eCommerce Know-How

eCommerce Know-How Know-Letter Newsletters

Voice of the Retailer

August 12, 2010

Sports Giant


eCommerce Know-How spoke with Shael H. Wilder, President and CEO of Sports Giant.

Sports Giant

Q. What is your company's main focus over the next 12-18 months?

A. Growth through improved merchandising and enhancements to our webstore sites. A critical precondition to achieving this is improving the overall integrity of all our databases.

 

Q. What are the eCommerce trends most intriguing right now?

A. Social and Mobile. With social, what is intriguing is whether the impact of social networking can be monetized. And, if it can, how do you effectively measure that? As for mobile, I see great things in the future but what I don't know is how far away the time horizon is. Is it one year or five years? How do I plan for that to optimize the investment?

 

Q. What would be the best piece of advice you'd give someone looking to build an eCommerce business?

A. Invest the time/energy/effort/ecommerce-resources to get it right the first time. It is very easy to want to do things very quickly and it is counterintuitive to slow down and maintain the discipline necessary to get it right the first time. This is based on our own experience with various initiatives. Even though it is ecommerce, it is a business like any other business.

 

Q. What are some of the most important tips and tricks you've learned about drop shipping?

A. Do as much diligence as you can. At the end of the day, brand integrity is critically important in the online environment. Customers today have little patience. They can and will buy from someone who does it better.

 

Q. If you could only do one thing to improve drop shipping, what would it be?

A. Effective integration and analysis of the technology and data between the retailers and the drop shipper is essential. We look at the empirical data for every drop shipper; from that, we know enough to build in buffers to compensate, if necessary. We had one company that sent us a data feed that said they had 120 items in inventory; when it came time for the very first order, there was none in stock. Vet your drop shipper for the quality of their data. And don't just rely on what they tell you; take control.

 

Q. What do you get the biggest kick out of in your job?

A. Delighted customers. Not just satisfied - delighted.

 

Q. What was your first job?

A. I was a waiter on the Canadian National Railway from Winnipeg to Toronto and back, while I was going to college. Well-paying and a lot of fun.

 

Q. What is your "latest" favorite book?

A. "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry

 
Bottom Line: Hold your drop-shipper to the same standards - reliability, accuracy, efficiency -- you would expect from your 'in-house' business..



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