BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
CONQUERING E-COMMERCE
Online sales offer opportunity for growth but obstacles abound By Clare Tattersall
B
rick-and-mortar and online retail have both been impacted by Covid-19 but in very different ways. Store sales have plummeted with forced closures brought about by government lockdown orders while e-commerce has soared. Élie Ouzilleau has experienced both the economic lows and highs of the pandemic as owner of VN Planchers Experts and co-founder of 14
\\ June/July 2021
FloorBox — the only Canadian company to sell flooring exclusively online and deliver it countrywide. Amid Quebec’s first mandated shutdown and state of emergency in 2020, Ouzilleau almost simultaneously shuttered the doors of his specialty flooring store in Sherbrooke to in-person customers and rolled out the second version of FloorBox with business partner Sébastien Ball. The
timing of the launch, other than it being April Fool’s Day, couldn’t have been better. “The orders came in quickly,” says Ouzilleau, noting FloorBox has grown ten-fold since spring of last year. While the company’s rapid success has undoubtedly been influenced by the pandemic — it has accelerated the shift to online shopping and triggered changes in
