ICCC leadership team presenting mementos to the speaker

The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s Information & Communications Technology (ICT) committee organized a seminar on ‘e-Commerce: Mantra to Selling Online’ on Thursday October 8 at the ICCC headquarters. The panel of speakers at the seminar included Macr Smith, Director of Strategy & e-Commerce Market Development, Canada Post; Niko Downie, Business Development Manager, Shopify; Vijay Thomas, Managing Partner, Tangentia.

These tech gurus shared the roadmap for setting up your business for online shopping. This seminar provided an opportunity for business owners to learn how to reach out to their customers who are shopping online, on mobile devices and social media. They gave insights on the current e-Commerce trends in the Canadian marketplace and how to get started on the e-Commerce journey.

Marc Smith, Director of Strategy and e-commerce Market Development, Canada Post, in his presentation emphasized that increasingly consumers are preferring online shopping and the trend is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. This trend of online shopping has grown across all segments of consumers and across different seasons. He presented statistical evidence of the high-volume growth in online shopping with astonishing numbers, and predicted that this trend would intensify soon and change the way shopping is done not just in North America but globally.

In his presentation, Niko Downie, Business Development Manager, Shopify, explained the evolving concept of e-Commerce where the distinctions between online and offline (store-based) shopping experience is becoming a thing of the past. A consumer increasingly prefers all options instead of just one and it is no longer an either/or option. He also said that online is more often through a cell phone and not through a laptop, and through social media rather than specific site visits. Hence all online strategies need to constantly change and be adaptable to the evolving synergies of technologies and changes in consumer preferences.

Vijay Thomas, Managing Partner, Tangentia, spoke about the expertise of his company in the sphere of e-commerce, and how it provides services to retail and logistics entities globally to effectively implement e-commerce strategies through constantly improvising delivery mechanisms.  Tangentia has partnered with IBM to develop an exclusive alternative software licensing (ASL) model designed specifically for small and mid-sized businesses.

In his remarks, Sanjay Makkar, President, ICCC, said, “e-Commerce is transforming the business landscape in Canada like never before. Both customers and businesses are embracing the e-Commerce platform rapidly and this will further grow in the coming years. The valuable information shared by Marc Smith from Canada Post, Niko Downie from Shopify and Vijay Thomas from Tangentia will enable small & medium businesses in the ICCC community to embrace e-Commerce to increase their offerings & revenues.” He added that the new ICT committee is the most experienced and committed to life the standard of exchange of information, education and opportunities both locally and between Indo-Canadians and have written an extremely relevant mandate.

The program, organized by Anil Dasrath, chair of the ICT committee, and his team, was a major success and well-attended. 

Participants at the seminar with ICCC leadership	ICCC leadership with guest speaker Marc Smith
Sanjay Makkar, President, addressing participants	ICCC President with guest speaker Vijay Thomas