September 1, 2021 • 31 mins
On Episode 3 of ‘We’re Not Blowing Hot Air,’ we all hail to the eCommerce King of Canada, Chris Parsons, for the insights he gives on surviving today’s world of consumer-packaged goods. Chris, the Director of eCommerce at Home Hardware and a highly regarded expert in the digital space, shares research and even makes some predictions for future business trends related to the all-too important customer journey experience. Find out why you may want do your holiday shopping right after Halloween this year. Plus, enjoy the musical notes of Roy Alexander – all on this episode of ‘We’re Not Blowing Hot Air.’
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to we're not blowing hot air
powered by oxygen plus I'm Scottand I'm Lauren.
And we're here to help elevateyour IQ on wellness and business
stuff, but sometimesmisunderstood.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Oh, like recreational oxygen.
Yes.
Let's get smarter with thisweek's guest of we're not
blowing hot air on episode threeof we're not blowing hot air.
We all hail to the e-commerceking of Canada, Chris Parsons
for the insights he gives onsurviving today's world of
(00:34):
consumer packaged goods.
Chris, the director ofe-commerce at home hardware and
the highly regarded expert inthe digital space shares
research, and even make somepredictions for future business
trends related to the all tooimportant customer journey
experience.
Find out why you may want to doyour holiday shopping right
(00:54):
after Halloween this year.
Plus enjoy the musical notes ofRoy Alexander.
All on this episode of we're notblowing hot air Chris Parsons,
the e-commerce king of Canada.
Well, how's it going?
Good to see you.
Great, great.
So good to have you here andwe're not blowing hot air.
(01:15):
Thank you for coming today.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
No, I'm excited to be here.
You guys are fantastic.
I've been watching what you'redoing and it's, it's going to
take off, um, I'm really excitedto see the future guests that
you have, and I'd like to thankyou for allowing me to be one of
the first.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Oh, well thank you.
I mean, in all honesty, it, youhelped inspire us to get going.
I mean, your podcast deliveringe-commerce is something we
listened to.
Um, we're inspired by not onlythe content, which is delivering
great business news, which Ihope you can talk to more, but
also just, I mean, the fact thatyou did a podcast, right?
(01:52):
I mean, you know, it, isn't,it's a lot of, a lot of pieces
to put together to make onefinished polished piece of art.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah.
You know, I, it's funny, Iwatched the, an episode of Joe
Rogan, uh, it's an older episodeand he talks about having
natural conflict in your life.
And, uh, if you don't have thisconflict, then you have actually
conflict in your personal life.
So create conflict, create, um,these areas where it's forcing
you to be better, do better, andthen it will actually give you a
(02:22):
better personal life.
And it's interesting that I tookdoing a podcast on, in, during a
co COVID pandemic, um, whilethings were already crazy
enough, but, uh, it's, it's likeself torture and I'm really
enjoying it.
And I, you know, you guys areactually going to be the first
ones to hear that I just broke athousand subscribers on my
channel as of yesterday.
So really excited about that.
(02:44):
I know, um, a lot of YouTubershave far more following than
that, but, uh, I just startedout three months ago and to be
up to a thousand already is, uh,really exciting.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Congrats.
That's great.
I mean, you've
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Had an incredible career.
You've always been a hard workerand you've always known about
teamwork and how to work withothers.
So I'd love for you to sharemore about how you started out,
um, team at Walmart in Canadaand how you help background the
e-comm side.
And then all the way up untilwhat you're doing now at the
(03:16):
Canadian version of home Depot,which, uh, Canadians will know,
but we don't know the name ofthat store.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Yeah.
It's home hardware and homehardware, hardware
Speaker 3 (03:31):
To give you to give you a really good example of who
it's like is, uh, is ACE, um, in, in the U S where it's a
wholesale environment.
And, um, we started out as awholesaler.
Now our journey is to becomethis integrated retailer.
And what we mean by that is wereally want to provide our
thousand plus dealers with amuch richer experience and not
just sell them goods.
(03:52):
We want to make sure that we'rehelping them with their brand,
with their brand story, um,giving them tools to help in
this new digital world, um, andreally, uh, highlight what makes
our store so strong.
And that's the customer servicethat they get.
When you walk into some of thoseother big boxes, you're really
kind of self-serve.
And with us, it's, it's wellknown across Canada.
(04:14):
When you come into a homehardware that you're treated as
if you're family, a lot of ourstores are in a local community.
Uh, so shopping local isimportant to us, but at the same
time, we know people by name,we're able to help them.
We know if they've just built afence, what their next project
will be, and we make greatsuggestions and we're just,
we're just there for them.
(04:34):
And, uh, I really appreciated itthat about the business.
And that's why I decided to jointwo and a half years ago.
But, uh, yeah, my background,you know, I've been doing
e-commerce since 1994, it wasall by accident.
I was late for a meeting and myboss basically said, can you
take on building an e-commercesite for Walmart, Canada, and no
one ever believes that story,but it's absolutely true.
(04:54):
Um, and I flew to Bentonville, Igrabbed the book HTML for
dummies and, uh, learned how tocode on a flight, uh, learnt, uh
, some grab Dreamweaver, um,while I was in Bentonville and
flew back home with some basiccoding skills and started
building walmart.ca.
And, uh, it was the bestlearning experience I've ever
had because I was able to domarketing development
(05:18):
merchandising, um, social media,you name it, I was doing it all.
Uh, so it really rounded out mycapabilities and allowed me to
grow my career, which a lot ofpeople don't get a chance.
Cause most people are siloed.
They go into email, they go intosocial media and they kind of
stick in that lane versus mebeing able to go across all, all
(05:38):
of the aspects of e-commerce.
So it was very fortunate and, uh, to do it for such a large
company was, was great.
And then 2012, um, I went overto a company called newegg.com.
Uh, one of the bigger retailers,it was a pure play and, um, they
were launched, they launched inCanada, they had just launched.
Um, I went over there asdirector of marketing.
(05:58):
Few months later, I was promotedto the country manager.
And then a year later I waspromoted to a global country
manager and launched thecountries for, for new egg, um,
a lot of stuff in between that,but ultimately a couple of pet
companies that I worked forwrens and big L's.
And then finally got the call tocome over here and, uh, I
(06:20):
couldn't turn it down.
I, uh, the it's such an iconicbrand like this is the, this is
the brand that your fathershopped and, um, now we can make
it relevant for new generationsand, uh, I'm lucky to be a part
of it.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
That's awesome.
Fantastic.
And, um, anything more you wantto say about delivering
e-commerce?
I think right now people canjust remember it.
