Experience Helps You Succeed in e-Commerce

What I love about Steve Matyas, CEO of Staples Canada, is his combination of bluntness and a sense of humour.

In this interview, recorded the week of major flooding in Calgary, Alberta (that becomes relevant during our chat), he acknowledges that being a big business offers some advantages that small ones cant match. For example, having a nationwide network of stores really helps, as does having the budget to invest in constant e-commerce innovation.

However a lot of the lessons Staples.ca has learned in its 16 years online apply equally well to small and mid-sized businesses. Here are a few of them, but you really should listen to the full interview, because he was full of great insights!

Key Online Marketing Lessons

Be Patient; Becoming Profitable Online Takes Time

Think in terms of the lifetime value of a customer; dont expect to make money on your first transaction with them.

Have a Single Point of Contact for Responding to Customer Issues

The customer doesnt care what happens in the background, Steve advises. So give your front-line staff discretion to solve customer problems.

Tell your staff to use good judgement and dont worry about making mistakes because its a statistical certainty that you will.

You Cant Ignore Social Media; It Wont Ignore You

Customers will comment on your company in social media, so you have to be aware of what they are saying and ready to engage with them. This is tough, and takes staff, but some of the benefits include:

• Insight into what customers want by way of products and services

• An increase in net promoter scores.

Do Ongoing Usability Testing

Staples Canada runs usability tests constantly. As Steve Matyas explains it:

Our philosophy is that theres always a better way of doing things; lets find that way before somebody else does!

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