Host: Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of ExtraMile by HiTechNectar, an interview series that bridges the gap between industry leaders and enthusiasts. I am your host Sayali and we’re here to discuss the latest innovations, tech trends, marketing practices, expert insights, and a lot more.
We’re excited to have Mr. Angelo Coletta with us today, the CEO and Founder of Zakeke, a leading visual commerce technology provider. Since its launch in 2017, Zakeke has transformed online shopping experiences by combining visual commerce, multimedia, and design software. Angelo has been a key driving force behind the company’s success. Today, we’ll learn more about Angelo’s journey, Zakeke services, and what’s shaping the future of visual commerce.
Welcome, Angelo. We’re super thrilled to have you with us today.
Angelo: Oh, thanks a lot for inviting me. It’s a pleasure to stay and share with you, you know, some topics.
Host: So, Angelo, you’ve had a long career, can you share the key lessons you’ve learned and applied throughout your journey?
Angelo: Yeah, I think that the key lesson is never stop dreaming what you, you know, never stop dreaming, first of all, because if you have the imagination, you can, you know, imagine new companies and solve new problems, first of all. Second is that many times for transform dreams in fact, needs a lot of effort, a lot of resilience, and a lot of discipline. So, I think that dream and discipline are the double D that you have to don’t forget during your journey.
Host: So, with your experience, I’m sure you’ve faced many challenges. So, what challenges have you encountered in your career? And how did you overcome them?
Angelo: Oh, I had a lot of challenges because I started like a waiter when I was 14. So, this is my first job. So, it’s a long time ago.
And then, you know, for sure, the first big change was after my university period, I won a grant by G8 for my degree thesis. And from that, I start my career like a consultant in IT innovation, when internet was in the early stage. And the only things that I have is was my mind, you know, no money, no experience, the only thing is my dreams, and the knowledge that I have learned and my vision.
So, I started this job this way. And after that, I became, you know, a young, well-known consultant, and I created an IT company. And I sold this company some years, six, seven years later, it was my first exit.
And so, I decided to create products, I created another company in the ticketing world, like Ticketmaster. And I sold it after 10 years to a multinational company too. It was a very nice exit too.
Then I start buying some startups, and I bought another startup in the cinema world. And I’ve sold to a media company five years later. And then I started Zakeke, and in the meanwhile, I’m a business angel in some different IT companies too, online board members of other companies where many times I can help and many times I can learn.
So, it’s something that is, you know, is out in knowledge for the experience. So many changes in my life, yeah. I made a long journey, I’ve seen life from different angles, and it was very nice, yeah.
But it’s important that I enjoy myself when I was a waiter, and I enjoy myself now that I’m trying to grow my last company. Because first of all, you have to do what you like. It’s not for money, money it’s important, yeah, it’s a metric, but it’s because you enjoy.
And if you enjoy and you’re passionate, you’ll find the energy to fight every day and you don’t feel tired.
Host: Shifting to audience engagement, how important is effective audience engagement in today’s tech-driven world? And how does visual product representation help in this?
Angelo: Okay, sure, the audience, it’s an important thing. And you know, this is a very social world. So, there’s a lot of activities that you can do.
I think I’m not the better in doing this job because in my private life, I never used any kind of social. So, I’m not really a good player on that world, but I know, and that’s why with the company we use it. It’s very important to have, I think that first of all, you know, there is a selling in the social media life.
My vision is that in the long term, telling the truth without too much follow hype and to don’t overselling a lot, it’s a long-term strategy. So, what we try to do, stay talking with our audience, telling the truth, maybe we are not, you know, shout a lot with our audience, but we try to provide content, answers to problems to solve, update on vision and technology. And we try to have a clear communication without hype.
That’s what I do. I don’t follow the hype, you know, because hype is a media strategy used from some big guys to sell their products. So, I try to see the reality and try to have an approach, very focused on what really is a need and or a problem that you have to solve without following, you know, the moment of, you know, AI hype, VR hype, things are happening.
But the time is something that you have to learn by your own, because sometimes if you follow too much what is in the net, you can become faster or maybe you can arrive too late. It depends.
Host: So, moving on, how have technologies like AR and VR contributed to visual product representation?
Angelo: Oh, I think that in this case, I think there is a big revolution that is happening. My vision is that, you know, when we start the Internet and e-commerce, we have one product, one photo, maybe you have to pray to understand how to receive the product. Now, in 25-30 years, an incredible ecosystem has grown around the product page.
So, you’re going to have hundreds of photos, ratings are viewed, you can pay in 100 different methods. You can receive your product wherever you want at any time and there is a lot of insurance. So, all these services ecosystem is what now we call the e-commerce experience right now.
I think the next big revolution that is a revolution nowadays is not something in the future. It will be how the product page will change in terms of interaction with the customer. What does it mean?
AR, VR, try on, configuration, maybe in the future, hologram, other technology that will be ready to be used in the AI interface with dialogue with the product. So, what is going to happen is the product page will become something more fluid. You can interact, you can change your product, you can see in the VR, you can see in hologram, you can try it, and it will look more at what’s happening in the physical life.
And on the other side, in the physical store, some of this technology will be useful to give a bit of digital experience at the store. For example, we are working with a shoe producer to offer the Triumph shoes not only online, but in the chain of stores with a tablet so they can take the shoes, find the shoes they love. And after that, they can put their feet under the top and they can see all the other shapes that work for his foot on the same line.
