Pivoting Retail Commerce to Online with Manish Hirapara

Pivoting Retail Commerce to Online with Manish Hirapara

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

business, customers, e commerce, people, digital, amazon, world, commerce, pivot, online, peak, business owners, ways, activity, tools, opportunity, merchant, thinking, services, cyber

SPEAKERS

Jess Coburn, Manish Hirapara

Jess Coburn  00:45

Hey welcome to another episode of cyber cyber chat. I'm your host Jess Coburn and with me today I have Manisha her partner. Manish Can you talk a little about yourself and what you do?

Manish Hirapara  00:55

Sure. Happy to be here Jess and thanks for having me on the My background is primarily in e commerce and digital digital marketing digital technology. We I'm the CEO of a software and marketing firm based in South Florida, called peak activity. And our goal is to help our business partners really use digital techniques, whether it's e commerce, better web experiences, better technology, really changed the game with their business and use those techniques to add skills and technologies to to really advance their business. So they can they can ride the coattails of the Facebook's and the Amazons of the world that are really changing our business models as we speak. And what we're trying to do is bring those learnings that companies like Facebook and Amazon have created and bring those to the masses and bring those to business owners that are looking for a competitive advantage.

Jess Coburn  01:55

Nice if you've been doing this for a while you've got a pretty strong background. I know you'd mentioned at one point that you'd started at Office Depot and kind of got your start there.

02:05

I did. Yeah, I actually started very early in my career as a software developer, and working on their e commerce platform. We helped build what, what still is today, a top 10 online retailer, when when I left Office Depot about five years ago, started this company, they were doing over $7 billion in transactions online. So really, enterprise scale worldwide operations, there's some significant things you can do in e commerce. And what I chose to do was to take a lot of that experience at a large enterprise, great organization and kind of distill it down understand what the best practices for and bring those to our business partners.

Jess Coburn  02:46

Now, at peak activity, you've got a large workforce and like the rest of the world, you were you were hit pretty quickly and unexpectedly by everything that was going on with COVID-19. How has peak activity adjusted Do it.

03:01

Well, the good news for us has been we were already ready for remote work. We have employees worldwide we we already use tools like slack and Google meat is our preferred video conferencing solution. So we already had some of those pieces in place. But just like everybody else, we had to understand digest what was going on and really, make sure from a human resources perspective, we're doing the right things for our employees. You know, being a digital first company we we pride ourselves in already have been ready for that. So we haven't had to adjust to too much. We do have an office that is it for the moment closed and we are kind of working a little bit more remotely. But you know, fortunately for us, we we've already had relationships with our customers over already over email and over slack channels and other digital techniques. So we've already kind of plumbed everything, and now it's really just been helping our customers or business as partners get up to up to speed on on things, working through challenges in communication working through how do you how do you effectively run projects completely remote. So it's been a transition for us to make sure that we can keep up with the pace of which this this

Pivoting Retail Commerce to Online with Manish Hirapara

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

business, customers, e commerce, people, digital, amazon, world, commerce, pivot, online, peak, business owners, ways, activity, tools, opportunity, merchant, thinking, services, cyber

SPEAKERS

Jess Coburn, Manish Hirapara

Jess Coburn  00:45

Hey welcome to another episode of cyber cyber chat. I'm your host Jess Coburn and with me today I have Manisha her partner. Manish Can you talk a little about yourself and what you do?

Manish Hirapara  00:55

Sure. Happy to be here Jess and thanks for having me on the My background is primarily in e commerce and digital digital marketing digital technology. We I'm the CEO of a software and marketing firm based in South Florida, called peak activity. And our goal is to help our business partners really use digital techniques, whether it's e commerce, better web experiences, better technology, really changed the game with their business and use those techniques to add skills and technologies to to really advance their business. So they can they can ride the coattails of the Facebook's and the Amazons of the world that are really changing our business models as we speak. And what we're trying to do is bring those learnings that companies like Facebook and Amazon have created and bring those to the masses and bring those to business owners that are looking for a competitive advantage.

Jess Coburn  01:55

Nice if you've been doing this for a while you've got a pretty strong background. I know you'd mentioned at one point that you'd started at Office Depot and kind of got your start there.