We'll put a link in the bottomof the description of this
episode, so you can go followit, but anything else you want
to say about what you'rehighlighting or doing with that?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah, I mean, really I'll try to make a long story
short, but I grew up with alearning disability and with
that learning disability, um,basically was told I wouldn't
amount to anything from myteachers, which was great, uh,
messaging back then.
They don't do that anymore.
Thankfully.
And, uh, one of the things I tryto do is do some public
speaking, encourage kids, Icoach hockey and you see kids
with learning disabilities onthe team and you know what, it's
(07:12):
funny that they can all pick upa hockey, which is one of the
hardest things to skate on ablade, this, this, uh, thin and
we're thick.
And ultimately they're able todo what they can learn all these
great skills in a sport, but atschool they struggle.
So to me, it shows a conflict.
There's something that'sdisconnecting, whether it's a
lack of interest, they have theskillset to learn.
(07:32):
And I just go in and try tomotivate kids.
So taking that, um, I decided todo a podcast.
So basically if I generaterevenue from the podcast, not
yet, but soon, um, I want to beable to donate to local
charities that work with kids,with learning disabilities to
help them out.
So trying to do a little bit ofa giving back since I've been so
(07:53):
fortunate in my life to, uh,struggle early on, but then find
my stride in my twenties.
It's exciting.
I've had, uh, 18 episodes nowrecorded delivering e-commerce
with special guests, just muchlike this format right here.
Um, and my guests are so strong,um, across north America, not
just Canada.
And we talk about everythingfrom social media to
micro-influencers um, you nameit we've we've we covered all
(08:17):
the topics for e-commerce andretail.
And, um, I appreciate, Iappreciate the thousand subs.
Yeah,
Speaker 1 (08:24):
For sure.
Right on the lag, you mentionedthe last 18 months, you know,
with the pandemic andeverything.
So what, what were thechallenges over the course of
the last 18 months with theCOVID pandemic and everything in
the world of e-comm or what,what were the, some of the
things that, you know, retailers, uh, that, that have an online
(08:45):
presence we're trying to, toovercome?
What about some of like thephysical challenges?
I mean, like, you know, we're inthe CPG category and what about
some of the physical challengeswith like just, just the
merchandise that's being sold,you know, like in terms of
having that product ready forpeople, because the shift, there
was a, I'm assuming just amassive shift where now people
(09:07):
are just solely reliant onbuying online as opposed to
physical retail, like whathappened there?
What, what did retailers need todo?
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah, I mean, obviously from, so I shouldn't
say so obviously home hardwarehas been, um, a natural buy
online pickup in store.
We haven't offered ship the home, um, where every other retailer
was shipped the home.
They had that in place, but forus, we had the other model and
we did that because of ourwholesale environment.
And we wanted to drive trafficto our dealers for, for many
(09:38):
years.
So from us, we just had tocommunicate message.
We had buy online pickup instore, but the, the add on to
that was the whole curbsidepickup component, which from a
logistical standpoint, you tryto do that in stores.
It's, it's a nightmare.
Those poor staff are runningfrom shelf, the shelf, trying to
fulfill orders.
(09:58):
Like they've become now all of asudden a warehouse and they
weren't trained to be awarehouse.
They were trained to be salesassociates and customer service
associates.
And now all of a sudden they'regoing up and down aisles,
completing packages forcustomers to take it out to the
car.
And you can imagine we, a lot ofretailers didn't have a great
pickup in, um, at store process.
(10:20):
So they're now implementingwhether it's a mobile pin code,
how do you, here's a phonenumber to call making signage
for de for parking spots to say,this is your parking spot one,
two, whatever number and none ofthat existed before, right?
Like, okay.
Grocery was testing out some ofit, but it didn't exist for the
majority of, of retailers andcustomers were just learning it
(10:41):
as we implemented it.
And you know, there usually youlike to test those types of
things in retail and get a, asample group before you roll it
out to all stores, but it was,it was just go.
And, um, and then from a productperspective, you know, in the
lumber industry, which wasreally interesting was a lot of
retailers struggled, but inlumber, everyone decided to
(11:02):
invest in their home and redoXYZ projects.
And lumber prices went throughthe roof.
There was a shortage of demandon, on those products.
And, um, so
Speaker 2 (11:11):
While we're,
Speaker 3 (11:13):
It's still happening, places are, are trickling down a
little bit.
Um, because now with thingsopening up, people are looking
at travel.
Again, they're looking at theirwardrobes dressing up a little
bit more versus, you know,historically in the last 18
months I would probably be in at-shirt or a golf shirt.
Um, so, so they're, they're nowlooking at their wardrobe and
those dollars are shifting,right.
They're shifting away fromproject-based at your home to,
(11:36):
you know, self-gratification maymaybe I would like to go out and
get a new shirt.
I might look out, I'll tell youa secret.
Mine is not even buttoned upbecause my neck is so fat now
from COVID weight.
Um, but I just pull that tie uptight.
So like everyone needs a newwardrobe.
Right.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I don't remember the last time I wore a tie.
Yeah.
It's been quite a while.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I've never seen you in a tie, Scott,
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Many people don't,
Speaker 4 (12:02):
It doesn't happen often.
What
Speaker 2 (12:05):
If there's one thing we really need to think about,
or maybe like that I shouldn'tworry about Chris helped me not
worry and be fearful of anythinglike, or, or to take
precautions.
Like what, what are those thingsthat both businesses and
consumers can be doing right nowin this kind of, um, uncertain
landscape of e-commerce andregional?
How, how and the mix of the twoof e-comm and retail.
(12:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Yeah.
So, uh, we I've been referringit to it as a harmonized retail
experience.
And I get that actually there'sa book right behind me,
remarkable retail.
Um, and it talks about thisconcept of harmonized.
So no longer is it considered anomni-channel experience?
It's a blended, it's aharmonized experience.
Customers shop all channels.
Now they just choose what timeof day they're going to do what,
but ultimately I, logistics isthe biggest hurdle that
(12:52):
e-commerce and retail has toovercome over the next probably
18 months or so productionslowed in a lot of warehouses or
manufacturing plants.
Um, it's it's slowed, or itstopped completely because they
had, you know, they had, COVIDrunning rampant through a lot of
those manufacturing plants, sothey couldn't produce it.
So that there's a shortage onmicrochips for fridges, for
(13:13):
electronics.
There's a shortage on, uh,importing of goods.
You got, you got ports that arebacked up for for months.
So, you know, the, the one thingI've been telling people right
now is to really think andconsider the next few holidays
that are coming up.
And when I say holidays, I meanlike black Friday, cyber Monday,
and obviously the Christmasseason, or, um, happy holidays,
(13:36):
whatever, whatever people wantto call it, I don't want to
offend anyone.
So I gotta be careful, right.
Hanukkah.
