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The post Get ready for eCom Business Live! appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

By Sandra Galiano - "If you don't show it, it doesn't exist" - This is one of the mottos we follow in Business Analytics. In theory, it could be applied to many things. You can be the best at your job or what you do, but if you don't demonstrate it, you don't allow others to see it, and it will never be known. 

When we work on a project involving technical concepts like regressions, analysis, data processing, and big data techniques, we gain a deep understanding of how they work and use them to achieve our desired results. For instance, we can predict a company's future, identify reasons for poor product sales, or determine the best time to adjust prices for specific products. These are only a few examples of the countless outcomes that advanced data techniques can offer to companies. 

Here we face a problem: the engineer will understand us, your fellow data scientist will understand you and other analysts will understand you, but with the director, executive, and decision-makers, who may lack technical knowledge, we face a challenge. 

We can't simply present tables filled with numbers, code scripts, and predictive models during meetings and expect everyone to comprehend.

This is where data visualization comes into play. By creating visual and graphical representations of our insights and conclusions, we can make them understandable to those without data expertise. In doing so, we can effectively communicate the value of our data-driven decisions and ultimately achieve our project goals. 

How do you present your insights? 

Insights are usually presented in one or several dashboards. These are canvases where information is displayed in a style that mixes infographics and graphical representations. 

The dashboards can be adapted to different platforms where the graphics will be displayed, such as mobile screens, desktop screens, etc.

The main advantage of dashboards is their digital nature. Before, if you wanted to present your graphs, you had to print them and explain them. You've probably seen thousands of photos on the internet of a table full of papers with graphs. What problems does this approach entail? 

1. The obvious paper and resource consumption 

2. It's not efficient: To begin with, in a physical format, less information can be condensed and related than in a digital format, and the most important thing is that it's static. 

When we have a dynamic dashboard, we can establish filters and "play" with the screen to see the information we want or more specific information.

Before, if you have a sheet with a graph of, for example, all the products sold in a store in a month by quantity to your superior, and he/she said, "No, but now I want to see the specific sales of this product in this location," you had to go to the computer, edit the graph, print it again, and explain it again. This way, we save not only time and resources but also the person seeing it feels more functional when interacting with the dashboard and seeing how they can find the information. 

The Rules of Data Visualization 

- Colors: Colors are very important, they must be visually appealing and aesthetic. Most software programs come with pre-made color palettes that combine well and provide a clear view of the information. 

- Categories: Categories are preferably each represented by a different color. This way, the legend or label only needs to be placed once. That is, if in Chart 1, blue represents Product X and red represents Product Y, it is ideal only to specify once that red is X and blue is Y, and therefore assume that in the rest of the charts that have the variables X and Y, these colors will be used. There's no need to explain what blue and red represent in each chart.

- Gradations: They are important; sometimes there are no categories but gradations, such as the number of inhabitants on a map. We will represent the higher numbers with darker colors and the lower ones with lighter colors, in a scale. But it is best to use the same color, only changing the darkness or lightness of the color. 

- 3D figures should not be used on a dashboard unless essential. The reason is simple: we want to simplify complexity, why make it complicated? If we use 3D graphics, our audience's brain will have to work harder, first converting the image into 2D in their mind, then understanding the representation, and finally interpreting the graph. This is partly why some people get headaches when watching 3D movies because their brain is working on converting the images into 2D, which is what we are used to. 

- Filters: We have mentioned them before to make dashboards dynamic. They should be placed on the edges or corners of the dashboard, never in the middle. 

- Tree Maps: They are the great hated ones. Care must be taken when using them. They will be helpful when we have few variables that are very different from each other because the distinction would be clear. Still, in terms of percentages, they can make it more difficult to differentiate which square is larger or smaller than another, especially when you move away from the dashboard, as would happen with the audience of a presentation. 

- Pie Charts: Categories in pie charts are represented from largest to smallest. The more significant categories are painted from the center to the right, and the smaller ones are left at the end of the circle. This is because the more significant categories are usually the ones people are more interested in seeing at a glance. 

💡 Extra tip: It is best to create a public dashboard with important conclusions first, and then, if you want to go deeper, you could give each part you want to focus on its panel.

How to choose the right chart? 

To choose the appropriate chart, it is essential to consider the type of data being visualized and the objective of the visualization. 

● Bar charts: are used to compare numerical values. They help show the distribution of a categorical variable in a data set. 

● Line charts: are used to display trends and patterns over time. They help visualize time series data and compare multiple variables.

● Pie charts: are used to show the proportion of each category in a data set, especially when you want to highlight the proportion of each category, but are not recommended if you want to show multiple categories or compare values.

