Jorge Lopera Of LATAM & Industry, FarEye On How To Create A Fantastic Retail Experience That Keeps Bringing Customers Back For More
Flexibility — Give consumers the ability to change orders, delivery windows and destinations after an order is made.
Startups usually start with a small cohort of close colleagues. But what happens when you add a bunch of new people into this close cohort? How do you maintain the company culture? In addition, what is needed to successfully scale a business to increase market share or to increase offerings? How can a small startup grow successfully to a midsize and then large company? To address these questions, we are talking to successful business leaders who can share stories and insights from their experiences about the “5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Scale Your Business”. As a part of this series, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Jorge Lopera.
Jorge Lopera has over 15 years of global logistics experience in senior roles encompassing customer growth, product management, and strategy. As Vice President, LATAM & Industry, Jorge is responsible for FarEye’s expansion into the LATAM region, overseeing commercial and operational activities including sales, account management and channel & ecosystem partners. Jorge serves as FarEye’s industry expert, contributing to major publications and supporting analyst relations.
Prior to FarEye, Jorge was VP of Customer Growth at Bringg. Before Bringg, Jorge led the DHL e-commerce product development team and was instrumental in introducing a technology-first approach to a last mile service offering in the Americas and Asia-Pacific. Previously, Jorge worked in private equity, responsible for financial and business analysis for key strategic growth opportunities. He holds a BS in finance and real estate from DePaul University.
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?
Like many people, I fell into logistics via consulting. I initially started working for a small start-up focusing in areas of financial planning and analysis. In order to prepare investor reporting and fundraising material, I learned about pricing, operations, marketing and product. I fell in love with the complexities involved in taking a package from point A to point B.
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?
Earlier in my career, I was supporting the evaluation and eventual sale of the company I was working for. In a hurry and deep into multi-tasking I booked my flight first thing in the morning for an important meeting. I arrived at the airport, checked in only to find out I booked it for the wrong city — I entered DTW (Detroit) instead of DFW (Dallas), an expensive mistake. Luckily, I made it to the meeting. Always look twice before confirming a flight.
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?
I am a fond believer in paying it forward and have both given and received some great support throughout my career. I can say I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support of Rick Rover. I reported to Rick who at the time was the SVP of Operations at DHL and he took the role of mentor over boss. He constantly looked for ways to challenge me and arranged the opportunity for me to spend a summer in Europe to learn about global operations and product management. In that summer, I was given the opportunity to develop new delivery concepts with a global lens and subsequently traveled to Asia, Europe and LATAM deploying these concepts into live markets. Not only was that especially rewarding professionally, I was able to see parts of the world I had never seen before!
Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
When I made the pivot into technology it was a very different world and the first thing I wanted to do was to learn and listen from our customers first hand (“voice of the customer”). It was quite the experience as I watched customers go from excited to see flashy technology to staring at their watches waiting for the hour to expire (in some cases, making up excuses to leave). Many on the team, including our CRO, required us to read The Great Demo. All I can say is that the book really showed me how customers want to buy software solutions and “why should they care.” The main learning lesson…show the last thing first!
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
FarEye has the best and easiest to use last-mile delivery platform on the market and I truly believe it is because of our company culture that facilitates close collaboration across teams. We do a great job of understanding what aspects of delivery are most challenging for current and potential customers and design our products with their needs in mind.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Be calm and practical — don’t sweat the small stuff.
Ok super. Now let’s jump to the main questions of our interview. The so-called “Retail Apocalypse” has been going on for about a decade. The Pandemic only made things much worse for retailers in general. While many retailers are struggling, some retailers, like Lululemon, Kroger, and Costco are quite profitable. Can you share a few lessons that other retailers can learn from the success of profitable retailers?
Retailers must look to become fully omnichannel, integrating both in-store and online channels to give consumers greater choice and flexibility in how they shop. Consumer convenience is a long-term driver of brand loyalty and eventually future sales and profitability. Prioritizing the consumer experience by giving them more options and better delivery experiences will separate the retailers that we’ll see in ten years versus those we won’t.
Amazon is 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?
Many of the emerging DTC companies based in China that ship to the West have very long delivery timelines, as their last-mile is actually thousands of miles. The delivery experience oftentimes has poor visibility, long delays and failed deliveries, where orders are delivered with missing or damaged products. The low-cost model competes solely on price at the expense of consumer convenience. For U.S. and European brands to compete (price aside), they’ll need to strengthen their delivery experiences to truly stand out.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a retail business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Many successful retail founders fail to properly plan to scale their businesses. The internet has enabled thousands of retail entrepreneurs to succeed quickly and many have found that the demand for their products has outstripped their ability to source and supply products in their supply chains. Further, when their business really takes off, packing and shipping orders manually and using small-business partnerships with carriers like UPS and FedEx can create long delivery times and poor customer experiences. This is where last-mile delivery platforms can truly shine, simplifying the delivery orchestration process and freeing up time for founders to focus on core competencies.
