As announced a little over a week ago, Sarbacane Software has just acquired the marketing automation platform Geer.io. During the e-commerce Paris 2015 exhibition, I had the opportunity to talk for half an hour with Alain Soundirarassouthe founder of Geer.io and with Mathieu TarnusCEO of Sarbacane Software.
Jonathan Loriaux : Last week you announced a buyout of geer.io by Sarbacane. Before talking about the reasons for the buyout, it would be interesting to know where the product came from and why you started the project. Was there a very specific gap detected in the market or...?
Alain Soundirarassou For many years now, I've been using marketing automation to boost sales on the e-commerce sites I manage. However, the solutions I was using were expensive and complex to use, and therefore inaccessible to small and medium-sized e-commerce sites. Yet the latter can completely take advantage of marketing automation to increase their sales. What was lacking was a solution adapted to these companies, in terms of usage, technology and pricing.
JL : Since your debut in 2013, have you seen other players develop in your niche? Did you arrive within a general movement towards this type of tool for more reasonable structures or is today, finally, the gap you are trying to fill still there?
AS In 2013, we identified that marketing automation was going to become a trend in the field of digital communication. Since then, other players have added a brick to their existing solutions, but today, I think we are still the only solution truly dedicated to 100 % e-commerce sites and entirely based on scenarios adapted to the life cycle of an e-commerce customer.
JL If I am an e-commerce site manager and I want to implement automation, what are the steps to deploy geer.io? How should I think about implementing marketing automation using your tool?
AS : With geer.io, it's quite simple. Today, we connect to Prestashop or Magento using a module. It's really plug and play. Once the e-merchant is connected, we will synchronize his data with Geer.io. Then, the configuration and activation of the scenarios is done directly on our platform.
JL Can you give us some examples of scenarios that are provided by default?
AS The added value of geer.io compared to other solutions is that it works with pre-configured scenarios. This makes the use of the solution much simpler. We have chosen to develop six scenarios that correspond to 90 % of the uses in marketing automation for e-commerce: the relaunch of abandoned carts, the relaunch of inactive customers, the customer's birthday, the welcome pack - that is to say, customers who have just opened an account, but who have not yet ordered -, the order follow-up and the reactivation of customers.
JL A few days ago, Sarbacane announced that it had bought geer.io. How did you meet and what is the brick you are trying to fill or the functional area you tried to strengthen at Sarbacane?
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Mathieu Tarnus We met in the microcosm of Parisian startups, we first discussed product, then, we quickly realized that we had a bit the same philosophy. We then met again at our place, at Sarbacane, and spent another afternoon discussing the product. And there, we said to ourselves that there was something to do. During the first 10 years of our life, we lived on our sole activity of publishing Sarbacane software. Since a few years, we started a strategy of diversification of our activities always in the digital and marketing universe and always for a target of SME. Marketing automation was at the top of the list of topics to explore. While we were thinking internally about what we could develop with our teams, we met Alain. Whether it was pure coincidence or a twist of fate, it all came together at the right time! This acquisition allows us to go faster and to integrate a solid team that is already well versed in the business.
JL Is it the first time that Sarbacane buys a company?
MT : Yes, it's the first time we've bought a company. But it might not be the last...
JL Agreed ;-).
MT Sarbacane Software has reached a certain level of maturity, the idea is to develop both in our traditional businesses, internationally, but also to diversify. We already started with Primotexto, three years ago. That was our own development. Geer.io is an acquisition, we are guided by opportunities and nothing else. What is interesting with Geer.io is its product approach, because it was very much in line with what we have always cultivated at Sarbacane, developing simple, effective and accessible software. Sarbacane has always been and will always be oriented towards very small companies and SMEs, towards companies that need simplicity. It is out of the question to evolve towards a "global" or catch-all offer in which our customers would certainly get lost. Gas plants costing tens of thousands of euros are not our thing at Sarbacane.
AS We agreed on the vision of what a product should be today. Our choice with this idea is to make something that is as simple as possible and that corresponds to 80 % of the market needs.
MT I would like to add that we are very attached to our job as a software publisher at Sarbacane, we appreciate when it is our customers who use our software solutions and not our Account Managers who work for them. We like self-service, and Geer.io is fully in this spirit.
JL If you like simplicity and clear and precise functionalities, does that mean that geer.io has already reached its level of maturity? Beyond the six scenarios that exist today, do you have any ideas on how to go further while keeping the simplicity of use behind the tool?
AS : Fortunately, there's still a lot to explore. I think we are really at the very beginning of what we can do. After that, we're definitely not chasing after adding features because we really don't want to create a gas factory. But there are still a lot of things to do in terms of marketing scenarios or media; I always considered that the goal of geer.io was to send the right message to the right person, but also via the right media. That's why, from the beginning, I integrated SMS marketing in addition to email. But we can imagine that tomorrow we can also communicate via other media. We try to give our customers the possibility to choose the most appropriate media for a given customer profile at a given time.
One Response
Hello,
I am the founding manager of the ShopyMind solution. Solution launched in early 2013.
I'm very happy that a direct competitor is finally emerging. It's a very good omen.
I just wanted to remind you that Geer is not the only one to offer a marketing automation solution exclusively for e-merchants since we also offer it since 2013 and appeared according to me, some time before Trigger. But Alain is aware of this since we have the pleasure to exchange together.
So there is an error that slipped into the interview.
This being said, I congratulate the Sarbacane and Geer team for this merger. It is important for consumers to have the choice of the solution they want to use.