But, um, but ultimately I thinkconsumers that if you, if you're
shopping or traditionally shopin any of those, um, promotions,
you're going to want to rethink,um, the, those promotions and
how valuable they're going to befor you.
(13:57):
I don't see in a lot of whereelectronics is usually key in
black Friday, cyber Monday, Idon't see the deals being as
dominant because there has beena shortage on product and goods.
So, no.
Why would a, why would aretailer discount for the sake
of discounting there's, they'rethe only ones probably holding
onto enough product to, to haveit.
Um, I think, you know, as youwant to buy gifts for your
(14:20):
family or friends, um, you'regoing to want to shop early, uh,
because merchandise is the flowof goods is not happening the
way it should be.
And any retailers that havesomething that you, you like
right now, if you see it go onsale, I would be snapping it up
now before, before waiting forthe holiday season.
I mean, you might save an extrafive or 10% when it goes on sale
(14:41):
closer to Christmas, but youmight not get it at all.
So I would, I would think aboutshopping,
Speaker 2 (14:46):
What could happen on when, for little Timmy on
Christmas day?
Like, I mean, like what, like,like paint a bleak picture and
then let's laugh about it.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
I mean, ultimately what if, if products are slow to
arrive and they're not going tocome in until, you know, some of
them might not even make shelfuntil December, January, uh, if
they get into December they'reright on time.
So there'll be great for dadswho are last minute shoppers.
Um, but, um, from a mom who'slooking, if it's not in, in the,
the first couple of weeks ofNovember, they think everyone
(15:17):
gets there right after kind of,we have remembrance day here on
November 11th, and theneverybody gets into Christmas.
But, uh, it's that kind ofNovember to December timeframe.
If, if people are, are notseeing the goods they want,
they're going to be in trouble.
And I really think that's goingto be a reality, that stuff is
coming.
It's going to come in January.
So I think what you're going tosee, and no one's going to call
it out to the customer and say,this is what's happening.
(15:40):
But I think what will happen isthere will be events that
retailers make up.
And what I mean by that isthey'll do a holiday promotion
in October or they'll, they'llnow all of a sudden miss
Christmas.
And then, you know, a think tankwill get together and they'll
launch a, a Christmas inJanuary, right?
Because they now have the goods.
So I think retailers are goingto have to be creative.
(16:02):
Um, I think if a consumer wantsto protect themselves, they need
to connect the dots.
They're watching the news.
They're hearing about thesestories.
Um, a lot of us are on LinkedInand maybe not highly engaged in
e-commerce.
Um, but you see the articles outthere already of what other
retailers, what Amazon's doing,what Walmart's doing.
(16:23):
If you start connecting thosedots, you start to see the
patterns of a shortage of goods.
Um, and I mean, it really takescommon sense to, right, like
think about 18 months of COVIDwhat's the impact and trickle
down effect in all cross sectorsof manufacturing and building
products.
And now we're just, we're gonna,we're going to be a little bit
slow to the market with thesethings, I think anyways.
(16:45):
And, uh, I mean, there'll be, myadvice is shop early.
Um, or, you know, you're gonnahave to find another way to have
maybe it's not product, maybeit's trips because the market's
about opened back up andeveryone's gonna take some
vacation around Christmas timeand that's the present to each
other.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Yeah.
Good prediction.
I think there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was wondering if, you know,are there other online retailers
that are expecting a higheronline purchase volume
throughout the next, you know,like six to eight months, you
know, talking about like therest of the year into the
holiday season and then intolike, you know, the first couple
(17:23):
of months of next year, like yousaid, when, when goods might
actually be coming into, intostock and things like that
because of kind of unknown COVIDsituations, maybe in, in certain
geographies, um, we're seeinglike, you know, higher case
counts and things like that, oris there just a, is there a
general expectation of highere-com purchasing for like the
(17:45):
holidays or the, the last partof the year versus like versus
like retail?
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah.
So I've said this a few times, Ithink, and we're starting to see
it with numbers, but I thinkthere'll be a slow down in
e-commerce.
Uh, it won't have the continuedgrowth that it has had.
Uh, it will have more engagedconsumers, maybe more people now
will start researching online,but people have this demand and
we're all social creatures.
I think a lot of people aregoing to want to get back out,
(18:12):
get into the stores it's been,you know, in our heads, it's so
glamorous to be in a mall andshopping.
And I think we forgot about howpainful it actually is to be out
and shopping with a bunch ofpeople trying to fight for
product.
And, you know, you're in a, in amall environment and they've got
one, a medium left, and nextthing you know, the guy takes it
and you're, you're out of luck.
(18:32):
You can't get that item.
You now have to actually buy itonline anyway.
So I think once we get out thereover the next three or four
months, customers willexperience that they'll live it.
And then all of a sudden they'regoing to now say, you know what?
I preferred shopping online.
It was more convenient.
I was able to get what I want itnow.
I do think categories likeapparel will S will strive.
Um, and you know, like I know mysize, um, of, of apparel or
(18:57):
jeans.
And if I'm loyal to my samejeans and yes, I'm that
predictable.
I buy the same jeans over andover again.
I don't really take a risk onanother Southern genes.
So I can now order those online.
And I'm not there with yourbuddy.
Exactly.
Yeah.
I think, um, logistics hasaccelerated for all companies
like Shopify even is nowoffering a, a delivery service,
(19:19):
um, to help out their, theirnetwork of people.
Like the difference beingdifference between an Amazon
FBA.
And what Shopify is doing isShopify has a bunch of sellers
that create their own stores,their own micro-sites and
websites versus Amazon has amarketplace and everyone just
sells through that one portal.
Um, but they're, they'rerealizing they, they need to
provide tools and technology tohelp their sellers because how
(19:44):
many people shop, um, a Shopifystore and it's someone
fulfilling out of theirbasement.
Like I ran a company calledhockey socks for a number of
years, and that was my ownbusiness.
And I was delivering thoseorders.
And what a lot of people don'tknow is there's actually
insurance liabilities.
If you're delivering thatpackage in your own personal
vehicle, your insurance is notcovered.
So as you start to mature inyour business, there's things
(20:06):
that you want to avoid.
And Shopify is allowing sellersto take advantage of those
things.
And Amazon's got the great FBAservice as well.
So Amazon takes out all incontrol of themselves and they,
they basically say, okay, youfor a fee list, your items with
us, you put the items into ourDC and we'll, we'll take all of
(20:26):
that away from you for a fee andwe will fulfill and get it to
your, um, your customers ontime.
And that's FBA.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
That's still by Amazon.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Amazon was smart.
I mean, a number of years agowhen they wanted to do next day
shipping.
And now, I mean, I can orderstuff like last night and then
I'll have it today.
So I think they were smart.
They understood that customerswant it now.
