Canadian Retailer - The Technology & e-Commerce Issue - 33

TRAVERSING THE SPECTRUM
Wojciech Gryc, CEO of Canopy Labs, a predictive analytics company, says he's seen Canadian retailers struggle to
profit from e-commerce. Finding success online isn't impossible for retailers because, at the end of the day, it's
retailing. But to find success, retailers need to organize themselves for online selling.
* Take it one step at a
time. E-commerce operates on a spectrum, from
online only to hybrid
models to barely there.
The most regular problem retailers moving online make is trying to leap
from zero e-commerce
to one hundred. It's impossible to traverse the
spectrum in one go, and
in the end, it's not worth
it, says Grycs.

* Focus investments.
* Get control of the data.
* Be retail. However
Rather than launch a totalGryc advises retailers looking
technologically sophisscope e-commerce platto enter the e-commerce space
ticated e-commerce
form, focus on doing one
to work on making sense of the
retailing might be, in the
or two things really well in
data they collect through their
end it is retailing-getthe space where custombusiness. This data has a story
ting the right product
ers congregate. "Rather
to tell about the customer, and
into the right customthan being all things, pick
when the retailer knows that
er's hand at the right
one or two where customstory, they can write a better
time. "It's about the
ers come at you and focus
ending. Retailers who don't
customer journey," says
on an experience. That's
have control over it will find it
Gryc. "Every decision
a good start. Especially if
hard to move to new platforms
you make as a retailer
you don't have the resourthat enable retailers to deliver
should support the
ces," he says.
the right experience.
customer's journey."

will win in the market.
So, when can it be considered a
good time to invest in and embrace
the customer's channel loyalty?
"The time is now," says Bodley.
But whatever investments retailers make should be precise.
The risk to retailers is that they
will view this disruption in brickand-mortar retailing as a call to offer everything
online. E-commerce is one piece of a bigger puzzle, and retailers need to be specific about how
they want to participate in the channel, how ecommerce fits into the store's brand, and how the
brick-and-mortar store can help leverage success
in the e-commerce realm.
This leads to a dozen questions. What type of
supply chain does the store need? What products
are available in store versus only online? How
does the store think about every part of the retail
machinery: merchandizing, marketing, and the
like, in a world where it's no longer just one way
of getting products to customers?
"That set of questions is not simple but it's important for retailers to have a point-of-view," says
MacKenzie. Not considering these questions could
plunge a retailer into tail-chasing circles-investing
in everything and getting a return on nothing.
"They risk investing everything versus being
very precise about the type of game they're playing and how every investment they make supports
that competitive position," says MacKenzie.

Yahoo.com tops the list of
websites most frequented
by Canadians

2002

Shopify is founded

2004

www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer

Battling the Amazonians

Amazon, the company that defined e-commerce in the early days of online selling, continues to dominate digital retail, and in a big
way. In 2016, Amazon hoovered up $149 billion
in sales, a number expected to balloon to $197
billion by the end of 2017-equal to nearly 5 per
cent of total retail sales in the U.S.
In recent years, Amazon has turned its sights on
Canadian consumers. The company has doubled
its product assortment available to Canadians,
expanded its free one-day shipping to more
Canadian cities, and is selling more $79-per-year
Prime memberships (a particular threat, since
Prime members spend more than 50 per cent of
their online spend on Amazon). The company has
invested in its fulfilment strategy, too. Since 2011,
the company has opened six fulfilment centres,
as well as a data centre in Quebec, for a combined
distribution network of 3 million square-feet.
These facts present a problem for retailers.
How does a medium-sized retail business in
Canada fight an international Goliath with billions of dollars at its disposal?
One answer is to learn from Amazon's successes, says MacKenzie. One of Amazon's key
successes has been to establish itself as the default destination for where shoppers start their
product research. By seeding itself early into the
customer's journey, from curiosity to purchase,
Amazon improves the chances that customers
will complete the sale with them.

Apple releases
the iPhone

2007

THE TECHNOLOGY & E-COMMERCE ISSUE

Sears Canada
launches Canada's
first smartphone
shopping app

2012

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