Matt Gertner, the visionary Founder and CEO of Salsita, has steered his company towards groundbreaking innovations in the eCommerce landscape. Established in 2010 in Prague, Salsita started as a small software development agency focused on web and mobile app development. Over the years, it has grown into a multidisciplinary team of over 70 top designers and engineers, specializing in creating sophisticated 3D product configurators with integrated AI technology.
Matt’s inspiration for the 3D product configurator with an AI chatbot came from recognizing the challenges users faced with traditional configurators. His vision was to simplify the complex configuration process, transforming it into an intuitive and engaging conversational experience. When he encountered ChatGPT, Matt saw its potential to revolutionize user interaction, leading to the development of Salsita’s Conversational Configurator. This innovative solution integrates a true Conversational UI, making it user-friendly and seamlessly blending into the overall configurator experience.
Salsita’s Conversational Configurator is designed to enhance customer satisfaction and engagement, particularly in the furniture and luxury goods sectors. By providing real-time guidance and personalized assistance, it helps customers create custom products with ease, reducing the frequency of abandoned configurations and returns. This technology has already shown significant promise, with successful implementations for high-end brands like L’Atelier Paris Haute Design.
Under Matt’s leadership, Salsita continues to push the boundaries of eCommerce technology, aiming to integrate conversational AI across various product categories. With a keen focus on innovation and user experience, Salsita is poised to shape the future of eCommerce, offering solutions that cater to the evolving needs of both retailers and consumers. Happy Future Ai talked to Matt about he and his companies journey to now.
Introduction to Salsita:Can you tell us about Salsita and what inspired the creation of the 3D product configurator with an AI Chatbot?
“We have been working on configurators for a few years now. Having done a number of configuratorimplementations for clients, one of the most common issues is that users find them relatively difficult to use Mastering a 3D configurator is a much more involved task than most of the things people do on a typical e-shop: searching for products, adding products to their cart, paying, etc.Imagine your grandmother trying to create her cabinets from scratch using the PAX configurator on the IKEA website, and you’ll see what I mean.When I saw ChatGPT, I felt immediately that it could hold the key to making complex configuration taskseasier for the average user. This led to the implementation of our Conversational Configurator, which turns the configuration ordeal into a pleasant, natural conversation.”
Behind the Configurator:
● How does the AI chatbot in your configurator work, and what makes it unique compared to other AI solutions in the market?“The chatbot is given a bunch of information about the company and product, as well as instructions on how to assist the user during the configuration process. It is then able to provide guidance, advice and answers to the user in a way that is similar to a human sales representative or designer.What makes the approach unique is that it is a true Conversational UI rather than just a chatbot bolted onto an existing UI. We have done a huge amount of UX design and research to make sure that the chatinterface is seamlessly integrated into the overall configurator experience.”
Impact on eCommerce:● In what ways do you believe conversational AI and your 3D configurator will shape the future ofeCommerce, particularly in terms of convenience and sustainability?“There are a few dimensions to this:– For configurators, we expect this technology to make it easier for consumers to create the productof their dreams. Whereas we know from our clients that a lot of users currently abandon theconfiguration process, we expect more users to make it through to the end and buy something,because they can get help and advice when they need it.– For e-commerce more broadly, we’ve spoken to a lot of brands, and they all recognize that thecurrent buying experience (which we call the “sea of thumbnails”) is suboptimal. Conversational UIcan enable a more human, approachable experience that leads to higher engagement and sales,since buyers are more likely to find the product they want and to have the confidence to make thepurchase.– In terms of sustainability, the key is to reduce the frequency of returns that result when people buysomething that doesn’t actually meet their requirements. By providing help and guidance viaConversational UI, we significantly reduce the risk of this happening.”
Company Background:
Salsita was established in Prague in 2010. Can you share some insights into the company’s journey and growth over the past decade?“Salsita has had an exciting journey since its inception in 2010. We started as a small software development agency focused on web and mobile app development. Over the years, we’ve expanded our expertise and services, growing into a multidisciplinary team of over 70 top designers and engineers. Our growth has been driven mainly by referrals and repeat business from our existing customers, which I feel is a testament to the quality of our team.Our pivot towards 3D product configurators that integrate AI technology has been a significant milestone, driven by our desire to specialize and increase the added value we offer to our clients. There are limits to how far you can go as a generalist web agency, especially when you are differentiated more by quality than price. And while it’s been fascinating to watch Prague evolve from a sleepy Eastern European backwater into a vibrant Western city, this has meant that we cannot rely on a low cost base and need to up our game in terms of the solutions we offer.”
