Once again, during last June’s edition, Expo Riva Schuh & Gardabags placed innovation at the centre, intended both as a corporate feature and in terms of design and product. In this sense, the Innovation Village Retail project was re-proposed, of which the winning startup was declared among the 10 selected by the jury chaired by Alberto Mattiello, member of the fair’s scientific committee.
The startup climbed to the top step of the podium, and which will take part in the next edition of the event in January 2023, is Wonderflow, founded in Amsterdam in 2014 by the Italians Riccardo Osti, Giovanni Gaglione and Michele Ruini.
The company has launched on the market a platform capable of analysing the brands’ Voice of the Customer through artificial intelligence, starting from the large amount of digital data present on the net, such as reviews, surveys, feedback from service centres… Data that, once transformed, are essential elements on which to base the strategic decisions to be adopted.
At Expo Riva Schuh & Gardabags, Roberto Scaramuzzino, the company’s account executive, clearly explained what Wonderflow is and why it could also be a valid tool for the footwear and leather goods world.
“Millions of product reviews are written every day. Wonderflow is the simplest solution, based on artificial intelligence, to analyse them and transform this extremely vast flow of customer feedback into winning decisions.
Wonderflow’s unified VoC analysis helps companies understand, analyse and extract value from consumer feedback through online reviews, support centre registrations and the NPS – Net Promoter Score”.
How does it work in detail?
“Without going into technical specifications, Wonderflow’s artificial intelligence analyses the voice of customers around the world, buyers as well as competitors and, thanks to the Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology. Without the need for complicated procedures it provides easy-to-digest insights, so that everyone in the company can access the best information in seconds. Wonderflow collects all this data on its platform to which it applies an artificial intelligence engine and sentiment analysis tools to contextualise the data and extrapolate feedback that indicates the state of mind of consumers, what they love or dislike about a product. Added to this are predictive technologies that can indicate what impact certain actions can have with respect to sales or customer satisfaction. A way to measure results in advance and, thus, to better evaluate the individual strategies that a company intends to undertake”.
What advantages does such technology bring?
“It makes you better understand the aspects that have the most impact on consumers’ shopping experience. It tells you about the best digital shopping experiences in a country, the shortcomings of a particular competitor in a specific market, the most frequent complaints from consumers. Just to name a few examples of possible applications.
Wonderflow is a solution that allows companies to listen to the customer’s voice and, therefore, make more appropriate decisions, based on concrete and real feedback.
The brands that rely on Wonderflow are driven by consumers and are able to make winning decisions and take the right path, because it was indicated by the same consumers”.
What are the most common sources from which to obtain the data that Wonderflow needs?
“In the digitised world in which we move today, there is a lot of feedback available from those who buy the products: just think of the reviews on Amazon or those on the TrustPilot platform or Google Maps. Brands also increasingly involve customers in in-depth market surveys. In the same company management systems or in the e-mails received from service centres there is a lot of information that often gets lost”.
How did the growth path of the startup develop?
“The company is growing very well. Right now we are facing the second phase of funding research, after having secured a starting $ 20 million. Our goal now is to grow a lot on the US market, which is a crucial place for us”.
How would you rate the participation in the Innovation Village?
“Participating in an event like that of Riva del Garda and having the opportunity to show our system at such an important trade fair was an important showcase for us. We are very interested in understanding how supply and demand in the footwear and leather goods sectors move, like the expectations of distribution, the important themes and issues on the table. Moreover, being an event with a strong international propensity, has allowed us to meet people from all over the world and better understand how the distribution of the sector monitors the needs and feedback of customers”.
How do you imagine the fashion industry in 10 years?
“I may be biased, but I expect that increasingly more fashion houses will design their own collections starting from the suggestions that the customers themselves will provide. Knowing what they want for the next season will make it easier, more efficient (also in terms of costs), and more sustainable to create the collections of the future”.
