3 questions for . . . Jacques-Antoine Granjon, CEO and founder of vente-privee.com

‘E-commerce hasn’t destroyed brick and mortar shops; in fact, the opposite is true’.

Admired by some and criticized by others, everyone agrees that Jacques-Antoine Granjon, CEO and founder of vente-privee.com, is a retail maverick. His experience as a discount retailer who took advantage of on-line sales taught him some basic concepts, and these ideas are the main principles for the future of retail.

During the first 15 years of e-commerce (since 1995), Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder, was the pioneer in using digital tools to sell. In France, households have only had ADSL since 2004, allowing women to go online at home and connect with the world. Before that, Internet was the privilege of either technology or digital professionals, or those who had foreseen its possibilities.

Jeff Bezos wasn’t a bookseller or a retail specialist. He was a banker who understood the power of digital technology and how he could use it. From the late 90s until the 2010s, a lot of geeks followed his example and created businesses using technology to work in fields they didn’t understand. For example, the Zappos founder wasn’t a shoe salesman; he had a technology background. He simply understood that, with technology, he could get involved in multi-brand retail. This is what I consider the first phase in the e-commerce and pure player evolution.

The next phase was cross-channel strategies created by an entire generation of professionals who understood what digital technology was. They had their own professions and they wondered how technology could help them do better business.

Vente-privee.com was not started by geeks or technology professionals. Our core expertise has always been in brand discount retailing. From this perspective, we’re part of the second generation, along with others who transformed their businesses thanks to Internet. Like them, we set up our websites to sell on Internet and conduct business. Even though we are considered pure players, our roots remain in our original B to B service profession.

Today, we’re at the beginning of a third phase. We are starting to understand that, quite simply, the digital arena is just an additional retail channel with only one goal: satisfy the client, who is now the decider of this retail revolution. We have moved into connected commerce, where business happens as much online as on the street. There are not many brands that do this well today.

Why do you think this phase of evolution which places e-commerce as another retail channel for brands is only in its infancy?

Because it costs a lot of money to set up a worthwhile website. You have to build a site on four structural and expensive pillars.

This involves heavy investments in skills that business leaders who are not familiar with the web don’t know about. First of all, there’s computer programming, because Internet is only that – code. Is it necessary to create an entire programming department? I think it’s fundamental. The second pillar is producing catalogues and the website design and graphics. Your website has to be perfect, beautiful, sexy, and appealing. Because – and it’s a basic fact – your Internet store is the most important of all your stores, even if it’s not your biggest revenue producer. Why? Because everyone in the world can see it. Your entire image is under scrutiny. So, if you’re not going to do it right, it’s better to not go on Internet.

After programming and production comes the third pillar: logistics. With Internet, you no longer deliver to a warehouse or point of sale, but to the end consumer. So that means other requirements and other considerable investments.

And finally, the last pillar is client service. If you’re in e-commerce, meaning a virtual world, you still have to give your clients the possibility of speaking with real people, and that means having top quality customer service that pays attention to clients. These four pillars are expensive and should evolve parallel to your business. That’s why many brands choose to opt for subcontracting. But, in my opinion, that can never be as well done as if businesses did it themselves.

You also have to understand that these four pillars share one and the same goal: bring the client a bit more satisfaction by giving him more services. If you have a successful store chain, with clients that come every day to spend, will setting up an Internet site bring you new clients? In the beginning, it’s not sure. But those who already come will have a choice between a real and virtual environment, depending on their needs and desires.

Is the result of all these phases that the customer is more than ever ‘king’, and once again the centre of retail strategy?

Exactly! Internet and e-commerce are very appealing to backers, simply because of the definition: anyone, with minimal investment, can create an online store and sell products to the entire planet. This intensely promising concept, despite the fact that there will be few successes, attracts speculation. Asos recently experienced a drama. Following a profit warning, stocks dropped 32 percent in a day! Backers expect tremendous growth due to the business model definition: the entire world can become a client at your site. It’s an absurd idea and yet it’s true for Amazon.

Today, I think even the term ‘e-commerce’ doesn’t mean anything anymore. It’s just the latest version of doing business using other tools. In the Middle Ages, people came together at fairs. Later, there were markets in village squares. Next there were stores, department stores, volume retailing, shopping malls, etc. And today, buying and selling still happens in all these settings. Now, we just need to add the Smartphone, which represents 40 percent of Internet sales. That figure will surely grow in the future with fewer computers and laptops in homes.

E-commerce hasn’t destroyed brick and mortar shops, though many people say so. The opposite is true and the customer is once again king, since today he has choices.

He can visit another store with a click. He can go around and compare prices. He can share his opinions on social networks. He’s free! And businesspeople who don’t know how to readapt to an informed clientele won’t survive. E-commerce is the prompt that will help physical boutiques reinvent their client approach.

Now, when a client enters a store, he wants to find the quality of service he experienced on Internet, and the same wide choice. He wants to be recognized and helped, he wants excellent service. It’s like I tell retailers again and again: each time a client comes into your store, it’s a little miracle. So, take good care of your clients, it’s the only way to succeed.

And it’s important to keep the investment facts in mind. If you’re a small business that sells wonderful products, you don’t necessarily need an e-commerce site. If you’re a leading brand or a pop-up store, or you need to make your brand known, you might want to set up a quality Internet site, but remember − the better your brand and products sell, the more visits and traffic you must plan for. And that’s where investments become expensive. E-commerce is a mature phenomenon, and clients will not excuse unprofessional behaviour.

That’s why Internet retail will certainly belong to the biggest names, those who have the financial resources to establish the pillars. There will also be a lot of small players, but in between the two, it will be complicated.

I repeat, despite everything that’s been said, stores will not disappear. The opposite is true. E-commerce has put stores and customers back in the game; people will always prefer physical contact. We’re now discovering the excessive side of the virtual world. It’s new, powerful and quick, and it changes the way we communicate, meet, and even love. But desires will always be the same. And these desires are expressed by meeting face to face, and by real life and real conversations.

We aren’t creating a society of online zombies; the opposite is true. We’re creating a society where everyone all over the now-small planet has access to knowledge, culture and information via their Smartphone. Internet is the tool that makes this possible, bringing us more awareness and possibilities to discover the world and a deeper return to real life and key values. Tradition and innovation.