Sid – Welcome to Team vvast

By Richie Jones

At vvast, we are invested in producing an exemplary platform to scale brands. Building on our solid technology infrastructure is a no brainer, but front and centre is a commitment to our brilliant team. It takes time and focus to develop the right culture to attract and retain talent. It’s also imperative to strategically target the right skillset at the right time of the business growth.

We have a vision to empower all our brands to own the three core pillars of  D2C success of direct brand website, brand bricks and motar and marketplaces where many discover new brands for the first time (Amazon has more product searches than Google).      

Our marketplace offer is primarily focused on protecting the brand and empowering the brand to take control of its brand registry for example.

Riche Jones, vvast CEO commented “Finding Sid, we lucked out and have found a Marketplace Manager who brings the right expertise and is a great cultural fit. We’ve been looking for someone bring the marketplace channel to life for our portfolio of brands and add more brand protecting value to the vvast offering. His experience has already been demonstrated with the work we’ve kicked off with Stance, launching a marketplace that allows them to control the price and manage the value exchange to build brand equity.”

He went on to state, “One of the biggest challenges brands face when coming from America to EMEA is a lack of knowledge around EU laws and potential pitfalls. In the US, brands can simply pull out of a wholesale account and switch off a marketplace offer; however, in the UK and EU markets there’s no semblance of that control. That’s where vvast step in.”

Sid explained, “Marketplace frameworks have evolved massively, and they are scaling rapidly. It is no longer a simple task of creating a listing and hoping your product sells. Content and Performance marketing are both vital for success, as the move away from traditional brick and mortar retail means customers now want to look and feel the product they buy through the images and media available online. In the recent past, marketplaces have added massive advertising space, however, the growth in the number of sellers by far outweighs it, leading to a bidding war for the available space, this makes it necessary to manage the advertising dollars effectively. I am really looking forward to working with our existing client base and building out a marketplace play to help brands control and grow the channel”

He added “ Traditionally brands have been sensitive about disturbing their wholesale dynamics, leaving the marketplace space open to the resellers. This leads to the brand being represented poorly, and potentially losing out on the marketplace potential. At vvast we are partnering with brands and sharing our expertise in the industry, build the right inclusive strategy and define a road map for the brands to realise and achieve their marketplace objectives which ultimately should be brand protecting.”