something that would help local businesses. As part of my series about the “5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Highly Successful E-Commerce Business”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Santiago Sosa. Santiago graduated from the Technological Institute of Buenos Aires (ITBA) with a degree in Software Engineering. He is CEO and Co-founder of Nuvemshop (Brazil) and Tiendanube (as it’s called in Spanish-speaking countries), the leading e-commerce platform in Latin America with more than 80 thousand online stores. He leads a team of more than 500 people who help entrepreneurs and SMBs across Latin America through e-commerce. With a lifelong passion for technology and a strong aptitude for business, Santiago founded Nuvemshop 10 years ago with friends from college. Their objective was to reduce barriers for entrepreneurs and positively impact hundreds of thousands of businesses across the region. Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started? I’ ve been interested in technology and its capacity to empower people ever since I was young. I remember receiving my first computer at age five or six and being amazed by the possibilities it unlocked. But growing up in Argentina, I saw ways technology could help local communities, though I realized that companies based in far-off places like Silicon Valley didn’t meet the needs of the people in Latin America. I went to university in Buenos Aires, where I met other like-minded people who were fascinated by tech’s possibilities for our country and our region, and that’s where Nuvemshop really got its start. What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the idea for your current company? Can you share that story with us? I was finishing up my degree at the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology. For a final project to get a degree, everyone was required to go work for a company and get real-world experience. My friends and I had an idea to take this one step further: We didn’t just want to get an internship and a little bit of work experience, we wanted to take what we had learned in school and what we were passionate about and create our own business, something that would help entrepreneurs in Latam. No student had ever done something like that before, but we were determined to do something different and meaningful. My friends and I who started this project were seeing what was happening with social media at the time in Latin America, and that platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter were gaining steam in the region. We wanted to capitalize on that and leverage social media tools to drive consumer behavior and enable local businesses to market their products online to a broader audience. This was about ten years ago. Since that school project, we’ve made a lot of changes, but that was the spark that got it all started. Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard? There were difficult times, especially when we were first starting out. A lot of our early mistakes had to do with not having a lot of real-world experience. The first marketplace that we created for that school project was not immediately successful, and it was difficult to watch friends and classmates land lucrative jobs out of school and advance with their careers while we were struggling to get our platform off the ground. I didn’t even receive a salary for the first four years of business. Eventually, we realized things needed to change. We focused more on merchants and learned how to better meet their needs and help them connect with customers. This pivot was difficult, but after about a year of focusing on our merchants and what they needed from the platform, we started seeing more progress. Even when things were difficult, I was driven by the belief that anyone with an idea and ambition should be able to turn a passion project into a thriving business. Perhaps my friends and I were stubborn, but we truly believed in our mission and building something that would help local businesses. I believed then and believe now that direct-to-consumer e-commerce has potential to power future entrepreneurs, and really saw the importance of building out our team and company to where it is today. So, how are things going today? How did your grit and resilience lead to your eventual success? Our sales are up fourfold in the past year alone, and our hub of merchants has grown 600 percent since 2015. We’ve also raised significant capital to power our next chapter of growth and are expanding throughout Latin America at a rapid rate. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that? The mistakes we made early on were largely due to the fact that my friends and I didn’t have a lot of on-the-ground experience, which is ironic considering that we started building our company for a project aimed to give us that real-world experience. It’s funny looking back now and seeing some of the early mistakes, like not recognizing when something wasn’t working. We often waited way too long to make changes in the early years. But being young and relatively inexperienced also helped us in a lot of ways. It made us more flexible and open to using technology in new ways. What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story? We realized that e-commerce platforms available to merchants in Latin America didn’t meet the unique needs of local businesses. Our success comes from understanding the desires of merchants in the region and delivering a platform that gives them what they need. For example, we allow merchants to create their own storefronts, showcase their brand and better connect with their customers. We also built a platform so SMBs and the mid-market merchant base could run store management, stock and order management, payment processing, channel management, and shipping. And from there, a third-party ecosystem has emerged with over 150 partners who have built apps to pair with the Nuvemshop platform. Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”? Burnout is tough, especially when you’re working on something you’re passionate about. It can be hard to walk away and achieve balance in your life. And to be honest, I don’t think there’s one right way to go about running a business. For some, it might be best to start your career at an established company to learn the ins and outs, then take what you know to create a business you’re passionate about. Starting my business while still in school allowed me to really focus, though I was working so hard that there was a risk of me burning out. One thing that really helped me was surrounding myself with smart people who inspired and encouraged me. None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story? The tech community in Argentina and Brazil has been central to our success, and I’m grateful that it’s a community that’s generous and open to helping young entrepreneurs. When I was 23, having the guidance from people even three or four years older than me was invaluable. Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. The Pandemic has changed many aspects of all of our lives. One of them is the fact that so many of us have gotten used to shopping almost exclusively online. Can you share a few examples of different ideas that eCommerce businesses are implementing to adapt to the new realities created by the Pandemic? In Latin America the transition to online shopping was even more dramatic than in the U.S. and Europe. For many local businesses we work with in the region, that shift was sudden, and they needed support to make the move and continue operating during lockdowns. For example, we worked with businesses with no prior online presence that found themselves sitting on stockpiles of perishable goods; they needed to pivot and find customers online in a hurry. I’m reminded of a family-run chocolate store that was facing tough times because they couldn’t sell their inventory of chocolate eggs for the Easter holiday in 2020. But they were able to use our platform and launch an online campaign via YouTube and WhatsApp that went viral, and ended up having their best Easter ever. And that’s really the core of what we do: leveraging technology and social media to help merchants thrive. Amazon, and even Walmart are going to exert pressure on all of retail for the foreseeable future. New Direct-To-Consumer companies based in China are emerging that offer prices that are much cheaper than US and European brands. What would you advise retail companies and eCommerce companies, for them to be successful in the face of such strong competition? Even though the Amazons and Alibabas of the world are massive and growing, they still rely heavily on small merchants and retailers. Many consumers don’t realize it, but when they’re buying something on Amazon, it doesn’t necessarily mean the product is coming from an Amazon warehouse. Oftentimes, there are small merchants at the center of these transactions. There’s a real opportunity here for those merchants to leverage social media to connect directly with customers, and work with e-commerce platforms like Shopify or Nuvemshop, which can facilitate the transaction. That’s something they should really double down on: establishing meaningful relationships with their consumers while focusing on quality and innovation. Of course, there are certain products people will always buy from Amazon or Walmart. But there’s an opportunity to differentiate yourself as a retailer, by offering great service, establishing the kind of meaningful relationships the e-commerce giants can’t provide, and selling products that are unique to you. That’s hard for the Amazons and the Wal-Marts of the world to do. What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start an eCommerce business? What can be done to avoid those errors? Cash management is really the biggest pitfall I’ve seen in the retail space. While companies like Nuvemshop make it easier and more affordable for retailers to start an e-commerce business, it’s still an endeavor that requires a lot of investment. You need to purchase stock, pay for advertising, hire personnel — the list goes on. I’ve seen founders overhire and buy too much inventory, which can lead to disaster. It’s something you really need to be careful of. In addition, I’ve seen retailers think that opening an online store or e-commerce site will immediately lead to strong sales. It’s not like opening a store at a busy mall, which will automatically drive traffic to you. You need to be proactive to bring customers to your site. In your experience, which aspect of running an eCommerce brand tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example? As I mentioned, attracting attention to your brand can be very difficult. And as you scale operations and bring on larger teams and acquire more stock, you really need to focus on efficiency so you’re delivering on time and maintaining high standards of quality. Can you share a few examples of tools or software that you think can dramatically empower emerging eCommerce brands to be more effective and more successful? Of course, we’re big believers in the power of social media to connect merchants with customers, and to promote brand awareness. Beyond that, there are some tools for e-commerce that can serve as good allies when it comes to boosting your business, including CRM (customer relationship management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) software. CRM monitors the customer’s buying journey, as it allows you to understand the consumption habits of each buyer in your store, which allows you to better meet the needs of your customers. ERP allows you to manage information such as inventory and invoices that are critical to any efficient retail operation. As you know, “conversion” means to convert a visit into a sale. In your experience what are the best strategies an eCommerce business should use to increase conversion rates? There is really no magic answer here. One thing I would say is that experimentation is key: What works for one brand may not work for another, so it’s critical to measure results. Having said