Canadian Retailer - Store 2013 - 99

Clearly Contacts—the biggest seller of glasses online.

the optical lens category. It all boiled down to
adding value by doing things more cost effectively and faster than anyone else, Hardy
contends. “You have to be super invested in
serving your customers.”
Since its inception, the company has forged
partnerships with delivery services, expanded
product lines to include over 2,000 styles of
glasses, and invested $15 million in a lab facility. “When people order today we can make it
that day and ship it overnight,” Hardy explains.
He estimates that 20 per cent of the contact
lens market today flows through the Clearly
Contacts site. It’s also the biggest seller of
glasses over the Internet; and the company’s
compound annual growth rate has been at a
steady 30 per cent for the past 10 to 12 years.
The trick was making it super easy for consumers, Hardy says. To bring even more on
board, it’s opening new storefronts to extend
its Web marketing. “It’s actually quite complementary because a lot of people are still anxious ordering online. Now we can walk them
through the process and show how it works so
they can experience it for themselves.”
Well played

Guelph-based Well.ca has had nothing but
positive press since starting its online pure play.
Five years later it has grown to a team of 100
people with a diverse selection of SKUs, from
health and beauty products to pet supplies.

Paige Malling, chief marketing officer, says there weren’t
a lot of competitors selling replenishables online when they
started. As a result it went through a very steep growth curve
in the first two years to become one of the biggest retail pure
plays in Canada.
One of the big success factors is a customer service first attitude. “Even though we’re an e-commerce company, we work
hard at putting a face to the experience because that’s what creates a loyal customer base. That includes a one-ring only policy
for answering calls, and signing every order personally with a
thank you and smiley face.”
Another focus is making the transaction experience as
seamless and simple as possible for customers. “It can be very
hard to make purchases,” Malling explains. Innovations include a limited-time pop-up virtual store at Union Station for
commuters, and a replenishment app that allows people to use
their iOS device to scan items in their home and drop them
into the shopping basket.
With 30 per cent of traffic coming through mobile devices,
well.ca is now putting increasing resources toward optimizing that experience, she adds. “e-commerce is not just a flat
desktop experience. The future for e-commerce is inspiring.
We just have to stay very nimble.”
Shirt tales

ShirtPunch in Whitby, ON is one of those stories every ecommerce start-up dreams of. First launched in the fall of 2011
with a $2,000 investment, the limited edition t-shirt company
has surpassed the $10 million sales mark and continues to
rank in the top five global players in its category, shipping to
96 countries.
According to president and founder Russ Montague, “We

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