And maybe they can change. It’s a very mixed experience that we are going to offer. So, I think that this is the big revolution.
And what I think that in 10 years, maybe 15 or more, we’ll never see any one e-commerce without a piece of what we call AI visual layer.
Host: So just adding on to that, 3D product configuration is changing e-commerce. So, what challenges come with integrating this for the products?
Angelo: Oh, there’s a lot of things, because when you start offering 3D configuration, first of all, you have decided to have 3D modeling. That means that you can save a lot of money. First of all, the operation, because many times, for example, for samples, generally you use physical samples.
But why have to use it? You can use a 3D sample. You can save your money.
You can be more ESG compliant and you can be faster and deeper in showing your offer around the world. So, first of all, there’s a lot of advantage in the operation and the way to sell, in the way to prepare the marketing activities on the company. And the second step, in the front end, you can have more engagement, zero return.
Generally, what we have seen is that the commercial rate goes up from 40% to 400%. So, for sure, a company without that in the future would be an old company. Like, you know, if you now you drive a Tesla and someone wants to sell you an old Ford, no one will buy it because they say, hey, it’s nice, but it’s not the car.
It’s a historic object. So, it is another thing. And I think that is a big change.
Host: So, moving on.
Angelo: Just to tell you one thing more. And this is possible because many industries now are ready with robot machinery in the back office to produce custom products at the same cost of mass product. And so what does it mean that finally the handcraft industry has become more bigger than in the past?
It’s not only for artisans, now industry can be an artisan.
Host: So Zakeke merges the visual commerce, multimedia and design software. As a CEO, what gaps in the industry led you to create Zakeke?
Angelo: Oh, what I have seen is this kind of gap. I imagine that everyone will need these technologies. And what is the idea from my side is I can help any merchant in the long tail to offer this kind of new experience to their customers in the simplest ways as possible.
And what we’ve done in Zakeke is to transform this stronger, deeper experience in a plug and play solution with a business model that helps everyone to use this company. So, if you are a small company or maybe you are a guy that wants to sell t-shirts personalized online, you can use Zakeke spending maybe 30 euros per month. If you are a company like Valentino, maybe you are spending 200 euros per year.
But the technology is the same. There are some pieces of the service for sure that we all need to meet and incorporate, but the experience online is the same. And so, my vision is I want to help thousands, millions of e-commerce to move in the new era.
Host: So Zakeke recently earned 18 badges from G2 for its performance. So how do such achievements drive the company to continue delivering excellence?
Angelo: Yeah, my vision is that in this world, product is the king. So, I spend 75% of my resource on the product side, not on the marketing side, because in the mid long term, the word of mouth will become the strongest marketing tool I can use. So I want to see my customers always in a condition to feel happy, and I want to offer them a solution that is growing month by month.
So, what we do for doing that every two months, we release a new version of Zakeke to our customers, generally with more or less 20 new features and some things that are improving inside. So, the idea that we want to offer to our customers is excellence that is always looking at the future. And so, you can stay seat as a merchant in our app, not sit somewhere, but we are moving day by day in the future with you.
And so, you can feel comfortable that Zakeke will provide you in the future. Any new needs that you start feeling will be provided from the platform, because we are always looking for what new we can offer in this layer of experience, what we work for. That’s what we have done with AI in the last period.
For example, we have used AI to shortage the process in the operation when you need to set up thousands of products, for example. Or maybe one year ago you need 200 euros for doing that, and now you can do it in one minute.
Host: So lastly, AI is transforming industries. How is it helping the visual commerce and multimedia sectors?
Angelo: We are using AI a lot in many different pieces of our software. We use AI for optimizing some output like nesting for the uniform world. We use AI for helping industries to set up.
We use AI for fitting 3D models with parametric solution and to transform the 3D model that you have without any size in the right size, for example, for the try-on. This is a big problem for people that think to have the right 3D models, but they don’t know that the 3D model is done with a fantasy size. And when you start using it, maybe an act that you want to put on your head, it doesn’t work because it’s not the right size.
And we use AI and our software that is a 3D parametric to transform these 3D models at the right size so you can fit on your head, for example, in the case of the hat. And so you can use the try-on solution in the right way. And this is an auto-fitting that we do with AI inside the product.
This is one of the motivations that we have won the AI Breakthrough Award in New York some months ago as one of the best products in the retail that is using AI.
Host: That’s very interesting. So just to end this on a fun, on a light note, if there was one meal that you could eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Angelo: Oh, that’s a nice question. Oh, I can answer you, cartellate, but it’s difficult to understand. Cartellate is a very, it’s a sweet thing of my hometown.
And my grandmother used to prepare it when I was a baby and I eat a lot of this. And so, it’s one of my best flavor. And I think I can spend all my life eating it.
Host: All right. Thank you for being such a sport. Thank you, Angelo, for sharing your journey and insights into visual commerce, AI, and Zakeke’s role in the industry.
We really appreciate your time and expertise. Thank you so much.
Angelo: Thanks. Thanks a lot. Bye.
Host: Bye. Thank you, everyone, for being a part of today’s discussion. I’m Sayali, your host, signing off.
Join us in the next episode of ExtraMile by HiTechNectar, where we will have another extraordinary leader sharing their insights. Until then, please stay tuned.