that, we have learned that merchants who can offer free shipping or fast delivery times enjoy a much faster conversion rate. A lot of merchants aren’t aware of that, or have a hard time achieving that. And there’s something that’s big in Latin America that’s less common in the United States: buying products in installments. You’re starting to see companies offering “buy now pay later” innovations in the U.S., but that’s something that has been embedded in our banking system for a long time. So in Latin America, offering consumers financing or allowing them to pay in installments at a low rate has an important impact on conversion rates. Of course, the main way to increase conversion rates is to create a trusted and beloved brand. Can you share a few ways that an eCommerce business can earn a reputation as a trusted and beloved brand? If you want to create a great reputation, you have to focus less on reviews and more on quality. That includes the quality of the product, delivery time and lowering prices over time. Other key factors include the quality of the support you provide, which entails converting a possible problem into an opportunity to offer a positive experience, and creating small moments of delight that frequently exceed the customer’s expectations and help build up the brand. This focus on the core experience will improve your reputation. One of the main benefits of shopping online is the ability to read reviews. Consumers love it! While good reviews are of course positive for a brand, poor reviews can be very damaging. In your experience what are a few things a brand should do to properly and effectively respond to poor reviews? How about other unfair things said online about a brand? There are always things out of your control, including bad reviews. And as I said before, you first need to focus on the core experience, but secondly, you need to make sure someone is managing the review process. That way, every time a bad review appears, you can take steps to understand what happened, how you can fix the process, and how you can address the concerns of the unsatisfied buyer or customer. And when you have good reviews, you need to think about how to amplify them on social networks or the broader world. Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things one should know in order to create a very successful e-commerce business? Please share a story or an example for each. There are a few key items to consider when creating a successful e-commerce business. I’d start by saying that one mistake I see is people focusing too much on the idea of e-commerce, and not enough on building a business. E-commerce is really a means to an end, and when you’re building a business, you need to have a holistic approach and view. In building any business, you need to consider your customers and what you can offer them that’s new and unique, and you need to understand who your customer is. Is there anything you can do to improve the customer experience with your brand or to increase your conversion rates? An example of this, which is something I touched on earlier, is offering the option to make purchases with installments, or offering customers a buy-now-pay-later option. If you know your customers well, you can decide if options like this are useful to offer. And consider how you’re communicating your brand. After a decade in business, we’ve seen the difference it makes for merchants who are able to customize their digital storefront and visually create a brand on their e-commerce site. Consider how new and returning customers are viewing your brand when they visit your sites or social media pages. What information are they looking for and how easily accessible is it? Are there steps you can take to optimize this customer experience and better showcase what makes your brand unique? Use social media to your advantage. This is a cornerstone of what Nuvemshop was built on. Brands should consider what channels their target customers are using and how they can reach and make a lasting impression. This comes in many different forms from running targeted ads to regularly posting on social channels and fostering a community. Social media is a great and free tool available to all and it empowers brands even in small markets to expand and reach customers from all over the world. Surround yourself with a great team. Business owners should identify what areas they may be lacking in and where they need help and hire accordingly. And avoid overhiring, especially at the start, and bring on highly engaged people who believe in the vision of your company and brand. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. As you know, there are a lot of stories of boom and bust in Latin America, which leads to swings in unemployment and economic instability. That makes it hard for people to make ends meet, and leads to social and political unrest. And while many people look to our politicians for answers, I truly believe regular citizens have the power to improve our standing. And those people are our customers. They’re not the Silicon Valley elite, they’re the new mothers just starting to build a baby apparel brand, or friends from school with an entrepreneurial spirit and a great idea for a product. Many of these merchants start out on their own, then they hire one or two people and grow over time, bringing on five then ten then twenty new employees. Those jobs have a tremendous impact on society and the wider economy. And that’s what we’re all about at Nuvemshop: We help people convert their passion into a brand and a business, which has a ripple effect throughout our region. How can our readers further follow you online? I’m on LinkedIn, and you can follow Nuvemshop on Twitter. This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this! Business -- -- More from Authority Magazine In-depth Interviews with Authorities in Business, Pop Culture, Wellness, Social Impact, and Tech. We use interviews to draw out stories that are both empowering and actionable. 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