This might be intuitive, but I think it’s helpful to specifically articulate it. In your words, can you share a few reasons why great customer service and a great customer experience is essential for success in business in general and for retail in particular?
We have a strong research arm here at FarEye that has uncovered a wealth of insight showing how important the consumer delivery experience is for brand loyalty and repeat sales. We know that poor delivery experiences, high shipping costs, poor returns policies, etc. all impact the consumer appetite to shop with retailers. There is a reason retailers like Amazon, Alibaba and MercadoLibre have become so profound in recent years — they prioritize the consumer and make the delivery experience easy and affordable. That has translated into strengthened brand loyalty and market share dominance. I think it is important for smaller retailers to know that they too can achieve consumer delivery experiences at a similar level.
We have all had times either in a store, or online, when we’ve had a very poor experience as a customer or user. If the importance of a good customer experience is so intuitive, and apparent, where is the disconnect? How is it that so many companies do not make this a priority?
I think as retailers become larger, it becomes harder for them to create and maintain relationships with customers and resort to a one-size-fits-all approach which inevitably fails in certain situations. Retailers offer a limited set of options for products, price, delivery, etc. and fail to customize solutions that fit specific customer needs. We see this in store operating hours, delivery options, customer service knowledge, loyalty programs — you name it. And the reality is, it is difficult for companies to address everything at once. As supply chains become more automated, agile and customer centric, the retail industry will become more adaptable to specific customer needs. Technology will lead the charge here and the companies that adopt this technology will gain competitive advantages quickly in the form of better consumer experiences.
Can you share with us a story from your experience about a customer who was “Wowed” by the experience you provided?
I’ve worked with a wholesale food service delivery company that was challenged by inefficient routing processes that came to me looking for a solution. Our solution not only made their routes more efficient, but reduced their carbon footprint and even contributed to their increased sales in the process. Where we “wowed” the customer was that our solution was extremely easy and fast to implement, and we had them up and running months before they had expected to be. It felt good to be a part of that.
A fantastic retail experience isn’t just one specific thing. It can be a composite of many different subtle elements fused together. Can you help us break down and identify the different ingredients that come together to create a “fantastic retail experience”?
Choice, flexibility, speed, affordability and sustainability are the key ingredients to creating a fantastic retail experience. Giving consumers greater choice and customization in both the product itself and how it gets to them is critical. Allowing them to amend these after an order is made is as well. For example, changing the products ordered or the delivery destination or window while enroute, etc. Doing all of this quickly (same-day, for example) and at a low cost (ideally free) can really take a retail experience from great to fantastic. Lasty, as sustainability increasingly becomes a consideration for consumers, minimizing the carbon footprints of supply chain and delivery operations is the icing on the cake. Efficiency across the supply chain, and specifically in the last mile, can tie all of these together to create a fantastic experience.
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 fantastic retail experience that keeps bringing customers back for more? Please share a story or an example for each.
Expanding on the above question, here are the most important factors for a fantastic retail experience, all of which can be accomplished with more automated, adaptable supply chains.
Choice — Allow consumers to customize products and how those products get to them.
Flexibility — Give consumers the ability to change orders, delivery windows and destinations after an order is made.
Speed — Get products to consumers on the same day the order is made, or faster if possible.
Affordability — Offer free or low cost shipping on all delivery modes.
Sustainability — Minimize the carbon footprint across the supply chain and offer carbon neutral delivery modes.
(Bonus) Communication — Inform consumers in real time of the status, ETA and location of their order.
Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. Here is our final ‘meaty’ question. 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. 🙂
I like this idea of a ‘Nirvana’ delivery state, where consumers can order anything from anywhere in the world and have it delivered on the same day to anywhere in the world with a limited carbon footprint. Developed countries are slowly moving in this direction but there are billions of people in underserved regions where such a goal is far out of reach. I’d like to be a part of making that happen.
How can our readers further follow your work?
Readers can follow me here where I will begin sharing contributing articles.
This was truly meaningful! Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your expertise!
Jorge Lopera Of LATAM & Industry, FarEye On How To Create A Fantastic Retail Experience That Keeps… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