● Scatterplots: are used to show the relationship between two numerical variables. They help show patterns or trends. 

● Area charts: are used to show the evolution of a numerical variable over time. They help compare multiple variables on the same chart.

● Histograms: are used to show the distribution of a continuous numerical variable. They help visualize the frequency of each value or range of values in a data set. 

● Box plots: are used, for example, to represent actions or results derived from data mining. They are graphs that collect different types of information at a single glance. 

Many charts can be used to visualize different types of data. The choice of the appropriate chart will depend on the nature of the data, the objective of the visualization, and the audience to whom the information is being presented. 

Data Visualization Tools 

Multiple data visualization software is available with powerful tools to manage, clean, transform, and analyze data.

The most recognizable and appreciated tools in the field of Business Analytics are: 

● Microsoft Power BI: a tool that is also a Business Intelligence solution that provides a wide range of data visualization functions, including pivot tables, charts, and diagrams. 

● Tableau: offers a wide range of functions and tools for effectively visualizing data in an easy-to-understand way. 

● Google Data Studio: an online data visualization platform that allows you to create customized and interactive reports and dashboards. It also integrates with other Google tools, such as Google Analytics and Google Sheets. 

● QlikView: a Business Intelligence tool that offers a wide range of data visualization tools, including pivot tables, charts, and diagrams. 

● D3.js: a JavaScript data visualization library that allows you to create customized and highly interactive visualizations. 

It is important to note that the field of data visualization is constantly evolving, and staying up-to-date with the latest tools and techniques can give you a competitive edge in the job market. As companies increasingly rely on data-driven insights to inform their decision-making processes, the demand for skilled data professionals who can effectively communicate complex data through visualization will only grow. 

Moreover, becoming proficient in data visualization can also benefit your personal career growth. By presenting your data in a visually compelling and informative way, you can effectively communicate your insights to stakeholders and decision-makers, making you a valuable asset to any organization. 

So, whether you're a data analyst, scientist, or simply interested in data visualization, investing time and effort in learning these tools and techniques can bring great rewards both professionally and personally.

About the author: Sandra is a tech-savvy young entrepreneur currently President of Generación Empresarial, a youth-oriented university association committed to creating the next generation of successful European business leaders.

🔥 Check out more about Sandra here!🔥

The post Master the Art of Data Visualization: Tips and Techniques for Captivating Insights appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

The European entrepreneur differentiates from other entrepreneurs globally in many ways: for once they have to battle in a remarkably competitive market. Europe is filled to the brim with high-quality brands, companies that have centuries of history, and even some of the world's top-notch technological and industrial brands. 

Do you want to know more about international commerce, e-commerce, and also get all the tips and news that might give your company an edge? Subscribe to Cross-Border Magazine and get your digital copy now for free!

This is by no means an easy market. Especially for those who are just starting from scratch. 

So, what can we do to be successful as European entrepreneurs? Let’s find it out today! 

How to be an entrepreneur in Europe?

First things first, to be an entrepreneur in Europe you need two fundamental things: comply with all the current legislation that will allow you to enact your commercial activity in whichever country of the Union you are based, and secondly, have the nerves and the steel to pursue a total commitment towards acquiring or developing the following five traits. 

Otherwise, your story as an entrepreneur will be short-lived and probably doomed to fail. 

Legal requirement to start a business in the EU

Depending on the country that you choose, the type of business, and the legal formula you want to use - either be a company, a limited society, or a corporation just to mention a few - you will face different kinds of requisites to be able to legally operate inside the EU. 

And please, do pay attention to this first step. Becoming an entrepreneur in the EU is something that you can not do outside of the law. This is not like it happens in Latin America or India - just to put two examples - where you can start rolling out with your business and eventually find your way around all the legal paperwork. 

Laws concerning commercial activities in the EU are enforced with keen zeal by each member state government and often carry with them heavy sanctions that can fatally wound any fledgling business.  

• Don't even start your business if you do not have all the legal requirements for your commercial activity. Not even to “try out” with just a “few quick sales among friends” for this could bring legal consequences for you, your business, and your brands. 

If you want to know more about what specific legal requirements you need to comply with, we highly recommend that you check your desired business activity requirements on the corresponding website of the national authority for that activity in the country in which you want to operate. 

And you can also use this official link to have a general idea of the requisites inside the EU. 

Entrepreneurs are flexible and resilient 

With the legal part of our chests, we can start checking out some core traits that will give you the cutting edge if you plan to become a European Entrepreneur. 

And the first one is to develop business flexibility. This is fundamental in Europe.  