02:05

I did. Yeah, I actually started very early in my career as a software developer, and working on their e commerce platform. We helped build what, what still is today, a top 10 online retailer, when when I left Office Depot about five years ago, started this company, they were doing over $7 billion in transactions online. So really, enterprise scale worldwide operations, there's some significant things you can do in e commerce. And what I chose to do was to take a lot of that experience at a large enterprise, great organization and kind of distill it down understand what the best practices for and bring those to our business partners.

Jess Coburn  02:46

Now, at peak activity, you've got a large workforce and like the rest of the world, you were you were hit pretty quickly and unexpectedly by everything that was going on with COVID-19. How has peak activity adjusted Do it.

03:01

Well, the good news for us has been we were already ready for remote work. We have employees worldwide we we already use tools like slack and Google meat is our preferred video conferencing solution. So we already had some of those pieces in place. But just like everybody else, we had to understand digest what was going on and really, make sure from a human resources perspective, we're doing the right things for our employees. You know, being a digital first company we we pride ourselves in already have been ready for that. So we haven't had to adjust to too much. We do have an office that is it for the moment closed and we are kind of working a little bit more remotely. But you know, fortunately for us, we we've already had relationships with our customers over already over email and over slack channels and other digital techniques. So we've already kind of plumbed everything, and now it's really just been helping our customers or business as partners get up to up to speed on on things, working through challenges in communication working through how do you how do you effectively run projects completely remote. So it's been a transition for us to make sure that we can keep up with the pace of which this this change has happened.

Jess Coburn  04:20

Now, throughout the US, a lot of states are starting to come out of lockdown and businesses are starting to go back to work here in Florida, with the exception of some Florida we're seeing pardon me we're seeing a lot of open up how do you think businesses need to adjust as we're coming out of the lockout lockdown?

04:41

it's it's a it's been a really interesting challenge for us with our customers. We've actually created some new techniques and published actually the website on this product that we've created around low touch commerce. And we do work with a number of customers that are in retail for example retail, that means have been non essential and it's been Chuck for a month and a half. And unfortunately, that means revenues are declining and and you're not seeing, you're not seeing any traffic at all. What we've what we've really said to our customers is look, think through ways that ecommerce can help. Think through ways that calendar and appointment setting online can help. Think about using live chat or live streaming tools to engage with your workforce. So don't just think, gotta have everything locked down, but also think through how to advance it as quickly as you can using digital tools.

Jess Coburn  05:39

So let's dive into a little bit right because a lot of the customers you work with aren't traditional e commerce companies, in the sense of you know, that you would go to Amazon and maybe buy their products. In some cases you do, but generally you don't. So for those businesses, this has been an extremely difficult transition right? And you touched on that concept of low touch commerce. How are these businesses adopted? And can you give some examples?

06:08

Sure. So we have a number of furniture retailers now that we work with and furniture traditionally has been the last industry to get into, into buying online and using e commerce. However, there are companies, for example, wayfair, that and Amazon have really taken a lot of share in this market. And it's a complex product to deliver. It's a complex product to sell, you get to think about how do you visualize your room? And how do you how do you want to know that that sofa that you're buying is going to fit? And how do you feel like it's gonna match the surroundings. But if you if you also think about the fact that we all have a smartphone, and we have devices in our pocket that let us take photo videos, have live streaming with with somebody who is an expert. And so the things we've really thought about have been if you're comfortable going Get to a retail store. Go ahead and try to make an appointment, go into sales associate, that's your best expert, right? If you're not comfortable trying to get your expert on a device that most people are already leveraging and happy communication service with and take advantage of live streaming tools take advantage of a lot of SaaS software products that are out there that will enable you to have a new way of communicating and capturing revenue. Think about payments with e commerce, you have the ability with with two simple solutions like stripe or authorize that net to set up credit card processing, PayPal, there's great solutions out there. You don't build all this in ecommerce infrastructure like you might have 10 or 15 years ago.

Jess Coburn  07:43

So that's a great example. Right? A lot of businesses don't realize in the past, if you wanted to get a merchant accounts online, you had to jump through all kinds of hoops with stripe PayPal and these services. You're set up like that and you're online and you're ready to go. Like and if it It's implemented correctly, it's secure, and absolutely free with that. The only you know, the other thing that you pointed out there that's really important I think a lot of businesses lose track up is you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Yep, you know, you can reuse what's off the shelf software, and move quickly and be agile in this time. A great example as when you shared with me with one of your customers where they work off of that showroom, and they've set up the kind of the appointment thing and you guys came up with that idea for them.