Team Expertise:
With over 70 top designers and engineers on your team, what unique skills and expertise do they bring to the development of Conversational Configurators?“I’m a software engineer by background and training, and our biggest strength has always been inengineering. We’ve had a lot of success recruiting and retaining talented programmers. In more recentyears, we have made UX a major focus and we’ve managed to build up an exceptionally skilled team in that area as well.With more and more web app logic moving from the back-end tier to the front end, front-end frameworks like React have exploded in popularity. Over the years, this has led to us acquiring excellent front-end skills. I often say that the secret of our success has been hiring great back-end developers and training them to do front-end development, although of course, we do a lot of back-end development as well.This turned out to give us the perfect set of skills to work on Conversational Configurators. The configurator user interface requires great front-end chops. You are working with 3D models on desktop and mobile, and everything has to be fast and fluid. The engineering skills of our developers (most of whom have at least a Masters degree in Computer Science) were essential to mastering the ChatGPT API and figuring out the best way to use it in a real-world application. And finally, with Conversational UI being new to most users, you need talented UX designers and researchers to create an experience that users will embrace and want to use.”
B2B2C Market Focus:
How did you identify the B2B2C eCommerce market as a key focus for Salsita, and what challenges and opportunities have you encountered in this space?“I’m reminded of the bank robber who, when asked why he robbed banks, answered “Because that’s where the money is.” eCommerce is a great market to be in because there’s a lot of money flowing through it in a transactional way that makes it straightforward to show ROI on technology investments. We also landed a configurator gig in 2019 with SCUF Gaming (now part of Corsair), which opened our eyes to the potential of the B2B2C opportunity. So to some extent, our entry into this market was just a question of luck andcircumstances.In my view, the big opportunity in the eCommerce space right now is the move towards headless orcomposable commerce. In the past, most eCommerce implementations were based on big-iron monolithic platforms from companies like SAP and Adobe. More recently companies have seen the benefit in moving. Towards a more modular architecture where the front- and back-end are decoupled. As a result, there is a lot more scope for companies to enter the market with best-of-breed components that can be pieced together like Lego with products from other vendors.This has opened up the prospect of innovating in specific areas of the eCommerce landscape by takingadvantage of the latest AI technologies. The main challenge right now is cutting through the hype and noise in the AI space so that solutions like ours, which incorporate carefully designed UX and a lot of solid engineering, get the exposure they deserve. It’s also proven more difficult than we expected to get users to try out and embrace Conversational UI when they’ve often been disappointed by chat-based user interfaces in the pre-ChatGPT era.”
Product Range:
Your configurators cater to a wide range of products including furniture, kitchen and bath, outdoor living, and luxury goods. How do you ensure the configurator meets the specific needs of these diverse product categories?“In this respect, our background as a service company has been extremely valuable. It is in our DNA to gain a deep understanding of the client’s requirements and do a thorough analysis of the appropriate solution, before we kick off development. Naturally, this leads to budgets that are higher than for generic cookie-cutter solutions, of which there are a lot in the configurator space. Nonetheless, thanks to our configurator platform the cost is far lower than for true custom development.”
Innovation in Furniture Customization:
Can you provide examples of how your Conversational Configurators are being used in the furniture industry to enhance customer satisfaction and engagement?“Our first 3D configurator client was a Dutch furniture company called KILO. It is a great case study in how 3D configurators can impact a brand selling configurable products directly to consumers. Before they had a configurator on their site, customers had to come into their store in person to buy a custom piece of furniture. Now they can do the design themselves on KILO’s website. We automated the whole process from design to manufacturing, so when the customer submits their order the 3D design goes straight to the CNC machines that cut the wood. It is then flatpacked and shipped, with minimal intervention needed from staff at any point in the process.A good example of the conversational aspect is Centro Cushions. They are a spin-off of a successful USupholstery business allowing customers to design and order their own custom cushions and pillows. Weused Conversational UI to create “Fabrizio”, a bot that helps you choose the right fabric from hundreds ofalternatives. You can ask in plain English for a pet-friendly fabric with red stripes, and it will immediatelyshow you the options that match your criteria.”
