Canadian Retailer - Fall 2015 - 34

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(l-r) Raj Kapahi, Priyanka Kapahi, Madan Kapahi, Aliya Kazhahulava,
Justin MacDonald and Sean MacInnes.

able to see what's incoming on a boat from Asia,
when it's scheduled to arrive at port and order
that piece for the customer.
"There's a lot of personal service that goes into
our store and model," says Raj. "Online helps us
enhance our offering ten-fold."
In fact, online has come to represent such a
boon for the business that its recent foray into Ontario highlights just how powerful the medium is.
"We moved into Ontario in 2011, opening five
stores-three in the GTA and two in Ottawa,"
he explains. "It's been a bit of a slow start for us
with respect to our brick and mortar locations.
But, the province has quickly become our number one market for online sales."

the leveraging of e-commerce represents. If done properly, it can
help you create a more efficient model, allowing you to offer better value and greater convenience to the end consumer."
One way Wicker Emporium does this is by combining the potential of online and e-commerce with the power of in-store staff.
"We don't stock all of our items available at every location," explains Raj. "Because of this, it's extremely important for our sales
staff to speak to our customers to find out what
their needs are and match them with appropri- "Online is awesome because you don't need to make too
ate product. We have such a variety of furniture many investments with respect to fixed costs, or upfront
and collections. And we don't try to jam every investment for that matter. Once you have the platform, you
piece into our stores. We're trying to create a
can go and market in Alberta or British Columbia and try to
dense but shoppable atmosphere. We're able to
do this by using our website as a tool in store. create some brand awareness through your online presence."
Our associates are able to show customers what
- rAJ KApAhi, Wicker Emporium
they're looking for, in addition to other details
about the furniture and other things that will complement that a new way of doing things
piece. The combination of online and in-store service is vital for
The company is concentrating on branding
us to service the customer effectively."
and marketing itself to grow in Ontario. But, as
Raj points out, there are some lessons that they
online options
can apply to the business down the road.
In addition to taking the customer online in-store to research
"Our online performance has been so strong
product, the company also gives its employees the ability to order that it really opened my eyes to its full potential,"
off of containers that are en route to Canadian shores. Even if the he says. "The platform offers us the biggest opcustomer is looking for an item that isn't in the location they're portunity because there's very little risk involved.
visiting, or in another store or the company's warehouse, staff are When you enter a new market you can be relative34 |

canadian retailer | FALL 2015

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