Omni Talk Retail: Vody | August Retail Tech Startup Of The Month
Episode Date: August 25, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of Omni Talk Retail focuses on August's "Retail Tech Startup of the Month": Vody. Hosted by Omni Talk Retail with guest Danele Estropa—AWS’s Worldwide Technical Lead for Retail Partners—the show delves into why Vody’s innovative approach to e-commerce data is gaining attention. The discussion explores how Vody is enabling AI-readiness in retail data and the practical value of their solution for brands facing discoverability and data quality challenges.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Selection of Vody as Startup of the Month

[00:47 – 01:25]

• Danele Estropa introduces Vody as a retail technology partner focused on making e-commerce data ready for AI applications.
• Primary value: Vody builds “intelligent data infrastructure solutions” that help retailers clean up and optimize their product data for superior performance in digital commerce.
• Insight: “Everything starts with data… good data in means good data out and good results, good conversions for our customers.”

What Sets Vody Apart

[01:25 – 04:10]

• Customer Needs First:
  Danele highlights product discoverability as a core challenge—finding the right products is often hindered by “messy” product data.

  “We’ve all been in that situation where we’re trying to look for something…and we cannot quite find the right thing that we have in our head...” (A, 01:36)

• Data-First Approach:
  Unlike competitors focused on building new chatbots or smarter search, Vody aims to address problems at the data layer itself. Their system handles:

  • Extraction and structuring of data from various sources (PDFs, spreadsheets, etc.)
  • Injecting real-world context, like trending product tags (“Balletcore” or “good Father’s Day gift”).
  • Utilizing state-of-the-art multimodal large language models, specifically fine-tuned for retail.

• Proven Impact:
  “Their customers are seeing 10% improvements in conversion rates, which is huge.” (A, 03:48)

Vody’s Unique Technical Solution

[04:10 – 04:47]

• Contrast with Other Approaches:
  Vody’s methodology doesn’t rely solely on computer vision or surface-level attribution, but starts at the foundational data ingestion phase.
• AI-readiness Today and Tomorrow:
  By cleaning and reformatting data from the ground up, Vody ensures retailers can leverage their solution now and remain prepared as AI capabilities evolve.

Why Retail Executives Should Care

[04:47 – 06:23]

• Foundational Role of Data:
  Danele reiterates that quality data underpins not just search and product recommendations, but also “marketing decisions, merchandising, planning.”

• Low Barriers to Adoption:
  Unlike many technology migrations, Vody adapts to whatever data a retailer already has—no expensive transitions required.

  “You don’t need to go through expensive migrations… Vody will just take whatever data you have and work with it.” (A, 05:30)

• Continual Model Improvement:
  Their models are “constantly fine tuning” to stay abreast of consumer trends, enabling retailers to “always be that one step ahead.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Impact of Data Quality:

  “Everything starts with data, right? And we know that good data in means good data out and good results, good conversions for our customers.”
  — Danele Estropa, [00:47]

• On Product Discovery Challenges:

  “We’ve all been in that situation where we’re trying to look for something…and we cannot quite find the right thing that we have in our head…”
  — Danele Estropa, [01:36]

• On Easy Integration:

  “As a customer, you don’t need to go through expensive migrations to be able to leverage this kind of system… Vody will just take whatever data you have and work with it.”
  — Danele Estropa, [05:30]

• On Staying Ahead in Retail:

  “By fine tuning or constantly fine tuning their models, they’re also able to stay on top of trends, to stay on top of what’s happening in the industry, what’s happening in general in the world.”
  — Danele Estropa, [05:45]

Important Segment Timestamps

• [00:47] — Introduction of Vody as Retail Tech Startup of the Month
• [01:36] — Product data challenges and differentiation from other solutions
• [03:48] — Results: 10% conversion rate improvements
• [04:47] — Why executives should care; the foundational value of data
• [05:30] — No expensive data migrations required
• [05:45] — Continuous model refinement and trend detection

Episode Tone

The discussion is energetic, insightful, and focused on practical solutions for retail executives. Danele emphasizes both the urgency and feasibility of improving data foundations, and the hosts show genuine excitement for Vody’s innovative approach.

Conclusion

Vody is positioned as a pioneering force in retail data infrastructure, enabling brands to unlock greater value from their existing product information and get ahead in the evolving AI landscape. The episode is a must-listen for retail leaders interested in harnessing the full potential of their e-commerce data now—and as AI applications become increasingly central to retail success.