Co-Commerce
Over the last number of years or so in the Canadian Ecommerce Market, I have been trying to foster and build win-win’s by doing Co-Branding initiatives. In theory, this concept should be simple. Those complementary brands that are not competitive should work together to communicate to each other’s audience or to leverage each other’s resources. Such marketing activities should be a no-brainer. Shouldn’t it?
I mean, we are all facing a number of the same opportunities while trying to grow ecommerce in Canada. Why is the concept of finding strategic partners so foreign to us online?
We all talk about the Canadian Marketing lagging being behind the US, but most of us still work in our silos and move things along slowly and squeak out small gains. In my opinion, Ecommerce in Canada could grow much faster if we took a collaborative approach. Why not? I think customers would have a better experience and our goals of aggressive sales increases would result naturally from being more consumer-centric and unified in our approach.
I go to network event and hear the same opportunities. Many of them I have been hearing about as far back as 2004. How many of you sit there and are saying your sales online are slow because shipping is not competitive or Canadian carries won’t give me a preferred rate until my volume grows. However your shipping volume won’t grow until your shipping rates go down.
How many of you say you can’t focus on driving online sales, as you need to continue to promote the sales at the store level. Therefore, you can’t meet your KPI’s for your website. Most likely, you are not measured on the store results..
How many of you look at your store marketing budget and compare it to your online marketing budget, but can’t seem to influence the senior executives to give you the budget that you actually need. Why do you need it? You need to integrate with the store marketing activities to maximize total company results regardless of what channel you sell through.
Do you still get compared to the US and are expected to be at 10% of your US .com’s sales? The 10% rule is ridiculous.
What is funny is we go to the same events and we never put the “moose on the table”. Where are the real conversations about what are the real obstacles of our business? How can we put plans together to turn these challenges around?
I think it is time we start to really work together and we look to Co-Commerce.
Why Co-Commerce? I see a number of very positive reasons why companies in our market need to take this approach and embrace this concept. Cooperative collaboration works!
If you are tired of spinning your wheels and are ready for a change like me, connect with me and let’s get engage in some real conversation.
Why Start a Mentoring program?
To pick up from my last post of Being Your Own Best Leader, as I mentioned, I have being going through this process of Management Development and while nothing I am posting about is earth-shattering it does serve as a good reminder. One of the topics that really stuck with me was Mentorship (Why Start a Mentoring Program?).
Throughout my career path I have been very fortunate to have some amazing mentors who helped guide and influence me along the way. I have realized over the years how important there mentors were and some still are today as I continue to grow and develop.
(Before you continue reading this try to think of those people who have helped you develop along the way. Please comment about them as they deserve to be appreciated)
A company should try to understand how mentors can be an influential force for developing their employees, and how they can support and be a valuable resource to even the top leaders, with the socializing of their employees who are new to the organization. They can be an invaluable resource for expertise and guidance, and for building an highly engaged department or organization as a whole.
Mentoring is important to career achievement: A mentor can:
- Help establish a career plan
- Offer insights and advice about potential opportunities
- Serve as a sounding board for ideas and career-related decisions
The relationship that is developed during this process will continue to pay for itself personally and for the organization.
Some key take a ways:
- A mentor acts as a trusted counselor
- Mentors develop valuable skills that can further both personal and professional development
- The relationship should offer a risk-free learning environment
In summary, the process of mentoring is a great way to develop associates that goes beyond them executing their day-to-day tasks for a particular job. It increases their employability, skills and helps foster engaged employees and teams.
Being Your Own Best Leader
Over the last number of weeks I have been part of an amazing journey of self-awareness and management development. I have to say if your place of business offers a course like this take advantage of it. Over the next few weeks I will share some of the keytakeaways that I got from the courses. I would also like to thank Robb Braun for his great work as I know over the last number of months he has inspired countless people.
To kick things off I want to start with a concept of being your own best leader. This is a choice that you make daily. As a leader we are met with numerous opportunities and challenges on a regular basis. The one thing you need to realize is you’re being observed as a leader all the time so how you react to these opportunities is always being measured. One topic that seems to come up a lot these days is the opportunity of dealing with change and how you handle that change. Here are a few quick steps on how to deal with change.
1. Face the Change
2. Prepare for Change
3. Explore Options for Change
4. Be Proactive - Take Charge of Change
5. Monitor Change
There are a number of different changes that an organization will go through so remember that…Always with Change there is a Gain and a Loss, and Always with Loss there is a Grieving Process.
Another part of leadership that I have observed too much of late is how work can be full of stress, and certainly during times of change it can feel overwhelming. It is important that we try to find ways to cope with that stress.
Here are a few quick tips on Keeping Your Stress Under Good Management:
1. Plan ahead to avoid stress created by rushing unnecessarily
2. Develop a support group or have a “go to” person
3. Get good regular sleep
4. Focus on one task at a time - multi-tasking could lead to mistakes and frustration
5. Address conflict
6. Avoid talking about work during breaks
Please keep looking out for future posts on my Management Development Journey.