Beyond Checkout: Success in the AI Era with Bastian Siebers
Bastian Siebers, CEO of flaconi, reveals the key to top retention rates and discusses the role played by traditional ecommerce principles and skills in the AI era.
What are the priorities for ecommerce in the AI era?
The motto for DMEXCO 2026 is “Scaling Intelligence.” It’s a call to action, challenging the digital economy to stop viewing AI merely as an experiment and instead harness the technology as a driving force for value creation.
We want to find out exactly what this means from industry experts. In our interview series “Beyond Checkout: Leading Minds in Commerce,” key players shed light on the most important issues shaping the future of ecommerce.
Bastian Siebers has been CEO of flaconi since 2022. Before joining the online perfume and beauty retailer, he had already made a name for himself in the ecommerce industry as CEO of babymarkt.de and CEO of Tengelmann E-Stores GmbH. He describes himself as approaching digital with both head and heart.
What’s the most overrated development in commerce in 2026 – and what’s greatly underestimated?
In my opinion, there’s too much emphasis on constantly monitoring market developments, current trends, and the competition. Too many companies waste valuable energy analyzing their environment instead of doing their own homework. You can’t control the market, but you can control the way you do business.
Meanwhile, there’s a tendency to underestimate the value of focusing on your own core principles – ensuring those fundamentals are executed with precision and speed, and maintaining a clear commitment to customer satisfaction. Establishing a solid foundation and understanding which customer needs are relevant and must be met are the keys to long-term success. This is what delivers real substance, rather than short-term growth at any cost.
If everyone has access to the same tools, how will commerce businesses differentiate themselves in the future?
When technology is democratized, the human factor becomes the only real competitive advantage. Successful differentiation depends on three key elements:
- First, you need the best people on your team – people who not only understand a shared strategy but also implement it as quickly as possible and are focused on a clear goal.
- Second, the depth of the customer relationship is crucial. At flaconi, we have a retention rate of over 80 percent. This means that customers who buy from us once continue to make their beauty purchases from us over the long term. You can’t achieve results like these simply by collecting data. You need to interpret data correctly and use those insights to make the right operational and strategic decisions.
- Third, companies must adopt a radically collaborative attitude. We put this approach into practice through our #WEcommerce strategy by cultivating long-term, trusting partnerships rooted in mutual respect – whether with our brand partners or with our tech, logistics, payment, or software providers.
Ultimately, the tools are equally accessible to everyone. But it’s the mindset of our teams and the genuine quality of the relationships we build that make the critical difference.
Which is currently more dangerous in ecommerce: being too slow to adopt AI – or too quick?
I think we need to ask ourselves which AI use cases really make business sense. Too many companies are currently using AI as a Band-Aid for fundamental problems that actually extend deep into their foundations. In the short term, AI is massively overrated; in the long term, however, its true potential is greatly underestimated. For us at flaconi, AI presents a tremendous opportunity and is a major enabler of operational efficiency. But AI doesn’t solve structural problems. Move too slowly and you’ll fall behind; act too quickly without due consideration and you’ll waste money and lose focus.
The right approach is to do your homework first; then use technology to scale your success.
Which KPI will be more important in the years ahead than anything we’re optimizing for today?
Our net promoter score is already one of our most important KPIs – and its relevance is set to soar in the future. At flaconi, we currently have an NPS of 86. Not only is this the very best in the industry, but it’s also testament to our success over recent years. We’ve established ourselves as Germany’s leading online beauty retailer and – contrary to the market trend – we continue to grow steadily.
The reason for this is simple – we carry out in-depth customer analysis, understand their needs, and respond extremely quickly and decisively. In short: We deliver on every promise we make. My advice to every company is to integrate NPS as a core KPI into its own performance culture.
Because at the end of the day, the company with the most loyal customers is the market winner.
Conclusion: Customer relationships are key to success in the AI era
AI integration itself should not be used to measure performance in ecommerce. A more important metric is the brand’s relationship with its customers. Bastian Siebers stresses the fundamental role this plays in achieving positive results in the AI era.
The future of ecommerce will be transformed by AI. But it will still depend on the same basic principles it has always done.
Want to be there when the course is set for the future of ecommerce in the AI era? Then grab your ticket for DMEXCO 2026!
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