Um, and, um, they, they realizedthat years ago, and I guess they
saw people lining up forproducts like the latest and
(20:57):
greatest iPhone and how theywould camp out for these things.
And so they, they knew thatthere was a demand there and
they really focused on theirlogistics and opening up
multiple warehouses, creatingtheir own fleets.
Uh, so that way they can get itto the customers and, you know,
for a while there, and I don'tknow if they're still doing
this, but they were partneredwith OnStar and they were able
to deliver to trunk of your car.
(21:18):
Uh, so you could be in youroffice, they would send the
package, get the On-Star rep,open up your trunk and put the
package rate in.
So, um, those were some, someinnovative things that they did.
And, um, we watch it from adistance.
I don't know how, how ourcustomers would, um, adapt to
that.
We, we do have, uh, an audiencethat moves a little bit slower
when it comes to embracingdigital, but eventually we'll be
(21:40):
there and maybe we'll justleapfrog and do drone delivery.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
I've always wanted to deliveroxygen plus via drones or that'd
be cool.
Cause it's it's flight, youknow?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah.
I love that.
That's flight.
I mean, I think drone is goingto be a game changer when that
happens.
Like you think about ourcustomers and the fact that
they're doing a project and theymight be fixing a deck in their
backyard and they forgot theorder.
I don't know a set of screws.
They don't have to put theirstuff away.
They don't have to get in thecar.
They don't have to go to thestore and get those screws.
(22:13):
They lose an hour ofproductivity.
They can order from their mobiledevice or voice search and say,
Hey, get me these things.
And a drone delivers it to yourbackyard.
That's, that's a future I wantto be in now.
I
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Just don't want to deal with any customers that are
like, uh, the drone dropped inmy neighbor's pool.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
You know, like stuff like that.
Those
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Things are like flying out of sky right now.
It's a little scary, but no,that's, that's really great.
Really interesting.
And I'm sorry,
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Go ahead.
No, I, I wanted to throw out
Speaker 1 (22:43):
A question because that, you know, that makes me
think, you know, where, where dothings go from here?
Like, you know, we've already,we already had that next day or
same day delivery, you know,and, and it's everything is, is
so easy.
I just pick up my phone.
I go by now, it's there.
Where, where is it going fromhere?
Is, is there anything that, um,is being done or thought of to
(23:08):
make it even better than italready is shopping online?
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yeah.
I mean the one thing I keepasking for, and I'm trying to,
trying to find a partner on is Iwant to create a universal
shopping cart.
And what I mean by that is acart that is on my site, but is
also on Sephora.
It's also on home Depot site.
And now ultimately when it's thecustomer is shopping website and
website, they can build theircart.
(23:32):
They can buy five items for me,10 items from somebody else.
It doesn't matter.
They do one checkout and they'redone.
And it, it can happen becauseit's just digital information
passing through retailer,retailer on one credit card.
Why make a customer checkoutthree or four times, um, when
they're sitting at home doingsome couch surfing, I think it's
ridiculous.
(23:52):
So a universal cart, I think, iswhere the industry needs to go.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Amazon's a force.
Shopify is starting to become aforce in terms of providing
products to consumers on demand.
Is that fair?
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yeah.
I think you're going to shopmore based on experience versus
shopping like we do now.
Like you kind of just walk intothat store, you know, you need a
few things, you end up buildinga bigger basket because you've
got all this signage coming atyou telling you, you need stuff.
So you just add it to your cart.
Whereas I think especiallycoming out of COVID you value
those things that you've missedyou value time with your family
(24:29):
experiences.
So you're going to go and dothose things.
And then you're going to shopand buy stuff that will help
those experience become moreaware.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Scott, I want to know how you're going to change your
consumer behavior patterns oryour shopping, how you shop for
this Christmas based on what thee-commerce king of Canada, Chris
Parsons has just dropped today.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
It, it sounds like I'm going to be doing some
online pantry stuffing forholidays though.
Uh, I'm doing my Christmasshopping really early.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
You know, it, it, it works.
It works out because she
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Always shops early anyway.
So maybe it won't be that big
Speaker 2 (25:10):
If you start shopping for she does, would that freak
her out?
Oh yeah.
Okay.
Well, Chris, we thank you fortelling us how to have, not just
a Merry Christmas and a happyHanukkah and other things that
we don't want to get in troublewith.
If we say one or more holidays,
Speaker 1 (25:26):
I don't know all of the holidays, the holidays, the
holidays included MerryChristmas America.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
My mom, especially, she likes to say Merry
Christmas, not happy holidays.
So we're going to have a veryawesome holiday.
Maybe you can come back in thatheat of the busiest season,
Chris,
Speaker 3 (25:46):
See how right we were.
Yeah, let's do that.
Let's do that.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
That would be amazing.
You follow what's actuallyhappening in your own business,
but the future trends andcurrent trends and, and you, uh,
you really care about what thisis and, and how it affects
businesses and, and people.
So I, I think, can you share onemore time about Chris Parsons
(26:09):
delivering e-commerce how peoplecan follow you.
So they stay sharp and smartwhen they shop or sell.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Yeah.
Thanks for the opportunity guys.
I'm a student of retail andultimately that's what you get
out of delivering e-commerce isa lot of information, whether
it's logistics, marketing, bestpractices, et cetera, et cetera.
So you can connect with me onLinkedIn, just search Chris
Parsons.
I think I'm the first personthat comes up.
You can look on the, fordelivering e-commerce on
(26:37):
LinkedIn, um, or you can followdelivering e-commerce on YouTube
and on Spotify.
And, um, yeah, I would give myemail, but email is no longer a
tactic I try to use anymorebecause it's just too much junk
mail coming in.
So LinkedIn is the best spot to,uh, to reach me.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Awesome.
Amazing.
All right.
Ding, ding, ding.
You're gonna have a lot ofnotifications and Merry
Christmas to you, Chris.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Yeah.
Merry Christmas.
I'm looking forward to theholiday.
I think, I think everyone missedout entertaining family and
getting together, um, regardlessof what holiday they were
celebrating.
So I think everyone is reallylooking forward to, to hosting
again until they make thatTurkey and screw
Speaker 1 (27:22):
It up.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
No, uh, hopefully hopefullythere's more opportunity to, uh,
to get together for people, uh,this season.
So well, Chris, thank you somuch.
It's been so informative andfun.
We appreciate you being on thepodcast.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Cool.
We're not blowing hot air.
So more people are aware ofwellness and business stuff that
deserves more oxygen andsubscribe to our podcast.
So you never miss an excitingepisode.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Thanks for listening.
But before we go check out thisepisodes featured artist, Roy
Alexander, and I'm doing
Speaker 5 (28:11):
Good.
