Ecommerce – Page 4

Why Today’s Education Curriculum is Failing Us

April 29, 2018 by Johnny Russo 1 Comment

I am frustrated by the education system. The reason so many people want to be entrepreneurs right now, is because our education system is failing us. And I don’t mean primary school. But EVERYTHING after it. I look back to what I was taught in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and not much has changed. Math is still held in such a high regard, but they are teaching stuff 99% of students will never use in their work career, or in life for that matter. Geometry, trigonometry, linear algebra… really? What about teaching high schoolers how to read a financial statement? Or managing finances? Or opening up a savings account? Why not teach real world math? If you want to learn geometry, well then do it, but do you need a teacher for that, in today’s digital age? Go to YouTube, Udemy, or ask away on LinkedIn.

At the World Economic Forum in January 2018, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, said “If we do not change the way we teach, 30 years from now, we will be in trouble. The way we teach, the things we teach our kids, are the things from the past 200 years. It is knowledge based. And we cannot teach our kids to compete with machines … We have to teach them something unique, so that a machine can never catch up with us.”

Robots Will Keep Replacing Jobs. How Can We Compete Tomorrow?

Ma also believes that robots will replace 800 million jobs by 2020. With Amazon around, does anyone doubt this?

So how can humans gain an upper hand on machines? Where are all the communication courses? And I don’t mean how to read great works like Shakespeare or Hemingway, or how to write poems, but how to communicate with people? How to take criticism, and how to give it? How to better read social cues. How to conquer the job interview process. How to become self aware. How to get more out of your team, whether you’re leading it or a part of it. Why aren’t these tools and techniques being practiced when we’re 15, 20, 25 years of age?

[Read more…]

Customer Contact Week Speaker Series Q&A

November 4, 2017 by Johnny Russo Leave a Comment

Customer Contact Week gathers leaders that span the customer journey, from Marketing to Operations to Customer Care. CCW talked with me and two other leaders speaking at CCW NoLa to discuss some of the keys to delivering great customer experience, challenges on the journey, and the personal meaning of world-class service with speed and efficiency.

Download the entire Customer Contact Week Speaker Series Q&A or you can also find it on the Customer Contact Week Digital site.

Here is my interview in its entirety:

Question: Our CCW New Orleans theme this year is focused on delivering world-class service with speed and efficiency. In the context of your work, what does speed and efficiency for the customer mean to you?

Answer: For me, it’s about speed and agility in servicing the customer’s needs. That could come in the form of how quickly we respond to an issue; how efficient we are at solving it at first touch – while remaining consistent with our brand tone, yet still with a personal human touch, independent of channel (stores, online, social, call center, etc); it’s also the speed of shipping out an order as quickly as possible.

On the Digital Marketing side, we like to try new things. We don’t love mass communication (who does?) we like relevant communication. From the digital media we buy, to the preference center we launched (enabling newsletter subscribers to opt down in frequency of email received), we don’t want to inundate our customers with our shopping messages. We’re also trying to be better at communicating non-sale messages, and focusing more on pairing up looks, new site features that make the browsing experience better, or our Click & Collect solutions.

Q: Tell us a little more about your speaking role at CCW New Orleans and how it relates back to your current focus areas. What makes you passionate about this topic?

A: This session might be a bit different, since my title or position is not necessarily Customer Service or Customer Experience. However, leading the Digital Marketing and Ecommerce team for one of the largest apparel retailers in Canada, we obsess about customer needs. So I believe my session will touch not only how to do things for the buying customer, but also your internal team members (think about it, they are your customers as well), not to mention our external vendors or agencies; they are an extension of our team, and so we refer to them as our partners (again, they are customers as well in the broader sense).

[Read more…]

Presenting at the SCI Omni Channel Retail Summit

November 4, 2017 by Johnny Russo Leave a Comment

I am really excited about Retail’s future. I may be an eternal optimist, but Retail needs change. And the leaders of today that I talk to know it, and are doing something about it. On October 5, I was asked to speak at the Omni Channel Retail Summit in Vancouver. It was an event hosted by SCI, a leader in Omni Channel fulfillment and supply chain solutions and a Canada Post company.