Business flexibility is the ability of a company to adapt to changing circumstances and thus remain a profitable enterprise. A business that is able to anticipate changes in consumer preferences and alter production to meet those new expectations has a much better possibility of continuing over the long term. 

For this reason, including measurement of flexibility within the company operation is often considered key to assessing the strength of the business, and thus arriving at an accurate understanding of the potential for business endurance.

This becomes acutely important in highly competitive markets, like the European one, where a new product or a product innovation for an already established product, can shift the entire “balance of power” for that particular activity, plunging into the deeps of the ocean those companies incapable of adapting themselves to the new competitor. 

Entrepreneur Lifestyle: focus and commitment

Focusing on your goals, and pursuing them relentlessly is also a fundamental trait for the European entrepreneur. The EU market is highly competitive but, it is also considered stable from an inflation and economic perspective. 

This in turn allows for long-term plans to be implemented with a certain degree of accuracy, as long as “ceteris paribus” applies, meaning, as long as no massive innovation or breakthrough comes to light in your line business. 

For the European entrepreneur, success is usually achieved via discipline. It's a marathon, not a sprint. 

So try to keep your long-term plans on the horizon, be focused on the small things that you can do to improve every single day, and pursue the mid and short-term goals with relentless dedication. 

Keep in mind that, in the EU, most small businesses take at least 2 to 3 years to be profitable and become truly successful once they’ve hit the 7 to 10 year mark. 

An Entrepreneur is smart and keeps learning

Finally, the third component you must have is the will and wisdom to keep learning. You need to understand that entrepreneurship in general, is a lifelong vocation. This is not a second plate gig that you can do “just to increase a bit more my revenues” it doesn't work like that. 

To be successful you must dominate a lot of things that are, by their own nature, everchanging: payment methods, logistics, competition, markets, and so on and so forth. 

So when we said “you need to keep learning” it is not a recommendation or guideline, is a requisite. You need to set time apart from your daily schedule to learn every day a bit about the things that might impact your business. 

For many entrepreneurs, this comes as a natural thing, because well, normally those with curious minds end up choosing the adventurous path of entrepreneurship. But if you feel lacking in this department, it might come in handy to develop a routine of “continuous improvement”. 

This is a nice way to do it by combining intellectually challenging activities with hobbies but you can rest assured that we will also provide you with our own Cross-Border Guide for Entrepreneurs to Keep Learning in the near future! 

Finally, we want to leave you with two more unofficial traits that, even if they are not technically needed to be successful, we can highly recommend: 

Be humble and efficient and be yourself and unique. 

Do not think that you know already all that there is to know about any specific part of your business or the market, and have the degree of human decency to give allowance for your own mistakes or for other people to make mistakes in good faith. 

Things, sometimes don’t go the way we want them. And we can’t be crucifying the whole world for the slightest mistakes. 

In that same line of thought, you can perfectly well be efficient without being rude. Finally, try to be yourself. Being different is good for a brand or product. It makes you earn a place in the mind of the consumers, it gives you identity. As an entrepreneur it applies the same principle: be unique, be yourself. That’s the best way to stand among the crowd!

The post Entrepreneur: 3 core traits for success in Europe! appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

This article previously appreared in the Cross-Border Magzine nr. 2, December 2016

How did you come up with this business model and why does it make sense?
“The idea originated back in 2009. We talked to a lot of young growth companies which reached the limits of their growth with performance marketing. Search volume was capped, and so was the revenue of the online retailer. Companies sought ways to acquire new customers. Performance marketing is a nice instrument but at some stage you need to reach out further to get new customers. We thought ‘How can we help these companies grow, and supply opportunities to new companies entering that vertical?’. We concluded that we could offer TV-advertisement and help them to become real ‘household brands’. We did just that with Zalando, by holding a massive campaign. When you look back in Google trends to the point where we started TV advertising, the organic search volume for ‘buy shoes online’ and ‘Zalando’ explode. This shows that Zalando became very efficient as a brand, they received more branded traffic and marketing got cheaper. People were looking for ‘Zalando’, which is much cheaper than ‘buy shoes online’. Also, the generic search terms gained more volumes, so new players could enter this vertical. We did not just create household brands, we created a whole new market. Then we replicated this model for other vertical markets, and we are still doing this now.”

