Interview with Ekaterina Gorbacheva, Global Expansion Director | Flowwow

Seamless Xtra’s Micah Edwards interviews Ekaterina Gorbacheva, Global Expansion Director, Flowwow.

Borderless Success: Insights on Scaling Globally While Staying Locally Relevant

 

In this interview, we explore how businesses can expand globally while staying locally relevant. Drawing on Flowwow’s experience in 40+ countries, we discuss agile market entry, cultural integration, and balancing global scale with local trust.

 

1. Borderless Growth: What framework would you recommend to businesses entering new international markets? 

Investments are considered to be the main factor of global expansion. But once a business enters a new market, it becomes clear that success depends on something deeper: seamless integration. Every environment is unique, so primarily start to scale with aligning your identity with market-specific insights. 

I believe the best framework that allows to make the integration smoother is a mix of market validation, agile entry, and localization-first approach. Instead of a «big bang» launch, companies should start with lightweight pilots: test demand with minimum investments (MVP products, pop-ups, or partnerships with local players). 

I usually recommend approach based on four pillars:

1. Market Scan – analyze demand trends, competitors, regulations.
2. Test & Learn – launch a limited pilot, collect data, validate pricing and product-market fit.
3. Localization Layer – adapt not just the language, but also payment methods, customer support style, and cultural nuances.
4. Scale with Infrastructure – only after validation, invest in tech, brand, and partnerships. 

This approach allows a business to scale sustainably and mitigate risks, because borderless growth is not about copying a playbook from one country to another. In our case, Flowwow expanded into 40+ countries by applying this framework.  

 

 

2. Think Global, Stay Local: How can businesses develop a strong understanding of local markets while leveraging well-connected networks and advanced infrastructure to achieve operational excellence? 

The secret is to embed yourself into the local ecosystem at an earlier stage and grow within it. Product or service should live in customers’ everyday journey and evolve alongside them. It’s also crucial to respond to real problems and understand how it can resonate with the local audience. To understand your niche better, identify what differentiates your brand for a particular audience in a given market — that’s how you take your slice of the pie. 

To ensure it, hire local experts, collaborate with cultural ambassadors, and listen to customer feedback in real time. Data will tell you what customers do, but locals will tell you why. 

In the UAE, we integrated local payment methods and built campaigns around cultural moments like Ramadan, which led to a twofold increase in conversion rates. It’s not just about language — it’s about understanding local habits, celebrations, and payment preferences. 

At the same time, leverage global infrastructure — unified tech stacks, standardized analytics, and strong cross-border logistics — so you can operate efficiently. Although, I like to say: Global infrastructure gives you scale, local insight gives you trust. You need both to achieve operational excellence. 

 

 

3. What are the key factors businesses should consider when scaling operations internationally to ensure sustainable growth and long-term success? 

Sustainable global expansion starts from a foundation that further makes possible brand development within the market. This basis is a clear understanding of what unique value your company brings to the market that isn’t already there — and whether customers truly need it. Once this value is validated, the focus should be on building trust through partnerships with local players and investing in brand building that resonates with local audiences.  

At Flowwow, we’ve seen how different this journey can look from market to market. When we entered Spain, our biggest challenge wasn’t technical or related to product-market mismatch – it was behavioural. People simply weren’t used to ordering flowers and gifts online. Shopping for gifts was still a very offline, in-person experience. Our task was to educate the market: show customers the benefits of e-commerce, and build trust in the convenient online gifting experience. In the UAE, it was the opposite. It is one of the most digitized market in the world, where online shopping is very comfortable with fast delivery and developed high-class service. There, we didn’t need to educate users — instead, focus shifted to personalization, local relevance, and aligning with cultural moments like Ramadan or UAE National Day.  

This shows why agility is essential. Every market has its own dynamics, and businesses must test, listen, adapt continuously, and cooperate with local communities to understand real needs. Success comes when the customer experience feels fully localized, respectful of culture, and continuously evolving — so your global vision translates into something meaningful and relevant in each market. 

 

 

4. How can organizations successfully streamline cross-departmental operations to foster collaboration and ensure teams work in harmony to achieve business goals and deliver exceptional global results?  

Collaboration across departments begins from a clear, shared «North Star metric» — an orientation that helps every team see how their job turns into real impact for the business and value for clients. This clarity fuels people with a growth mindset and aligns daily efforts with long-term success. 

I also believe in encouragement and transparency. At Flowwow, we regularly share results across teams and celebrate progress together. Regular syncs, open dashboards, and clear accountability frameworks foster ownership and make everyone feel their input matters.   

It is also important to remember that collaboration across departments is less about tools and more about culture, not silos. Slack or Teams integrations are not enough — you need to create an open and supportive environment. This is the real art, but that is the only way to make growth happen: when teams trust each other, feel their mission and work as one mechanism.  

Finally, empower regional teams with autonomy while connecting them with global playbooks. It builds a sense of ownership, but the company still moves as one synchronized organism. 

 

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