Impact on Luxury Goods:
How does Salsita’s technology impact the customization and purchasing experience for luxury goods, and what feedback have you received from high-end retailers and their customers?“The best showcase of our work with luxury brands is our Conversational Configurator for L’Atelier ParisHaute Design, a maker of custom French kitchen ranges. The ranges cost $30,000 and up, so these are not impulse purchases and the buyers tend to be wealthy. It’s hard to make that kind of sale in a purely online setting. By providing high-quality 3D models, we make it much easier for the customer to see what the final product will look like and therefore make the purchase with confidence. The conversational aspect allows them to get advice and ask questions without having to pick up the phone and call the store.
Vision for the Future:
Looking ahead, what is your vision for the future of Salsita and the role of Conversational Configurators in transforming the eCommerce landscape?“We are already looking beyond configurators to apply our Conversational UI to a broader range ofeCommerce scenarios. We feel that the flow when purchasing a product like a dishwasher, bicycle or skis is similar to that of a configurator, even if they are mass-produced and not made to order. We are thereforeadapting the configurator UX for these types of use cases. The goal is to show the user the best product for their criteria, with a couple of sensible alternatives, rather than overwhelming them with a “sea ofthumbnails” depicting dozens of almost identical-looking products.Conversational UI is hugely valuable in these scenarios as well, since the products are often quite technical and the user may not be familiar with all the options or understand exactly what they mean. When buying an oven or a mountain bike, we might have previously relied on a salesperson or knowledgeable friend. Thanks to Conversational UI, we can now confidently make the purchase ourselves without outside help.”
Collaborations and Partnerships:
Have you formed any notable collaborations or partnerships that have helped drive the development and adoption of your configurators?“One of our key partnerships is with L’Atelier Paris Haute Design, the maker of high-end custom kitchensthat I mentioned earlier. We did an initial configurator for them in 2021. As soon as we started working onthe Conversational Configurator after the release of ChatGPT, they were enthusiastic about the idea andagreed to be our launch partner for this functionality. Since then, they have been an invaluable source offeedback and ideas, as well as quantitative data about user behavior that we garner from the analytics weinclude as part of our configurator.When you are using Conversational UI to basically fill the role of a sales representation in an e-commercescenario, it is essential to understand in detail how real-world salespeople interact with customers. It is also important to understand your client’s short and long-term goals and how this new technology can potentially help to achieve them. For all these reasons, having a launch customer to work with has been a vital part of the process of bringing our Conversational Configurator to fruition.”
Customer Support and Training:
What kind of customer support and training do you provide to retailers and their staff to ensure they can effectively use and benefit from your configurators?“Once again, our agency background comes into play here and we work closely with clients during theimplementation phase and do an in-depth handover once the project is completed. Because thedevelopment is typically a collaborative effort, the client does not usually need any training in theconfigurator itself. We do provide training in any self-service tools we provide for e.g. updating pricinginformation, and we are available for any other assistance throughout as part of our maintenanceagreement.We also implement detailed product and behavioral analytics as part of our standard delivery, and weintegrate these into the customer’s existing analytics infrastructure and tooling.”
Adapting to Market Trends:
How does Salsita stay ahead of market trends and continuously innovate to meet the evolving needs of the eCommerce industry?“Mostly this is a natural outgrowth of our marketing and sales efforts. Every sales call is an opportunity tolearn a bit more about the market, customer priorities, competition, and emerging technologies. We alsoattend events like Shoptalk Europe, where we have the chance to speak to literally dozens of relevantcompanies over the course of a few days to learn about the trends that are most relevant to them.
A significant part of my role personally is to stay on top of both market and technology trends. I activelyfollow a number of websites and podcasts that provide regular insights into where the market is taking us. I also post regularly on LinkedIn about areas of interest, which is a great way to strike up conversations with experts in our industry as well as potential clients. Finally, I write a newsletter on LinkedIn called Conversialize about the intersection between Conversational UI and e-commerce, which is an excellent medium for organizing and getting feedback on my latest thoughts and our product development initiatives.”
Matthew Gertner – Founder and CEOMatthew is a serial entrepreneur who studied computer science and linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. He still likes to get his hands wet writing code or torturing his colleagues with detailed code reviews when not trapped in a seemingly never-ending series of meetings and video calls.