Insights from Seamless Ecommerce Dubai

We were at Seamless Dubai to meet and discuss ideas about the future of ecommerce with professionals, business owners and vendors from the MENA region. Our CEO, Murat Soysal, participated in the organization as a keynote speaker, talking about the role of AI in ecommerce. The whole experience was highly informative and engaging for the shareholders.

Here are all the insights we learned from Seamless Dubai, as told by our enthusiastic team members: Kishmish, Altuğ, Merve, and of course, the man himself, Murat Soysal!

Could you please briefly talk about yourself?

Murat Soysal: I am Murat Soysal, co-founder and CEO of Segmentify. With my partner, we established Segmentify three years ago. Operating in five countries, including the UK, Germany, France, the UAE and Turkey, we provide personalized solutions powered by machine learning technology to ecommerce companies around the world.

How did you as Segmentify decided to sponsor Seamless Dubai this year?

MS: We appreciate the fact that meeting ecommerce’s key players and shareholders in person at events and conferences like Seamless is crucial for understanding and shaping the dynamics that drive the market. We have a lot of experience to share and much more still to learn. As the most substantial gathering in the ecommerce world, with the capability of attracting key people from various countries in the MENA region, we decided to become an official sponsor.

How is Seamless Dubai more significant compared to other ecommerce conferences around the world?

MS: What sets Seamless apart from other conferences is that the organizers do a great job in attracting quality decision-makers and solution providers and connect them all on the same platform. Every single person you meet at the exhibition is either a prospect or partner candidate, which is a rare opportunity for businesses of all sizes.

How did you prepare for your speech? What was the main issue you were trying to pinpoint during your speech?

MS: I shared some statistics both from recognized research companies and our anonymous data to illustrate how ecommerce personalization can have a great impact on online businesses. Stressing the ever-increasing importance of personalization powered by machine learning was my biggest goal. This is only the beginning, and ecommerce will continue to benefit from artificial intelligence and machine learning technology in many different ways.

How do you think personalization will impact the future of ecommerce?

MS: Ecommerce personalization, as well as ecommerce itself, has a long way to go all over the world. There are big players in the market leading the industry, along with followers that are trying to catch up. Ecommerce personalization is a must for all businesses at all scales to survive and beat the market’s tough competition. Ecommerce businesses need to act fast – old-school solutions of analyzing visitors and targeting them with the right offers are not good enough to keep up with the market’s new demands. Businesses need innovative solutions that leverage the latest technologies. Today, personalization powered by machine-learning technology is the only scalable real-time solution for the ecommerce world to recommend the right product to the right shopper at exactly the right time.

How was your Seamless Dubai experience other than the speech? Can you say participants were eager to learn about ecommerce personalization?

MS: One word: it was fantastic! This was one of the best conferences I have ever been to, from connecting with the right audience to discussing new and innovative ideas with ecommerce experts from around the world!

Could you please briefly talk about yourself and your role at Segmentify?

Altuğ Işıkalp: I am the Head of Partnership at Segmentify and responsible for the Segmentify Partnership Program. We are trying to establish a community of partners that generates value for their clients with Segmentify solutions.

How did the Seamless experience go speaking about your area of expertise?

AI: Seamless, in terms of the Segmentify Partnership Program, gave us a great opportunity to explore the potential of the region. Solutions presented at the event in verticals, like logistics, payments, and ecommerce platforms, were great to learn about. We had the opportunity to discuss how we can extend the scope of our program to different kinds of ecommerce solution providers. Seamless did a great job in attracting all the shareholders from the ecommerce world, which I think was crucial for the event.

How was being in one of the top retail centers of the region? How was this event different from others?

AI: The UAE did a great job acting as a hub for several of the region’s financials, giving huge power to providers that are able to establish a sustainable business in the UAE. Having said that, attendees from all over the region came together for the 3-day conference, which increased the chances of connecting with people not only from the UAE, but the entire region.

Could you please briefly talk about yourself and your role at Segmentify?

Merve Sarıalioğlu: I am the Partnerships Manager at Segmentify. I am responsible for finding new partners from around the world, establishing, and building strong relationships with them. I also ensure their clients receive the best service with Segmentify solutions.

Being in Dubai, one of the top retail centers of the region – how did it effect the overall enthusiasm of the people you met?

MS: Being at the Seamless Middle East Event was a great experience for me! Seeing all those people, sharing their experiences and common goals was very exciting for me and for all the people I met. It is exciting because you have the chance to meet people who are experts in their respective fields, all from different cultures and backgrounds. Imagine: people gathering in one big, crowded place at the heart of the retail world to discuss the same subject!

During the 2-day conference, you have spoken to tens of people. What were they mainly looking for? What were their expectations from ecommerce in the future?

MS: They were mainly looking for solutions that would better the user experience. That’s actually the main concern of the ecommerce world, right? Making customers happy, satisfied and loyal. Their services should be fast and reliable. Also, customers should be able to find what they are looking for easily, and have their needs met. That’s where we come in! Our aim is to make our clients’ jobs easier than ever. Because the ecommerce world is very dynamic, we need to make things effortless for them, all while offering high-quality work. With our personalized product recommendation engine, their visitors can find what they’re looking for at the right time with the right product recommendations.

Could you please briefly talk about yourself and your role at Segmentify?

Kishmish Kaul: I am the Business Development Manager for Segmentify. I am responsible for developing growth strategies and plans, identifying new business opportunities and maintaining and retaining relationships with new, as well as existing, clients.

How was your Seamless Dubai experience?

KK: I had visited Seamless a year ago as a visitor, but being an exhibitor and having visitors from all over the region at my booth was a whole new story. As a member of the Segmentify family, it was a proud and pleasant feeling to represent Segmentify at the most influential event in the Middle East. Ecommerce has always been a vast market but having people from different sections of ecommerce at one place, sharing their stories and experiences was really amazing.

Also, it was great to speak to some of the experts in the domain, discussing the challenges ecommerce faces today and how can we overcome them by giving the right customers the right products at the right time, with our personalized product recommendation engine.

Could you name few of the most important subjects that were mentioned during Seamless Dubai?

KK: Almost everyone was keen to know how to improve their Customer Lifetime Value. The main focus was on how to retain customers by providing them exactly what they are looking for, thus increasing their loyalty towards the brand and improving conversion ratios. They were also interested in knowing how Segmentify differs from others and how can we solve one of their biggest problems: customer retention