[inaudible] a witness to falling[inaudible] stones, bad fire
(28:40):
again.
There's kicked back in my chest.
(29:06):
[inaudible] while we crawl, weprayed to no one as if no one
was listening.
Oh, came and painful criessteady back, kicked back in my
(29:40):
chest with[inaudible].
Hello and welcome to we're not blowing hot air
powered by oxygen plus I'm Scottand I'm Lauren.
And we're here to help elevateyour IQ on wellness and business
stuff, but sometimesmisunderstood.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Oh, like recreational oxygen.
Yes.
Let's get smarter with thisweek's guest of we're not
blowing hot air on episode threeof we're not blowing hot air.
We all hail to the e-commerceking of Canada, Chris Parsons
for the insights he gives onsurviving today's world of
(00:34):
consumer packaged goods.
Chris, the director ofe-commerce at home hardware and
the highly regarded expert inthe digital space shares
research, and even make somepredictions for future business
trends related to the all tooimportant customer journey
experience.
Find out why you may want to doyour holiday shopping right
(00:54):
after Halloween this year.
Plus enjoy the musical notes ofRoy Alexander.
All on this episode of we're notblowing hot air Chris Parsons,
the e-commerce king of Canada.
Well, how's it going?
Good to see you.
Great, great.
So good to have you here andwe're not blowing hot air.
(01:15):
Thank you for coming today.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
No, I'm excited to be here.
You guys are fantastic.
I've been watching what you'redoing and it's, it's going to
take off, um, I'm really excitedto see the future guests that
you have, and I'd like to thankyou for allowing me to be one of
the first.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Oh, well thank you.
I mean, in all honesty, it, youhelped inspire us to get going.
I mean, your podcast deliveringe-commerce is something we
listened to.
Um, we're inspired by not onlythe content, which is delivering
great business news, which Ihope you can talk to more, but
also just, I mean, the fact thatyou did a podcast, right?
(01:52):
I mean, you know, it, isn't,it's a lot of, a lot of pieces
to put together to make onefinished polished piece of art.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah.
You know, I, it's funny, Iwatched the, an episode of Joe
Rogan, uh, it's an older episodeand he talks about having
natural conflict in your life.
And, uh, if you don't have thisconflict, then you have actually
conflict in your personal life.
So create conflict, create, um,these areas where it's forcing
you to be better, do better, andthen it will actually give you a
(02:22):
better personal life.
And it's interesting that I tookdoing a podcast on, in, during a
co COVID pandemic, um, whilethings were already crazy
enough, but, uh, it's, it's likeself torture and I'm really
enjoying it.
And I, you know, you guys areactually going to be the first
ones to hear that I just broke athousand subscribers on my
channel as of yesterday.
So really excited about that.
(02:44):
I know, um, a lot of YouTubershave far more following than
that, but, uh, I just startedout three months ago and to be
up to a thousand already is, uh,really exciting.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Congrats.
That's great.
I mean, you've
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Had an incredible career.
You've always been a hard workerand you've always known about
teamwork and how to work withothers.
So I'd love for you to sharemore about how you started out,
um, team at Walmart in Canadaand how you help background the
e-comm side.
And then all the way up untilwhat you're doing now at the
(03:16):
Canadian version of home Depot,which, uh, Canadians will know,
but we don't know the name ofthat store.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Yeah.
It's home hardware and homehardware, hardware
Speaker 3 (03:31):
To give you to give you a really good example of who
it's like is, uh, is ACE, um, in, in the U S where it's a
wholesale environment.
And, um, we started out as awholesaler.
Now our journey is to becomethis integrated retailer.
And what we mean by that is wereally want to provide our
thousand plus dealers with amuch richer experience and not
just sell them goods.
(03:52):
We want to make sure that we'rehelping them with their brand,
with their brand story, um,giving them tools to help in
this new digital world, um, andreally, uh, highlight what makes
our store so strong.
And that's the customer servicethat they get.
When you walk into some of thoseother big boxes, you're really
kind of self-serve.
And with us, it's, it's wellknown across Canada.
(04:14):
When you come into a homehardware that you're treated as
if you're family, a lot of ourstores are in a local community.
Uh, so shopping local isimportant to us, but at the same
time, we know people by name,we're able to help them.
We know if they've just built afence, what their next project
will be, and we make greatsuggestions and we're just,
we're just there for them.
(04:34):
And, uh, I really appreciated itthat about the business.
And that's why I decided to jointwo and a half years ago.
But, uh, yeah, my background,you know, I've been doing
e-commerce since 1994, it wasall by accident.
I was late for a meeting and myboss basically said, can you
take on building an e-commercesite for Walmart, Canada, and no
one ever believes that story,but it's absolutely true.
(04:54):
Um, and I flew to Bentonville, Igrabbed the book HTML for
dummies and, uh, learned how tocode on a flight, uh, learnt, uh
, some grab Dreamweaver, um,while I was in Bentonville and
flew back home with some basiccoding skills and started
building walmart.ca.
And, uh, it was the bestlearning experience I've ever
had because I was able to domarketing development
(05:18):
merchandising, um, social media,you name it, I was doing it all.
Uh, so it really rounded out mycapabilities and allowed me to
grow my career, which a lot ofpeople don't get a chance.
Cause most people are siloed.
They go into email, they go intosocial media and they kind of
stick in that lane versus mebeing able to go across all, all
(05:38):
of the aspects of e-commerce.
So it was very fortunate and, uh, to do it for such a large
company was, was great.
And then 2012, um, I went overto a company called newegg.com.
Uh, one of the bigger retailers,it was a pure play and, um, they
were launched, they launched inCanada, they had just launched.
Um, I went over there asdirector of marketing.
(05:58):
Few months later, I was promotedto the country manager.
And then a year later I waspromoted to a global country
manager and launched thecountries for, for new egg, um,
a lot of stuff in between that,but ultimately a couple of pet
companies that I worked forwrens and big L's.
And then finally got the call tocome over here and, uh, I
(06:20):
couldn't turn it down.
I, uh, the it's such an iconicbrand like this is the, this is
the brand that your fathershopped and, um, now we can make
it relevant for new generationsand, uh, I'm lucky to be a part
of it.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
That's awesome.
Fantastic.
And, um, anything more you wantto say about delivering
e-commerce?
I think right now people canjust remember it.
We'll put a link in the bottomof the description of this
episode, so you can go followit, but anything else you want
to say about what you'rehighlighting or doing with that?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah, I mean, really I'll try to make a long story
short, but I grew up with alearning disability and with
that learning disability, um,basically was told I wouldn't
amount to anything from myteachers, which was great, uh,
messaging back then.
They don't do that anymore.
Thankfully.
