‘E-commerce? Very exciting!’

MPULSE: Astrid, you have a degree in Chinese and English translation studies. Not what I’d call an easy combination – Chinese is said to be one of the most difficult languages in the world. What gave you the idea?

Astrid: I love travelling. It’s something I’ve always had the chance to do, even as a child with my parents. I want to find my way in the world. For me, languages are the key to achieving this. Everyone can speak English and French! (laughs) So I went for Chinese and English. But English turned out to be the more difficult language.

Why is that?

Because standards and expectations are higher. For example, if you translate azure blue as sky blue or just blue, it’s seen as a serious translation error. On the other hand, what people don’t always realise is that Chinese grammar is very minimalist and therefore very simple. Instead, it has what seems like an infinite number of characters. To read a newspaper article, you need to know at least 2,500 characters. That’s a lot of studying.

Why did you decide against becoming a translator after finishing your degree?

You need to live in the country for three to five years to speak Chinese well enough to work as a translator. I didn’t want to do that. You have to be able to support yourself financially as well. I wanted to start my career, so I found an entry-level job in a full-service agency. Apart from occasionally correcting and proofreading adverts in Chinese for a construction machinery customer, the job didn’t have much to do with my degree. That’s how I gradually got into project management.

If you like variety and challenges, project management is an obvious choice, isn’t it?

Yes, as a project manager, you need to be able to carefully plan, coordinate and manage projects. You need to keep an eye on the whole project and be ready for any unforeseen events. I was positioned between sales and developers. The sales department had already established what needed to be delivered to the customer. I had to properly understand this to put together the work packages for the developers, keeping the schedule in mind, and to support costing for the customer. After all, project management is primarily about time and costs for the customer.

What brought you to METRO MARKETS?

Actually, METRO MARKETS found me. I didn’t even apply, a recruiter approached me. That was in 2018. I had heard of METRO, and what they offered was attractive.

In what way?

It was a young company at the time. A startup. A startup with a vision. The goal was to create a B2B marketplace. Everything was new and had to be built from scratch, for example: “Do METRO’s traditional product categories work for online retail and wholesale? Do we need to rethink things? What do online customers actually want? What do we need to offer them?” I liked the end-to-end process. Here, the customer comes first, and every process is viewed and tested from their perspective. All activities necessary to meet the customer’s requirements are thought through chronologically and logically. That’s very complex but also very exciting.

And how did you transition from project management to product management?

The two aren’t really that different. Product managers (glossary: product manager) are also responsible for the planning and development of individual products and services. A key difference is that there are no project completion deadlines and no clearly defined goals. It’s about continuous improvement. I move forward from the minimum viable product (or MVP), the first functional version of a product that offers value added. This means that the first version can still be largely manual, with each subsequent release bringing it closer to automation.
Then there is the strategic alignment of the products with the company goals. As a product manager, you are also the link between several departments and must reconcile all aspects to ensure the product delivers maximum value – and reaches the user in the first place.

METRO MARKETS is no longer a startup. What has changed?

METRO MARKETS is now nearly six years old. In the beginning, we were just under 40 people with a lot of external support. At some point, we started hiring 15 to 20 new employees each month, and today we have more than 500 staff! Now we are corporate, and yes, that may mean more processes, more structures and additional steps. But we have retained the spirit of a startup: We share our knowledge and we try things out. We think about which technology will be useful and who knows the best hacks for different tasks. We have the courage to try things out and fail, if necessary. And we want to keep things personal. We have our People Newsletter, which introduces new employees with a photo and a short profile. Things like that.

Would you say you’re a talented organiser?

(laughs) I love structuring things and having a clear focus. An important part of my job is to be able to look ahead and anticipate things. If something doesn’t work, try thinking from a different angle. A colleague once said to me, “Astrid, if you have one thing, it’s a plan”. This is something I also enjoyed in China: when you’re stuck, you use your hands and feet to get out of the situation or solve the problem. You have to find a way. This is exactly the skill you need as a product manager.

What do you say when someone says, “METRO Markets is just METRO’s online shop”?

That’s not true at all. Many people still don’t understand the concept of an online marketplace and don’t realise what’s behind it. Of course, we also manage online sales for METRO, but primarily we provide the structure to connect merchants with customers. Customers can choose the best offer from a wide range of options, whether it’s from METRO or another merchant. But there’s much more to it.

Some of my team are developing the system that our colleagues from product data management work with. The system where sellers also upload their data. We consolidate the data displayed on the marketplace and develop the logic behind it, deciding which data is the best and what the customer actually needs. There are three teams, each responsible for different areas, which means we use a PIM system to take the pressure off the product data team. Another team handles the system for managing seller accounts and developing the offer and pricing strategies.

As you can see: it’s so much more than just a traditional shop system. What we always keep in mind is: What exactly is wholesale? And what’s HoReCa? This means we also have to consider which products to include. After all, METRO Marketplace is not just another Amazon!

You were headhunted by METRO MARKETS. Looking back, would you choose the company again?

Definitely. And I’m still here (smiles). I learn something new every day and have a fantastic team. Our team spirit is amazing, and we communicate as equals. For me, it’s important to be passionate about what I do. I really enjoy engaging with other people, solving problems and acting as a bridge between developers and other departments. It’s all communication.

Which brings us full circle to being a translator...

That’s right. Ultimately, it’s about translating from one language to another. I’d say that’s what I do all day, but between business and tech, not between German and Chinese or English.