Baku, October 20, AZERTAC

Azerbaijan is actively developing its digital economy and building e-commerce infrastructure. The experience of successful international companies, such as Brazil's Privalia, can serve as a valuable reference for the local market. It's important not to simply adopt other companies' models but to adapt them to the specific needs and characteristics of Azerbaijani consumers. Effective growth requires addressing real local challenges and creating a unique user experience. Such approaches will help accelerate the development of e-commerce in Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus region.

AZERTAC presents an interview with Fernando Boscolo, an e-commerce expert and head of business development at Privalia, one of Brazil's leading e-commerce platforms, with extensive experience in creating and scaling digital projects.

-How do you assess the main factors behind Privalia's success in the Brazilian market, and which of these lessons can be applied to the development of e-commerce in Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus region?

-Our success is built on one main factor: we didn't just create an e-commerce platform, but a solution to a chronic problem in the fashion industry—excess inventory. This generated a virtuous cycle (flywheel) of organic growth, where the best brands attract customers, who in turn attract more brands, enabling sustainable growth with a low acquisition cost.

The lessons applicable to Azerbaijan are very direct. The first is to focus on solving real local problems; instead of just copying models, the value lies in identifying a genuine pain point in your industry and building the solution. The second, and equally crucial, is to empower national brands. In Brazil, for example, 80% of our sales come from local brands. Valuing domestic production creates a strong cultural connection with the consumer and strengthens the economy.

- Azerbaijan is actively implementing digital transformation and developing its online retail infrastructure. What advice would you give to Azerbaijani companies on how to effectively scale their e-commerce businesses?

- To scale, it is essential to understand that online shopping is divided into two journeys: the journey of need and the journey of experience. Purchases driven by need are about speed and efficiency. Purchases driven by experience, where Privalia operates, are about discovery and entertainment.

My advice is for them to define which arena they want to compete in. If it's in the experience arena, the success metric is about customer engagement time. Our users spend an average of 13 minutes on the platform because we transform shopping into entertainment, which we call 'Shoppertainment'. The path to scaling sustainably is to generate content and an experience so captivating that the purchase becomes a natural consequence.

- What are the main challenges you have encountered in managing a digital business in a rapidly changing market environment, and how do you think Azerbaijani entrepreneurs can prepare for these challenges?

- The main challenge of a digital business is to build relevance and trust in a market that is constantly changing. For a business to have longevity, it needs to be financially sustainable. We opted for conscious and profitable growth since 2015. This discipline gave us the autonomy to innovate and expand, transforming us into a cash-generating business, which is fundamental to thriving in the long term in retail.

Continuous relevance comes from the ability to reinvent oneself. We realized that our greatest asset was the attention of our engaged audience. Therefore, we evolved from an outlet to an ecosystem with a marketplace (Brandsplace) and media (Privalia Ads). This transformation is only possible with a culture that values agility. We adopted a 'done is better than perfect' mentality, which allows us to test, learn, and adapt at the speed the market demands.

- What technologies and innovations do you believe will be the main drivers of e-commerce growth in the coming years, and how can Azerbaijan leverage these trends to accelerate its digital development?

- Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, without a doubt, the engine of the next revolution in e-commerce. At Privalia, it is a central tool that we use to hyper-personalize the experience, creating a unique storefront for each of our 500,000 daily visitors.

AI also optimizes our operations by predicting demand and improving logistics, and it even accelerates our content creation at scale. The opportunity for Azerbaijan is to use AI to create a more relevant and personal experience for the consumer, freeing up teams from repetitive tasks so they can focus on higher-value interactions and relationship building.

- In the context of globalization and digitalization, how do you see the prospects for cooperation between the Brazilian and Azerbaijani markets, especially in the area of sharing experience and technology?

- I see immense prospects for cooperation, as both are dynamic markets that share the challenge of adapting global trends to their local cultures.

The most effective cooperation between our markets focuses on the exchange of strategic playbooks, going beyond the simple transfer of technology. The true competitive differentiator lies in the ability to adapt the business model to the local culture and consumer.

We can directly share our execution frameworks: our methodology for a genuinely mobile-first operation and our model for using business intelligence to accelerate national brands. This exchange of knowledge in market intelligence and strategic agility is the true engine for sustainable growth in dynamic markets.

- What lessons from the Brazilian experience with logistics, payment, and user experience can be useful for enhancing Azerbaijani e-commerce?

-The Brazilian experience offers practical lessons. In logistics, the keyword is flexibility; we operate with different models, from consignment stock to the marketplace, to adapt to the needs of each partner brand. In payments, the lesson from the Brazilian market is an obsession with removing friction at checkout, offering the methods that the local consumer prefers.

But it is in the user experience (UX) where the greatest lesson lies: the goal should be engagement. We designed our platform to be an entertainment destination, which results in an average browsing time of 13 minutes. The goal should not be just to facilitate a transaction, but to create a habit and a relationship of delight with the customer.