And, uh, one of the things I tryto do is do some public
speaking, encourage kids, Icoach hockey and you see kids
with learning disabilities onthe team and you know what, it's
(07:12):
funny that they can all pick upa hockey, which is one of the
hardest things to skate on ablade, this, this, uh, thin and
we're thick.
And ultimately they're able todo what they can learn all these
great skills in a sport, but atschool they struggle.
So to me, it shows a conflict.
There's something that'sdisconnecting, whether it's a
lack of interest, they have theskillset to learn.
(07:32):
And I just go in and try tomotivate kids.
So taking that, um, I decided todo a podcast.
So basically if I generaterevenue from the podcast, not
yet, but soon, um, I want to beable to donate to local
charities that work with kids,with learning disabilities to
help them out.
So trying to do a little bit ofa giving back since I've been so
(07:53):
fortunate in my life to, uh,struggle early on, but then find
my stride in my twenties.
It's exciting.
I've had, uh, 18 episodes nowrecorded delivering e-commerce
with special guests, just muchlike this format right here.
Um, and my guests are so strong,um, across north America, not
just Canada.
And we talk about everythingfrom social media to
micro-influencers um, you nameit we've we've we covered all
(08:17):
the topics for e-commerce andretail.
And, um, I appreciate, Iappreciate the thousand subs.
Yeah,
Speaker 1 (08:24):
For sure.
Right on the lag, you mentionedthe last 18 months, you know,
with the pandemic andeverything.
So what, what were thechallenges over the course of
the last 18 months with theCOVID pandemic and everything in
the world of e-comm or what,what were the, some of the
things that, you know, retailers, uh, that, that have an online
(08:45):
presence we're trying to, toovercome?
What about some of like thephysical challenges?
I mean, like, you know, we're inthe CPG category and what about
some of the physical challengeswith like just, just the
merchandise that's being sold,you know, like in terms of
having that product ready forpeople, because the shift, there
was a, I'm assuming just amassive shift where now people
(09:07):
are just solely reliant onbuying online as opposed to
physical retail, like whathappened there?
What, what did retailers need todo?
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah, I mean, obviously from, so I shouldn't
say so obviously home hardwarehas been, um, a natural buy
online pickup in store.
We haven't offered ship the home, um, where every other retailer
was shipped the home.
They had that in place, but forus, we had the other model and
we did that because of ourwholesale environment.
And we wanted to drive trafficto our dealers for, for many
(09:38):
years.
So from us, we just had tocommunicate message.
We had buy online pickup instore, but the, the add on to
that was the whole curbsidepickup component, which from a
logistical standpoint, you tryto do that in stores.
It's, it's a nightmare.
Those poor staff are runningfrom shelf, the shelf, trying to
fulfill orders.
(09:58):
Like they've become now all of asudden a warehouse and they
weren't trained to be awarehouse.
They were trained to be salesassociates and customer service
associates.
And now all of a sudden they'regoing up and down aisles,
completing packages forcustomers to take it out to the
car.
And you can imagine we, a lot ofretailers didn't have a great
pickup in, um, at store process.
(10:20):
So they're now implementingwhether it's a mobile pin code,
how do you, here's a phonenumber to call making signage
for de for parking spots to say,this is your parking spot one,
two, whatever number and none ofthat existed before, right?
Like, okay.
Grocery was testing out some ofit, but it didn't exist for the
majority of, of retailers andcustomers were just learning it
(10:41):
as we implemented it.
And you know, there usually youlike to test those types of
things in retail and get a, asample group before you roll it
out to all stores, but it was,it was just go.
And, um, and then from a productperspective, you know, in the
lumber industry, which wasreally interesting was a lot of
retailers struggled, but inlumber, everyone decided to
(11:02):
invest in their home and redoXYZ projects.
And lumber prices went throughthe roof.
There was a shortage of demandon, on those products.
And, um, so
Speaker 2 (11:11):
While we're,
Speaker 3 (11:13):
It's still happening, places are, are trickling down a
little bit.
Um, because now with thingsopening up, people are looking
at travel.
Again, they're looking at theirwardrobes dressing up a little
bit more versus, you know,historically in the last 18
months I would probably be in at-shirt or a golf shirt.
Um, so, so they're, they're nowlooking at their wardrobe and
those dollars are shifting,right.
They're shifting away fromproject-based at your home to,
(11:36):
you know, self-gratification maymaybe I would like to go out and
get a new shirt.
I might look out, I'll tell youa secret.
Mine is not even buttoned upbecause my neck is so fat now
from COVID weight.
Um, but I just pull that tie uptight.
So like everyone needs a newwardrobe.
Right.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I don't remember the last time I wore a tie.
Yeah.
It's been quite a while.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I've never seen you in a tie, Scott,
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Many people don't,
Speaker 4 (12:02):
It doesn't happen often.
What
Speaker 2 (12:05):
If there's one thing we really need to think about,
or maybe like that I shouldn'tworry about Chris helped me not
worry and be fearful of anythinglike, or, or to take
precautions.
Like what, what are those thingsthat both businesses and
consumers can be doing right nowin this kind of, um, uncertain
landscape of e-commerce andregional?
How, how and the mix of the twoof e-comm and retail.
(12:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Yeah.
So, uh, we I've been referringit to it as a harmonized retail
experience.
And I get that actually there'sa book right behind me,
remarkable retail.
Um, and it talks about thisconcept of harmonized.
So no longer is it considered anomni-channel experience?
It's a blended, it's aharmonized experience.
Customers shop all channels.
Now they just choose what timeof day they're going to do what,
but ultimately I, logistics isthe biggest hurdle that
(12:52):
e-commerce and retail has toovercome over the next probably
18 months or so productionslowed in a lot of warehouses or
manufacturing plants.
Um, it's it's slowed, or itstopped completely because they
had, you know, they had, COVIDrunning rampant through a lot of
those manufacturing plants, sothey couldn't produce it.
So that there's a shortage onmicrochips for fridges, for
(13:13):
electronics.
There's a shortage on, uh,importing of goods.
You got, you got ports that arebacked up for for months.
So, you know, the, the one thingI've been telling people right
now is to really think andconsider the next few holidays
that are coming up.
And when I say holidays, I meanlike black Friday, cyber Monday,
and obviously the Christmasseason, or, um, happy holidays,
(13:36):
whatever, whatever people wantto call it, I don't want to
offend anyone.
So I gotta be careful, right.
Hanukkah.
But, um, but ultimately I thinkconsumers that if you, if you're
shopping or traditionally shopin any of those, um, promotions,
you're going to want to rethink,um, the, those promotions and
how valuable they're going to befor you.
(13:57):
I don't see in a lot of whereelectronics is usually key in
black Friday, cyber Monday, Idon't see the deals being as
dominant because there has beena shortage on product and goods.
