Astound Co-Founder Igor Gorin Says Agility is the Key to Ecommerce Success

Astound co-founder Igor Gorin has seen a fair amount of change in his life. His family immigrated to the Bay Area from the former Soviet Union in the 1980’s, specifically the region that is now Ukraine. Gorin clearly saw opportunity on the horizon as he met other entrepreneurial students who, once in college, created a business to sell textbooks for less money than students were paying at their campus bookstores. The business grew and developed a database that attracted a buyer, leaving Igor and his partners, Ilya Vinogradsky and Roman Martynenko with energy and money to start a new business, which became Astound Commerce.

Astound is a powerhouse in digital commerce, helping companies strategize and build ecommerce sites to delight customers around the world. Gorin is now Chief Strategy Officer, which puts him at the forefront of ecommerce trends The trend that is always top of mind, according to Gorin (13:00) is the need to be agile, both in strategy and the technology that powers your ecommerce stack. “Change is the only thing that is constant in our lives, and the pace of that change Is accelerating,” said Gorin.

What does that mean for brands? Gorin says look at the technology that can help you. Order management systems to help with allocation and inventory. Repurposing physical stores to distribution and fulfillment centers. Making sure your systems work together, so there is visibility throughout. Gorin says customers expect transparency, which means you have to have visibility into where your product is. No customer wants to place an order only to find out later it’s no longer in stock or on backorder.

Gorin says Astound customer are investing more heavily in AI and automation tools to create a more personalized, and therefore more relevant journey that builds trust and loyalty, and hopefully a customer that returns again and again. (21:00) For global brands, localization is crucial. Gorin says a significant portion of sales for brands now comes from international audiences (24:00) which means brands need to present shoppers with the correct language, payments and checkout experience. Brands also need to understand region-by-region regulations, which might require a third-party expertise.

If change is a constant in commerce, it’s also a constant in the life of Igor Gorin. His childhood home is now ravaged by war. The Ukrainian people are very much on Gorin’s mind.

Astound has created a site to aggregate donations for organizations offering direct aid to Ukrainians. They are Nova Ukraine, Save the Children and International Medical Corps. You can learn more about Igor Gorin’s personal commitment here.