Santa on eCommerce

Gathering, contrasting and benchmarking information from a variety of sources drives clarity of thought almost as well as Santa’s famous “On Dancer, On Dasher and On Prancer” line drives a team of eight tiny reindeer. One big part of my role as a distribution consultant comes via interviews with wholesalers across a wide range of geographies and industry segments. Over the past year, I have interviewed leaders in the field from Asia to Alabama, from New Orleans to New Brunswick and all points between. I gathered some pretty amazing insights. But, none of these compared with what I learned from the guy who runs what is potentially the largest distributor on the planet and certainly the leading business of any kind north of the Arctic Circle, North Pole Industries Founder and CEO, Santa Claus.

After at least a dozen phone calls and emails, my assistant, Jenny, was finally able to pull some strings and arrange for a rare face-to-face interview down at the local mall. It seems Mr. Claus is a hands on sort of guy and likes to spend time interacting directly with his customer base and we caught him just before one of his grueling shifts in what he calls “The Santa Seat”.

After exchanging a few niceties, mostly touching on my naughty behavior back in 1962 and the time my little brother ate the reindeer treats, our conversation took a serious bend. As we went, I took copious notes and thought I would do my best to share them with you.

Me: Mr. Claus, what do you feel is the biggest technology tool applied to your business today?

SC: First, call me Santa, most do and I like the personal side of our business. As you can see by the long line of kids waiting to share their thoughts with me, I devote a lot of time to whole “personal touch” part of the business. But to answer your question, a few years ago I was big on CRM systems. Seems like we talked about that one and, some 3 years later, I am happy report it’s going very well. So let me share my latest “hot button” of technology. I am jolly on eCommerce and Digitalization.

Me: eCommerce and Digitalization? Santa, this doesn’t compute. You mean you’re taking North Pole down the Amazon trail?

SC: Frank, think of this... According to the latest data, there are something just north of 526,000,000 Christian kids under the age of 14 in the world who celebrate Christmas on December 25th. While we have a crack team of Elves willing to work for, well…. Cookies and Cocoa, the sheer numbers have grown overwhelming. Even the guys at the North Pole mail station are grumbling about the pile of letters. Think about a half billion letters; we’re talking 31 million pounds of paper. We had to do something and it seemed like digital was the way to go.

Me: Santa you mean kids aren’t writing you letters with requests for toys?

SC: Creeping Candy Cane, Frank. Where have you been? Kids are sending us emails by the gazillions. Lots of tots just jumping into first grade are looking for a better way. They want to know more about the dolly and trains before they arrive. These kids are might be little, but they sure know how to manipulate a mouse.

Me: So Santa, you’re talking about a North Pole “webstore”?

SC: You bet. These kiddies can search for electric trains, then drill down to the train of their choice, I like HO-HO-HO scale but that’s another story. Using their parent’s computer, the find exactly the toy they want; no pouting because they wanted Thomas the Train and got a Lionel like you had as a kid.

Me: So you’re talking about a massive magical webstore that only kids can find?

SC: You’re starting to get the picture. We will be launching it full time next year. But, there are a few problems. For one, getting the right product content is like a Grinch story unto itself.

Me: Content? You mean pictures and details on the toy? And Grinch, how did he get into this conversation?

SC: Think about this. One of my Elves told me there were over 25,000 different kinds of Barbie dolls in existence. For you the difference between a “Total Hair Barbie” and “The Look Barbie” are miniscule, but for some little girl, it could mean a Great Christmas or a great big disappointment. That’s just for the girls. Boys have their own little nuances.

This means North Pole Industries must create perfect content on each of these products. No magic here, each number is hand entered by a specially trained Elf. It takes more than five minutes to enter the information. With all the breaks the Elves get, we’re talking about one and a half Elf-years to enter the Barbie dolls into the system. It’s enough to make Santa give up on the whole idea and go back to the letter thing, but…

Me: Gee, five minutes per “SKU” or whatever you call each of these Barbie variations. Can’t you just get information from the manufacturer?

SC: Nope. Wish we could. They’ve got their own problems and helping North Pole Industries isn’t exactly high on their list. We tried using a service that captured data from other websites and formatted it for use in our magical webstore, but quite frankly, Frank… Ho, Ho, Ho… I couldn’t help myself, it wasn’t very magical.

Me: Wow, I had no idea. All this must be pretty expensive. Care to comment?

SC: Well you know, we are on a pretty tight budget. The Elves need more money, Reindeer food is going up and heating a place like ours in the North Pole is pricy. We’re watching the cost pretty closely. The software is affordable, but the cost of the toy pictures and data is killing us. When it works, it will be cool, but along the way it’s really tricky.

Me: Santa, are you worried about the number of new toys coming out every year. Won’t you need to add them to your magic webstore?

SC: You know, I never thought much about that. I’m not sure whether this means you deserve an extra listing in the “nice category” or a double ration of coal this year. There are thousands of new toys every year. That means our work will never be, what your buddy Pat Freilinger calls Done-Done. Holy Snowman, another thing to worry about.

Me: I wish those kids were selecting automation parts instead of toys. I know someone who could help you… It’s a company called KYKLO. I have to think about your problem a little more….

SC: Well Frank, give me a call sometime next year. We’ll chat. My busy season will be over soon. In the meantime, I have a bunch of nice kids eager to talk to me. Tell all your distributor buddies, I’ve been watching them. My guess is there will be no shortage of coal for the buttons on snowmen in their neighborhood.

Me: Thanks for your time Mr. Claus, I mean Santa. It was a pleasure to see you again. Can I have a new harmonica for Christmas?

SC: We’ll see Frankie boy… Ho Ho Ho.















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