The Digital Enterprise is an online news publication that aims to address an organization’s journey to transforming digitally and embracing digital. Maintaining a sharp focus on the multiple facets of digital transformation, The Digital Enterprise provides in-depth features, updates on technology innovations, and best practices from industry leaders.

One of their contributors, Damin Babu, reached out to me and asked if I would like to be part of a Champions of Change series to talk about Digital Transformation. Below is the interview, or you can visit The Digital Enterprise for the originally published interview: Interview with Johnny Russo, AVP, Digital Marketing and Ecommerce at Mark’s.

Thanks to Damin and The Digital Enterprise for asking to take part in this series.

*This post was originally published on www.thedigitalenterprise.com on October 10, 2018.* Link to original post:

Interview with Johnny Russo, AVP, Digital Marketing and Ecommerce at Mark’s.

Q: Thank you so much for taking our questions! Tell us a little about your business and your specific role?

Johnny Russo: Thanks for asking me to be a part of this series. Mark’s is a leading apparel retailer in Canada. Known as L’equipeur in Quebec, Mark’s is part of the Canadian Tire Corporation. Mark’s has 385 stores in Canada, making it one of the largest retailers in Canada. I am the Associate Vice President of Ecommerce and Digital. So if you break it down, my team gets traffic to the site, tries to convert it online or send traffic into our stores, and we help ensure the post purchase journey meets and exceeds the demands of the customer.

Q: When did you first realize that you had an issue that needed a digital solution? What was the nature of the problem you set out to solve?

JR: I don’t know if there was just one moment. A few years ago, Mark’s was a very traditional retailer. So media was very much print, TV, and newspapers. Social Media and Digital Media budgets were very small. The Digital team was not developed. Our site was lacking functionality. And not a lot of emphasis was placed on Ecommerce. Fast forward 3 years, and Mark’s budgets have significantly increased in Digital, and Digital now has a seat at the table. We’re close to becoming a digital-first retailer. And along the journey, we’ve won several awards for Email, best-in class Omni-Channel retailer, customer experience, etc. So it’s been a nice pat on the back for the team that we’re headed in the right direction.

So I don’t think it was necessarily a problem we set out to solve. It was more a realization that the time was now for our Digital Transformation to commence.

Q: What were the challenges you faced at the time as you began the process of evaluating solutions?

JR: For our Digital Transformation to succeed, there were a few pillars we needed to build, some mid-course, others that we still may add. But for us the main pillars are: People, Partners, Culture, Education, and Data/Change Management. So the challenge was understanding each of their impacts, and how to build those pillars, while not forgetting that you still need to drive sales and traffic. So embarking on a Digital Transformation, and still having the team focusing on driving revenue, can be a challenge, but you all become stronger for it. Agile and scrum have also been helpful. We have a lean team, so getting stuff done quickly is paramount, and cross functional communication is vital.

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