So, no.
Why would a, why would aretailer discount for the sake
of discounting there's, they'rethe only ones probably holding
onto enough product to, to haveit.
Um, I think, you know, as youwant to buy gifts for your
(14:20):
family or friends, um, you'regoing to want to shop early, uh,
because merchandise is the flowof goods is not happening the
way it should be.
And any retailers that havesomething that you, you like
right now, if you see it go onsale, I would be snapping it up
now before, before waiting forthe holiday season.
I mean, you might save an extrafive or 10% when it goes on sale
(14:41):
closer to Christmas, but youmight not get it at all.
So I would, I would think aboutshopping,
Speaker 2 (14:46):
What could happen on when, for little Timmy on
Christmas day?
Like, I mean, like what, like,like paint a bleak picture and
then let's laugh about it.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
I mean, ultimately what if, if products are slow to
arrive and they're not going tocome in until, you know, some of
them might not even make shelfuntil December, January, uh, if
they get into December they'reright on time.
So there'll be great for dadswho are last minute shoppers.
Um, but, um, from a mom who'slooking, if it's not in, in the,
the first couple of weeks ofNovember, they think everyone
(15:17):
gets there right after kind of,we have remembrance day here on
November 11th, and theneverybody gets into Christmas.
But, uh, it's that kind ofNovember to December timeframe.
If, if people are, are notseeing the goods they want,
they're going to be in trouble.
And I really think that's goingto be a reality, that stuff is
coming.
It's going to come in January.
So I think what you're going tosee, and no one's going to call
it out to the customer and say,this is what's happening.
(15:40):
But I think what will happen isthere will be events that
retailers make up.
And what I mean by that isthey'll do a holiday promotion
in October or they'll, they'llnow all of a sudden miss
Christmas.
And then, you know, a think tankwill get together and they'll
launch a, a Christmas inJanuary, right?
Because they now have the goods.
So I think retailers are goingto have to be creative.
(16:02):
Um, I think if a consumer wantsto protect themselves, they need
to connect the dots.
They're watching the news.
They're hearing about thesestories.
Um, a lot of us are on LinkedInand maybe not highly engaged in
e-commerce.
Um, but you see the articles outthere already of what other
retailers, what Amazon's doing,what Walmart's doing.
(16:23):
If you start connecting thosedots, you start to see the
patterns of a shortage of goods.
Um, and I mean, it really takescommon sense to, right, like
think about 18 months of COVIDwhat's the impact and trickle
down effect in all cross sectorsof manufacturing and building
products.
And now we're just, we're gonna,we're going to be a little bit
slow to the market with thesethings, I think anyways.
(16:45):
And, uh, I mean, there'll be, myadvice is shop early.
Um, or, you know, you're gonnahave to find another way to have
maybe it's not product, maybeit's trips because the market's
about opened back up andeveryone's gonna take some
vacation around Christmas timeand that's the present to each
other.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Yeah.
Good prediction.
I think there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was wondering if, you know,are there other online retailers
that are expecting a higheronline purchase volume
throughout the next, you know,like six to eight months, you
know, talking about like therest of the year into the
holiday season and then intolike, you know, the first couple
(17:23):
of months of next year, like yousaid, when, when goods might
actually be coming into, intostock and things like that
because of kind of unknown COVIDsituations, maybe in, in certain
geographies, um, we're seeinglike, you know, higher case
counts and things like that, oris there just a, is there a
general expectation of highere-com purchasing for like the
(17:45):
holidays or the, the last partof the year versus like versus
like retail?
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah.
So I've said this a few times, Ithink, and we're starting to see
it with numbers, but I thinkthere'll be a slow down in
e-commerce.
Uh, it won't have the continuedgrowth that it has had.
Uh, it will have more engagedconsumers, maybe more people now
will start researching online,but people have this demand and
we're all social creatures.
I think a lot of people aregoing to want to get back out,
(18:12):
get into the stores it's been,you know, in our heads, it's so
glamorous to be in a mall andshopping.
And I think we forgot about howpainful it actually is to be out
and shopping with a bunch ofpeople trying to fight for
product.
And, you know, you're in a, in amall environment and they've got
one, a medium left, and nextthing you know, the guy takes it
and you're, you're out of luck.
(18:32):
You can't get that item.
You now have to actually buy itonline anyway.
So I think once we get out thereover the next three or four
months, customers willexperience that they'll live it.
And then all of a sudden they'regoing to now say, you know what?
I preferred shopping online.
It was more convenient.
I was able to get what I want itnow.
I do think categories likeapparel will S will strive.
Um, and you know, like I know mysize, um, of, of apparel or
(18:57):
jeans.
And if I'm loyal to my samejeans and yes, I'm that
predictable.
I buy the same jeans over andover again.
I don't really take a risk onanother Southern genes.
So I can now order those online.
And I'm not there with yourbuddy.
Exactly.
Yeah.
I think, um, logistics hasaccelerated for all companies
like Shopify even is nowoffering a, a delivery service,
(19:19):
um, to help out their, theirnetwork of people.
Like the difference beingdifference between an Amazon
FBA.
And what Shopify is doing isShopify has a bunch of sellers
that create their own stores,their own micro-sites and
websites versus Amazon has amarketplace and everyone just
sells through that one portal.
Um, but they're, they'rerealizing they, they need to
provide tools and technology tohelp their sellers because how
(19:44):
many people shop, um, a Shopifystore and it's someone
fulfilling out of theirbasement.
Like I ran a company calledhockey socks for a number of
years, and that was my ownbusiness.
And I was delivering thoseorders.
And what a lot of people don'tknow is there's actually
insurance liabilities.
If you're delivering thatpackage in your own personal
vehicle, your insurance is notcovered.
So as you start to mature inyour business, there's things
(20:06):
that you want to avoid.
And Shopify is allowing sellersto take advantage of those
things.
And Amazon's got the great FBAservice as well.
So Amazon takes out all incontrol of themselves and they,
they basically say, okay, youfor a fee list, your items with
us, you put the items into ourDC and we'll, we'll take all of
(20:26):
that away from you for a fee andwe will fulfill and get it to
your, um, your customers ontime.
And that's FBA.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
That's still by Amazon.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Amazon was smart.
I mean, a number of years agowhen they wanted to do next day
shipping.
And now, I mean, I can orderstuff like last night and then
I'll have it today.
So I think they were smart.
They understood that customerswant it now.
Um, and, um, they, they realizedthat years ago, and I guess they
saw people lining up forproducts like the latest and
(20:57):
greatest iPhone and how theywould camp out for these things.
And so they, they knew thatthere was a demand there and
they really focused on theirlogistics and opening up
multiple warehouses, creatingtheir own fleets.
