Top 25 eCommerce leaders 2022: Cristiano Giacchè

Making it as a top 25 candidate is Cristiano Giacchè (pictured). He currently leads the eCommerce operations at Schneider Electric across all emerging markets – from strategy definition to execution.

Much of his work covers the global sphere of Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Greater India, East Asia, Japan, and the Pacific, giving him visibility to the nuances each market presents.

Having joined the company in 2014, he has seen the company’s evolution in the eCommerce space. At present, he is also part of the global eCommerce leadership team at Schneider Electric which defines the strategic direction and the priorities in eCommerce for the Schneider Electric group.

While originally from Italy, a large part of his education and work experience has been in Asia. In 2021, the company moved him to Singapore to lead the eCommerce operations of Schneider Electric across emerging markets, with his responsibility covering products and services of the group being sold through all eCommerce models – be it distribution, marketplaces or owned channels.

Interestingly, much of the work is done in-house for the brand. Giacchè also shared the company builds on its capabilities through a clear operating model through directly engaging with channel partners and driving growth and innovation.

A believer of great experiences, he said there is an exponential rate of change driven by technological advancement, for which companies must prepare ahead of time.

In parallel, expectations of both sellers and buyers in the value chain have become more sophisticated and more demanding.

When asked for details on a campaign the team at Schneider Electric was particularly proud of, he shared the success of the “What does home mean to you?” campaign in Vietnam. With a significant rising population and a fast growing GDP growth rate, there has been a soaring demand among the residential segment in Vietnam in which the annual average category growth accounts for more than 20%.

“As part of a market expansion, one of the key enablers to drive a business objective is focusing on the end users, mainly homeowners. When building a house in Vietnam, it is a common practice that the contractor is the key person to make decisions for wiring devices,” he explained.

However, Schneider Electric wanted to change this norm by conveying an emotional story to promote product awareness, develop consideration, and boost the sales conversion through relevant promotions on an eCommerce platform. The team set out to place content assets on the landing page of Schneider Electric’s website, presenting different sets of banners built in sequence to create a story through paid ads on social media.

“The team designed the holistic approach to continuously engage with potential customers and drive conversion by feeding the key message, types of residence, followed by products and promotions,” he said