VTEX has developed an online store platform from scratch and now serves more than 2,000 stores throughout the world among which Sony, Calvin Klein, Pandora, Lancôme, C&A, Coca-Cola, Danone, Disney and Electrolux.
“Our target is to gain 20 customers in twelve months,” Mariano Gomida de Faria, CEO and co-founder of VTEX, told ZF.
The target here is not just gaining customers, but become the representative voice of the industry. When people in the industry need advice, they should turn to us, he added.
The company started as a provider of personalized IT solutions for companies in 1999 and then specialized on the textile industry. It gradually invested in developing its own software solution and after winning the contract to develop the online platform of US’ Walmart in Europe in 2007 focused only on its solution for online stores.
It already had 117 clients in 2012, went to 250 in 2013, and more than 500 in 2014. Its solution is now powering more than 2,400 online stores in more than 20 countries, Mariano Gomida de Faria said.
VTEX, which posted $40 million revenue in 2016, provides retailers with a standard online commerce platform with a series of features added based on their needs.
The most used platform in Romania is Magento, which is an open ecosystem. Developers don’t know the whole picture of the electronic commerce, only a small part of it. Under the circumstances, the owners of online stores cannot make optimal decisions because they are not offered the whole picture. Therefore, the market in Romania needs such a player, he added.
Online retailers in Romania are currently using either online commerce platforms developed in house like eMAG does or a solution like Magento or a solution personalized to their needs, such as offered by local software developer ContentSpeed.
VTEX charges 3% to 4.5% the online sales of retailers as its fee.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)