I spoke about Digital Transformation. The event brought together retail marketing leaders from Western Canada, including retailers like Mark’s, Best Buy, MEC, Uniqlo, among many others. It was held in Vancouver at the tremendous offices of law firm Fasken Martineau. (Side note: speaking in a room with floor to ceiling windows with a view of the the beautiful Vancouver landscape is very, very inspiring. The photos speak for themselves).

During the one day event, there were about 10 presentations, and not one focused on the doom and gloom you here so much about in some Retail circles and industry publications. Why? Because the people in the room were and are Change Agents. We heard phenomenal success stories, and talking to my peers at the break, the future of Retail can be bright. I say can be, because the new leaders of Retail have to think differently, and move fast. Indecision has no place in the new Retail.

[Read more…]

My Digital Transformation Keynote Session at the SOCAP Conference

October 28, 2017 by Johnny Russo Leave a Comment

I usually attend and speak at Marketing, Digital Marketing, and Ecommerce Conferences, at Retail events, or at general leadership sessions. So a few months back when I was asked to speak at SOCAP, my first reaction was ‘what’s that?’ Well, I quickly learned that SOCAP International (The Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals in Business) is the organization for Customer Care professionals. SOCAP was established in 1973 to help shape the business community’s response to changing consumer needs and expectations.

So why did a Customer Care organization want to hear from a marketer like me? Well, I’ll get to that in a moment. But Lisa Oswald, Senior Vice President, Global Customer Care at TravelZoo, who also happens to sit on the Board of Director at SOCAP, heard me speak at the ForeSee Summit in April 2016. Soon after, she connected me with Marjorie Bynum, who is SOCAP’s Vice President if Strategic Learning, Leadership, and Communications.

When Marjorie and I spoke for the first time, we instantly hit it off, as we shared a passion to help our respective industries learn and improve. She then asked if I would be interested in keynoting the afternoon session on Day 1 of the SOCAP Conference. I was thrilled to do so.

[Read more…]

Customer-First Retail – a Whitepaper by DAC Group

July 20, 2017 by Johnny Russo Leave a Comment

In April 2017, DAC Group, a prominent global Marketing agency, asked if I would like to give my thoughts on their upcoming Whitepaper. The topic: what is customer-first retail, and how do you even try and achieve that while staying relevant and driving business results in today’s ever-evolving retail landscape? Great topic and I was also impressed with the other people I would be giving opinions with. Here is a list of the people that were interviewed for this Retail Whitepaper:

Diane Brisebois, President & CEO at Retail Council of Canada

Indar Chanicka, Director of eCommerce at The Body Shop

Pat Duncan, SVP Marketing & Chief Digital Officer at Party City

Tom Giacalone, Digital, eCommerce, Omnichannel Retail and Operations, CRM Executive at Vera Bradley

Johnny Russo, Associate Vice-President, eCommerce and Digital Marketing at Mark’s (that would be moi)

Jennifer Spencer, VP Marketing and Corporate Responsibility at The Body Shop

Jan Steck, Chief Marketing and Digital Officer at Helzberg Diamonds

Diane’s name attaches immense respect and retail authority, and she is someone I follow very closely. Thanks to DAC Group for putting out this Whitepaper, and for asking me to be a part of it. I love being a part of advancing retail and helping Digital Transformation journeys.

The whitepaper explores how retailers can reinvigorate their approach to digital in order to overcome immense challenges, unlock opportunities, and drive measurable ROI in a competitive space. The main topics include:

The necessity of shifting to a customer-centric approach
The paramount importance of the personalized customer experience
Omni-Channel strategies driving brand success
Mobile and Ecommerce continuing to grow exponentially
The “Amazon Effect” heavily influencing consumer expectations

“It’s evident that people think the retail apocalypse is happening. However, it’s equally apparent that some brands are responding to changing consumer demands, and those that do will ‘win’ at the end of the day,” says Lynn Duffy, DAC Group’s Senior Manager, Strategic Insights. “It seems like such a basic concept, but keeping the consumer at the forefront in all decisions that impact how brands interact with the consumer will pay off in the end.”

[Read more…]

Why Today’s Education Curriculum is Failing Us

Robots Will Keep Replacing Jobs. How Can We Compete Tomorrow?

Presenting at the SCI Omni Channel Retail Summit

My Digital Transformation Keynote Session at the SOCAP Conference

About the Blog

Experience

Current Project