Uh, so that way they can get itto the customers and, you know,
for a while there, and I don'tknow if they're still doing
this, but they were partneredwith OnStar and they were able
to deliver to trunk of your car.
(21:18):
Uh, so you could be in youroffice, they would send the
package, get the On-Star rep,open up your trunk and put the
package rate in.
So, um, those were some, someinnovative things that they did.
And, um, we watch it from adistance.
I don't know how, how ourcustomers would, um, adapt to
that.
We, we do have, uh, an audiencethat moves a little bit slower
when it comes to embracingdigital, but eventually we'll be
(21:40):
there and maybe we'll justleapfrog and do drone delivery.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
I've always wanted to deliveroxygen plus via drones or that'd
be cool.
Cause it's it's flight, youknow?
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah.
I love that.
That's flight.
I mean, I think drone is goingto be a game changer when that
happens.
Like you think about ourcustomers and the fact that
they're doing a project and theymight be fixing a deck in their
backyard and they forgot theorder.
I don't know a set of screws.
They don't have to put theirstuff away.
They don't have to get in thecar.
They don't have to go to thestore and get those screws.
(22:13):
They lose an hour ofproductivity.
They can order from their mobiledevice or voice search and say,
Hey, get me these things.
And a drone delivers it to yourbackyard.
That's, that's a future I wantto be in now.
I
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Just don't want to deal with any customers that are
like, uh, the drone dropped inmy neighbor's pool.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
You know, like stuff like that.
Those
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Things are like flying out of sky right now.
It's a little scary, but no,that's, that's really great.
Really interesting.
And I'm sorry,
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Go ahead.
No, I, I wanted to throw out
Speaker 1 (22:43):
A question because that, you know, that makes me
think, you know, where, where dothings go from here?
Like, you know, we've already,we already had that next day or
same day delivery, you know,and, and it's everything is, is
so easy.
I just pick up my phone.
I go by now, it's there.
Where, where is it going fromhere?
Is, is there anything that, um,is being done or thought of to
(23:08):
make it even better than italready is shopping online?
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yeah.
I mean the one thing I keepasking for, and I'm trying to,
trying to find a partner on is Iwant to create a universal
shopping cart.
And what I mean by that is acart that is on my site, but is
also on Sephora.
It's also on home Depot site.
And now ultimately when it's thecustomer is shopping website and
website, they can build theircart.
(23:32):
They can buy five items for me,10 items from somebody else.
It doesn't matter.
They do one checkout and they'redone.
And it, it can happen becauseit's just digital information
passing through retailer,retailer on one credit card.
Why make a customer checkoutthree or four times, um, when
they're sitting at home doingsome couch surfing, I think it's
ridiculous.
(23:52):
So a universal cart, I think, iswhere the industry needs to go.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Amazon's a force.
Shopify is starting to become aforce in terms of providing
products to consumers on demand.
Is that fair?
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yeah.
I think you're going to shopmore based on experience versus
shopping like we do now.
Like you kind of just walk intothat store, you know, you need a
few things, you end up buildinga bigger basket because you've
got all this signage coming atyou telling you, you need stuff.
So you just add it to your cart.
Whereas I think especiallycoming out of COVID you value
those things that you've missedyou value time with your family
(24:29):
experiences.
So you're going to go and dothose things.
And then you're going to shopand buy stuff that will help
those experience become moreaware.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Scott, I want to know how you're going to change your
consumer behavior patterns oryour shopping, how you shop for
this Christmas based on what thee-commerce king of Canada, Chris
Parsons has just dropped today.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
It, it sounds like I'm going to be doing some
online pantry stuffing forholidays though.
Uh, I'm doing my Christmasshopping really early.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
You know, it, it, it works.
It works out because she
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Always shops early anyway.
So maybe it won't be that big
Speaker 2 (25:10):
If you start shopping for she does, would that freak
her out?
Oh yeah.
Okay.
Well, Chris, we thank you fortelling us how to have, not just
a Merry Christmas and a happyHanukkah and other things that
we don't want to get in troublewith.
If we say one or more holidays,
Speaker 1 (25:26):
I don't know all of the holidays, the holidays, the
holidays included MerryChristmas America.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
My mom, especially, she likes to say Merry
Christmas, not happy holidays.
So we're going to have a veryawesome holiday.
Maybe you can come back in thatheat of the busiest season,
Chris,
Speaker 3 (25:46):
See how right we were.
Yeah, let's do that.
Let's do that.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
That would be amazing.
You follow what's actuallyhappening in your own business,
but the future trends andcurrent trends and, and you, uh,
you really care about what thisis and, and how it affects
businesses and, and people.
So I, I think, can you share onemore time about Chris Parsons
(26:09):
delivering e-commerce how peoplecan follow you.
So they stay sharp and smartwhen they shop or sell.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Yeah.
Thanks for the opportunity guys.
I'm a student of retail andultimately that's what you get
out of delivering e-commerce isa lot of information, whether
it's logistics, marketing, bestpractices, et cetera, et cetera.
So you can connect with me onLinkedIn, just search Chris
Parsons.
I think I'm the first personthat comes up.
You can look on the, fordelivering e-commerce on
(26:37):
LinkedIn, um, or you can followdelivering e-commerce on YouTube
and on Spotify.
And, um, yeah, I would give myemail, but email is no longer a
tactic I try to use anymorebecause it's just too much junk
mail coming in.
So LinkedIn is the best spot to,uh, to reach me.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Awesome.
Amazing.
All right.
Ding, ding, ding.
You're gonna have a lot ofnotifications and Merry
Christmas to you, Chris.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Yeah.
Merry Christmas.
I'm looking forward to theholiday.
I think, I think everyone missedout entertaining family and
getting together, um, regardlessof what holiday they were
celebrating.
So I think everyone is reallylooking forward to, to hosting
again until they make thatTurkey and screw
Speaker 1 (27:22):
It up.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
No, uh, hopefully hopefullythere's more opportunity to, uh,
to get together for people, uh,this season.
So well, Chris, thank you somuch.
It's been so informative andfun.
We appreciate you being on thepodcast.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Cool.
We're not blowing hot air.
So more people are aware ofwellness and business stuff that
deserves more oxygen andsubscribe to our podcast.
So you never miss an excitingepisode.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Thanks for listening.
But before we go check out thisepisodes featured artist, Roy
Alexander, and I'm doing
Speaker 5 (28:11):
Good.
[inaudible] a witness to falling[inaudible] stones, bad fire
(28:40):
again.
There's kicked back in my chest.
(29:06):
[inaudible] while we crawl, weprayed to no one as if no one
was listening.
Oh, came and painful criessteady back, kicked back in my
(29:40):
chest with[inaudible].
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