L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015 www.italoamericano.org 3 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS " L i f e i s s h o r t . L i v e y o u r dream": the quote Franco Denari shared with us is more than a way to approach life. It is what led him to success and has also helped become both the Founder and the CEO of Eataly Net. Born in Casale Monferrato in Piedmont, he was working in Italy as a digital expert when, in 2012, he realized that nobody had ever sold high-quality food and wine online. That's how a random idea soon became the goal of a small business that let Franco travel around Italy look- ing for companies interested in his project. After 73 presenta- tions, he eventually met Oscar Farinetti from Eataly and, after the second meeting, they decided to become partners: Eataly Net, the company which is now part of Eataly, started focusing on the online sale of wine and food and on the management of the online presence of Eataly brand. Y o u r t e a m i s c o m p l e t e l y made of Italians. How is that important in making the pro- ject successful? I believe that, in order to sell Italian food, it is also important to have a great knowledge of the products. In Italy, the food cul- ture is widespread and our prod- ucts are usually presented by those who have been using them for long time and know all the little differences. All people working at Eataly Net share the same passion and have one sin- gle mission: to transfer this love through their everyday's work, which can go from making a nice gift bag or replying to ques- t i o n s c o m i n g f r o m o u r c u s - tomers in a friendly way. We try to bring our spirit as foodies and connoisseurs of healthy eating to the world, because eating well also means living better. Statistics behind this pro- ject say that in the first half of 2015 the website had 3 million users connected. How do you explain it? When you sell high-quality p r o d u c t s a n d k e e p u s e r s engaged by telling great stories of Italian producers who are behind the success of Eataly, you will always have a great response. We do our best in order to offer more and more personalized experiences and a u n i q u e v a l u e p r o p o s i t i o n , designed to satisfy lovers of good food, who are interested in a new approach to the world of Italian food and wine. We are happy when our users reward us with their loyalty every single day. The website is more than an online platform hosting retailers. It's a place where users learn about food, tradi- tions, and so. This online expe- r i e n c e t u r n s t o b e j u s t unique... do you agree? Absolutely yes. Our website offers a unique experience for the users, taking them on a won- derful journey through Italy and the italianità, from the story- telling that can be found in our magazine to thousands of prod- ucts available online. Traditions are very important to us and talking about them is a crucial p a r t o f o u r m i s s i o n : w e a r e Italian, we love high-quality food and we want to bring our passion to the world. On the other hand, we totally embraced the idea that life is too short to eat and drink bad. W h i c h w a s t h e t o u g h e s t c h a l l e n g e y o u h a d t o f a c e when you started? Eataly's mission is to tell about Italian food and its differ- ent features: from the selection of the ingredients to the descrip- tion of the production process. When you walk into our stores, y o u w i l l f i n d a v e r y s p e c i a l atmosphere where everything relates to our stories: customers come to buy, but also to taste our products and understand them through an extensive cal- endar of courses and events. The hardest challenge was to have that same experience transferred in our website, by creating a place that combined the e-com- merce experience with informa- tion about the products, the pro- ducers, and the chefs. Today, with thousands of people choos- i n g o u r p r o d u c t s e v e r y d a y , together with a lot of hard work, we can certainly claim to be closer to our goal. How does mobile technolo- gy help increase the number of customers? N o w a d a y s , m o b i l e h a s become an important medium and we cannot disregard it. In the US, more than in Europe, a huge amount of traffic comes from mobile devices. Recent studies show that the decision- m a k i n g p r o c e s s s t a r t s f r o m there. For this reason, we are there for tablet and mobile users with a full responsive website: our goal is to provide the best experience possible to our cus- tomers, wherever they are and for whatever device they are using. Any special project coming up? I have new ideas coming in my mind every day and some- times I realize how hard is for other people to keep up with them. In 2016, we will work hard to boost our offer of fresh products. We are already selling fresh truffles and meat and, a few days ago, we also intro- duced caviar. These are high quality products that find a very high demand in the US. We are also planning to have new ways of subscription to deliver select- ed products at home, such as soft drinks or wine, as well as packages that will allow users to taste products before buying them. What's the next milestone? After a marathon you start to get ready for the next one: this is what we are doing. We like to innovate and introduce some- thing which is recognized as u n i q u e . T h i s i s w h y w e a r e working on major projects for the near future and we look for- w a r d t o s h o w i n g t h e m o n w w w . e a t a l y . c o m . C o m e a n d visit us! Franco Denari, CEO and Founder at Eataly Net A talk with Franco Denari to discover Eataly Net behind- the-scenes SERENA PERFETTO

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