Why can’t European companies accomplish this on their own?
“A good example is Starbucks. Coffee was always common in Europe, but even so, Starbucks arrived and became very popular. They had the capital and thus they pulled it off, whereas coffee is something drink everywhere. In Germany, it seems SME’s don’t want to invest in big marketing and branding efforts, or they don’t have the money to stand up against equivalents from abroad. Europeans have to realise that this is important. You must be quick and take your market, otherwise somebody else will come and take it away. Don’t wait until market entry barriers become too high. There is always a momentum to build new markets and we have a the-winner-takes-it-all approach where we help companies scale quickly and take market share.”

Do you also support international expansion outside Germany?
“Right now, the focus is still on companies from abroad scaling up in Germany, but we are increasingly looking to stimulate activities in other countries. We are investing in operating companies as well, such as Parship and Amorelie, where we have majority stake. As these companies expand internationally, we help them and gather expertise. The next phase could be to expand German start-ups to other countries, where we could use our European Media Alliance partnerships with big broadcasting stations, to compile a similar offer in other countries.”

Where does SevenVentures stand today?
“We are currently working with about 60 companies, some with media for equity, some with media for revenue, others with a mix of both. Our advantage is that we fully understand how marketing works. We don’t only give them cash, we also offer advertisement time, help to develop campaigns, use influencer marketing and support them on the ground with operations and expertise. “

Isn’t TV becoming a fading channel?
“Absolutely not, it is still very powerful! People still love to watch TV, so marketing there is very important. It still has a substantial reach, even though the average age is changing. However, we have to be dynamic and also look at other media outlets, such as YouTube, social media or influencer marketing, as these channels are gaining traction. Our Studio 71 manages YouTube stars and we provide influencers to companies such as L’Oréal. But if you listen to big brands, they like this as an additional channel, and stress how they still need classic advertising. With the influencers, you don’t have control how they represent the brand.”

How are the companies scouted?
“In Europe and beyond, we see a lot of companies that have an interesting business model. We scout companies, and then help them to adapt their business models to the German market. We have offices in various countries including Sweden, Poland and Germany, to be as close to potential leads a possible.”

What is the secret to success when scouting a company?
“We invest in anything that is consumer-centric, as long as it hits the mass market and is scalable. The companies we support must have the potential to become number one brands in a short period of time. You have to get in touch with the companies in the phase where they are thinking about internationalisation. In addition, our people on the ground have a highly operational background: our Swedish colleague Robin Reznik, for instance, was the CEO of Uber. People like Reznik know how to scale a business. Rather than just offering capital, the operational support is a good service to manage networks. We call this our consulting approach. We can offer a package to generate quick market entry, based on know-how. “

Can you name some interesting success stories?
“The most interesting cases are always the market-making cases, just like Zalando. Another one is the sportswear brand Just Fab and Fabletics from the US. German consumers are very wary of subscription models, so we have to educate consumers through our TV ads. This way, we opened up the market there for Just Fab, and also paved the way for subscription-based businesses. Another great story is the one of Shopkick, also from the US. It is a retail shopping app that allows you to gather rewards using your smartphone in store. Entering the German market meant stimulating shoppers to download the app, but also opening the doors to big retail chains such as Obi, Media Saturn and much more. Above this, we set up a German entity for them and we provided an interim German CEO. They took all of the market share in their vertical market and none of the clones could get a foothold. Because of our good network with retailers, we have a good track record supporting companies with the market entry. “For example, this year we helped Silicon-Valley based WonderWorkshop to get listings at crucial retailers. Now you can buy their smart toy robots across off- and online channels in Germany.”

How do you make sure the companies you help scale have the backbone to support the growth?
We had some very bad experiences with that in the past, such as server crashes or not enough stock. We are now intensely scanning whether or not the company has the capacity to scale. Growth capacity can be many things, beginning with the ability to source new products or scale up operations.

How do you determine who is the “copycat” and who is not?
We like to work with original companies and businesses with interesting concepts that are eager to make a move in new markets. However, you have to be careful with the term ‘copycat’. Oliver Samwer, with whom I worked a lot, always said, ‘Just because you build a car, does not mean you are a copycat of Mercedes Benz.’ So we prefer to call these businesses ‘first movers’.

How can companies approach you to collaborate?
“The easiest way to get in touch with us is to drop an e-mail and by sending us their pitch decks. If the business case is interesting to us, we will definitely pick up the phone. Another possibility is to apply to our start-up contest. Once a year, we host the SevenVentures Pitch Day which focuses on a particular branch or topic. There is a whole show around it and companies can win an advertisement package comprising TV and digital channels, worth €3 million, including a TV spot creation we produce for them. According to Forbes magazine, this is one of biggest start-up prices in the world. This is very interesting for companies seeking to enter Germany. The next one will be in October 2017.”

The post Scaling cross-border businesses through ‘media for equity’ appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.