08:34

We did and and really, Our idea was to go and just research and we and fortunately for us, we've been researching these for a few months already. We've already been a little bit at the ball there. But our idea was to research. open source tools are openly available tools, you sign up for a license, and you're ready to book appointments, you sign up for a live streaming service, you're ready to have face to face interaction. The the economy in the digital world today is as much Buy and assemble as it is built, right. So you don't have to have a bunch of software developers working nonstop for six months to assemble something, you go a couple clicks, and and sign up and you're in business. And that's a lot of the advice that we're providing to our customers is, let's find the right tools and solutions. They might not be perfect. You don't want to let great get in the way of good but at least you're in business and you're seeing 1020 30% of your revenue come back right away. While we wait for the for the the curve flattens, and we get back into the into the new normal would be, which will take some time.

Jess Coburn  09:38

Yeah, that concept of just in time execution is really important. And a lot of people lose that you get, you get paralyzed by looking at the little details and trying to get it just right. I want to take a quick break here and just mention that we are live on Facebook and YouTube. And we did it kind of impromptu going live. I appreciate you jumping on with me like that, because we're live it Appreciate anyone that's there. If you're seeing the stream and everything's working good, give us a like and make sure it's there. And I wanted to point out that you can ask questions. So if you have a question a Minish just a leave a comment, and we can respond to that here live. So minesh You know, when I started applied innovations, I started it focused on e commerce. I don't know if we ever had that conversation. But that was kind of my thing is that I saw a real need and a real opportunity around e commerce. Long time ago, I wrote a shopping cart and Pearl of all languages, but at the time on the web, you know, in the early days and early 90s, that was the go to for web development. A lot of e commerce vendors have kind of been at the mercy of Amazon, they've kind of accepted that, hey, that's where the eyeballs are, and I have to go to Amazon. But we've seen a big pivot lately, right. So I know with a lot of our customers, we're seeing a lot of these e commerce customers move to either amazon prime It's fulfilled by the seller. And they're they're capitalizing on that they're seeing an increase in their fulfilled by merchant sales. But more importantly, they're seeing a huge increase in direct sales. What should these merchants be doing today that they're seeing that that pivot net change?

11:17

I think the first thing I would say for that would be to get the game, right. It's not a matter of thinking about it from a physical retail standpoint anymore, where you're just going to set up location or shop and that's the only place you're gonna sell. There's lots of places to sell. Most companies aren't even thinking about international buyers. They're not thinking about new audiences that you can reach. So if you want to really expand your reach, get in the game, figure out if you're comfortable with Amazon. Amazon is a formidable competitor to a lot of people. And they do leverage their data and they do try to cut people out. So you got to be careful, but get in the game. If there's variable Very simple ways to start selling on Amazon there's very simple ways to start selling on Walmart. There's also ways to open up your own storefront and drive your own consumer traffic. And a lot of that has to do with knowing your consumer and your products. Specifically in e commerce and knowing how you're going to deliver the products. It's not just a physical good world anymore either. ebooks, audio, there's there's, there's there's a lot of new ways to monetize revenue and do business that is not your traditional selling a physical product but services and and things of that nature that are really just once you educate yourself on what can be done and how to do it, you have to try it's a test and learn strategy. It's not a one size fits all the the online world is vast. There's no end to it. And there's always new constant innovations that are coming out. So the idea that you do it, you build it once and then it's there for five or 10 years isn't how it is it should be Do it. Do it. For a week, get the data. And the beautiful, the beautiful thing is you get data back very, very quickly see what the data say. And then move on to the next one. Keep keep pivoting, keep adjusting. So it's a it's a it's a new world from from that perspective, but you've got to start somewhere. And you may be Sarah staring out to the mountains, and I need to be online and it feels like it's, it's all the way at the top there. Just start walking, just start hiking the trail, and all of a sudden, you'll find that there's a clear pathway for your business and every business opportunity in the digital world in the online world.

