Lessons learned in the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America Daniel Rabinovich CTO www.mercadolibre.com @drabinovich New York Aug 6th, 2012
Jun 11, 2015
Lessons learnedin the largest e-commerceplatform in Latin America
Daniel RabinovichCTOwww.mercadolibre.com@drabinovich
New YorkAug 6th, 2012
Who we are (1’)
Some data (2011):
13 countries - #1 in each country
14MM buyers, 5MM sellers
100K professional sellers (Nielsen)
4.8BN gross volume
53MM units sold
1.3BN gross payment volume
1600 employees
MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) is the largest e-commerce platformin Latin America, and one of the top 10 in the world (Comscore)
Big challenges
Complexity(Product)
Innovation(Platform)
Monochannel(Mobile)
Personalization(Social)
1999 2012
Substracting is harder than addingEach separate part made sense, but the resulting product was too complex
Old version (1/5 scale) New version (1/5 scale)
Simple is HardSteve Jobs: “Don’t come back until you achieved a phone with only one button”
Simplify, simplifyThoreau
Credit: Chris Nodder (N/N Group) and Rich Hickey (Clojure)
In our case, it required a deep change in the business modelIt takes more than just “Web Design”
Old Optional Feature Fees New “Listing Types” allow cleaner results
Revenue-induced features that harm user experienceAnother “brilliant” idea
Old version: paid pictures New version: all pics for free
Get out of the Monkey Trap
Re-think the pricing model
Business Units
Pricing Model
Revenue streams
It was neccesary to fix revenue induced anti-patterns
Big challenges
Complexity(Product)
Innovation(Platform)
Monochannel(Mobile)
Personalization(Social)
1999 2012
Our own properties must use the exact same API we’re sharing with 3rd partiesFrom a Website to a Platform
MELIProperties
MobileApps
DesktopApps
3rd PartyWebApps
BackOffice
One common API
Even in small teams, hard-decoupling enables sustainable growthDecoupling is a great investment
New browsing options, back-end solutions, etc 3rd parties contributing to the ecosystem
Big challenges
Complexity(Product)
Innovation(Platform)
Monochannel(Mobile)
Personalization(Social)
1999 2012
Mobile is larger than desktopPlus, accelerating migration to smartphones
Fuente: Business Insider
HTML5 is the future, but not the presentThe greatest quality is achieved on native platforms
Generate a great product for all platforms. If you can’t, focus on one (Instagram)Fragmentation is your problem, not user’s
Inhouse Via partners
Each platform has particular usability standards. An example: back button
Mobile web as a landingSorted by its impact: transactional e-mails, Facebook, Google
Big challenges
Complexity(Product)
Innovation(Platform)
Monochannel(Mobile)
Personalization(Social)
1999 2012
But no e-commerce site has unlocked its potential yetFacebook is eating the web
Source: Salesforce
It was always like this. Now we have the proper technology to take advangate of it.Social circles influence purchasing decisions
Credit to Paul Adams (Facebook)
Intent is easier to capture, but not stronger than behavior Special items for special circles
Custom verb “see” (a listing)Activity Feed Integration
“Seen listings” summaryTimeline integration
A combination of FB social widgets and periodic aggregationsTake advantage of the OpenGraph
“Chicken and egg” problem. Social products need connected users. Social is different from Viral
Clics
Connections
Publishers
StoriesViral FactorA*B*C *D
A = Connections per Clic
B = Publishers per connection
D = Clics per story
C = Stories per publisher
Credit to Ed Baker (Facebook)
It’s key to properly “close” the viral loopGrowth can be exponential
Key takeaways
This experience is for all websites, not only large ones.
Simple is Hard: substracting is easier than adding.
A/B testing is useless when evaluating dramatic changes.
HTML5 is the future, not the present.
Native apps deliver the best UX. Mobile web as a landing.
Social apps are useless unless they are truly viral.
Once virality is achieved, growth could be exponential
Lessons learnedin the largest e-commerceplatform in Latin America
Daniel RabinovichCTOwww.mercadolibre.com@drabinovich
New YorkAug 6th, 2012