Jess Coburn  13:31

Yeah, I think a lot of businesses because they were taken by surprise, they didn't realize that they did have that opportunity and they were able to execute on it. You know, we've seen a pivot with Well, let's look at restaurants, for example, you know, almost every restaurant now is available for delivery by using either their own delivery team or one of these services. They've got curbside pickup like crazy. And I know Friday we went and had we ordered curbside Pick up, we were probably there was probably 15 people coming and going that time that we were there. So those businesses are starting to pivot and change. Now granted, it's not the same business that it was, but it's changing. How have you seen other businesses pivot or change that you can think?

14:17

Yeah, I think this is this is an interesting time because it really tests the mettle of every everybody's entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial abilities. And we've watched it very closely, because the ones that are the most entrepreneurial are the ones that are are making out really well in this in this unfortunate time. And what we've seen is, you've got to think through that the old ways of doing business are just not present at the moment. And you've got to find new ways of getting your means of production, whether it's a restaurant or if you're a b2b manufacturer of cosmetics, and skincare products. You Gotta you've got a pivot to hand sanitizers and get those out on the internet, right? No longer are you? Are you just waiting for a boutique mall base operator to reopen so that you can move your goods, right? So you've got to think through how can you How can you be entrepreneurial in these times, and we all know, but it's a time that we're all trying to get through together not, not every dollar is going to come back. But if you can get 25 or 50 cents on the dollar back to your business, that extend your lifeline so long as as long as you can to get business back to what the new normal be and then keep in mind, the new normal it's not an instant return and consumer behaviors that are being reinforced now, your example of the restaurant the curbside pickup, they're here to stay. We worked on creating a we work with a the largest alcohol and beverage provider in the country and we worked on creating an opportunity for them to you know, have mobile solutions to do things like pick up, and, and even delivery. And those are those are trends that have been coming for a long, long time. And they're here to stay. What this has done is accelerated the adoption of those trends. And, and if you're entrepreneurial if you view we're not talking about millions of dollars in investments, you can get in for as little as 100 $200 a month, and you can be in the game and you start learning as quickly as possible.

Jess Coburn  16:26

It's amazing, right? That for such a low entry point, you really just have to be willing to hustle to make it happen. Right? So it's a beautiful thing. A lot of businesses are Oh my god, you know, business has changed. I don't have to do I'm gonna go to sleep and maybe when I wake up tomorrow, it's it's it's better. And those are the businesses that aren't going to be here when this is all said and done. It's the ones that will move and pivot quickly. One of the things I've noticed and I'm curious if if you've seen it too, with with your own experience, this concept of video chat, and you know, using zoom in teams and Google meet these services. Early on, it was something that a lot of people, especially business owners, leaders, CEOs were against, they didn't want to do that they wanted to meet face to face. But I'm finding over the last two months, that they're more comfortable with it, you know, when you would jump on a zoom meeting, it would take 15 minutes to get everybody to figure out how to turn on their camera and turn off their microphone. Everybody's in like this now. I think that's a change that we're gonna see for the future.

17:33

It's definitely gonna stick. My I have a first grader, and he's on with his classroom every day on google classroom or Google Hangouts. And they're all muting appropriately and so we're teaching our next generation exactly how to do this. And look, there's still a great value to face to face business. We believe in it. We we actually miss it quite a bit. But you're right it what this has done is it feels like For us, at least, it's brought the humanity back to the equation. No longer are we getting dressed up and going to formal meetings, but we're really talking about the content and the subject matter of what needs to be discussed. And we're going straight to it. And definitely would agree with you just there that this is this has been this has been as much of a learning experience and we relish in it because we see new things happening and creative. It's creating new creative processes and juices that are quite frankly a little bit overdue, right. So it's great to see people who may have been against it. People may have been worried about the security and the risks to their business. Now say, Look, I've got to get into this business and embrace it. And change is hard for a lot of people. But this is one of those things where changes sometimes forced and prescribed and I'm glad to see it for one

Jess Coburn  18:53

moment. I should it's been exciting. You know, there's always the saying that there's opportunity in disaster and you need to look for it. I'm excited to see how people are grasping that opportunity, how companies like peak activity are doing it and how they're empowering their customers to also do it. And that's a big part of what we're about here at applied innovations to right is we want to look at technology and how these businesses can leverage technology to move their business forward. And a peak activity, it's the same. I know we're running quick on running out of time here, and I get into the top of the hour, but I wanted to see if there was anything you thought we missed or that you'd like to discuss.

19:36

You know, I think I love the I love the the cyber cyber cyber side chat concept, just because there's there's no one