To build functional websites, Shero relies on our partners, their expertise, and the trust they have on us. From time to time we highlight one of our partners so you can learn more about them and how they can help you.
In this partner spotlight, I am talking to Jason Burge, CMO/Strategic Partnerships at Red Rook. During the past five years, Shero has worked with Red Rook on various projects, including Primitives By Kathy and the Guggenheim Museum. Red Rook specializes in Magento and Counterpoint integration through their proprietary Omnichannel Commerce 5 solution.
Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing Jason Burge and ask him some questions about Red Rook.
How did Red Rook get started?
Red Rook began initially as a general IT and Web Support company, but quickly focused on Point-of-Sale and Retail Management Systems. Partnerships with NCR and Magento have shifted our focus toward Omni-channel Retail consulting and software development for B2B and B2C retail/wholesale markets.
How has Red Rook allowed you to grow in your career?
Working for a small, culture-focused company has taught me wide range of skills in sales/marketing/partnerships, but more in importantly team building and the importance of having effective planning and execution as well as strong short, mid-, and long game strategies.
How do you explain what you do to someone who is unfamiliar with Sales/Partnerships/eCommerce
For us, partnerships and sales are one and the same. We cultivate relationships with our partners from which come all our new business opportunities, and we focus on a win-win engagement for partners and clients alike. When you commit to the win-win as an organization, you are attracting new business rather than chasing it, running together rather than in a race to get ahead. In eCommerce, we’ve found a great market in bringing systems together for an omni-channel environment that allows smaller retailers to compete technologically with the user experience customers have come to expect with national brands, and today user experience and retention is everything.
What does Red Rook specialize in and how do you help merchants?
We are experts in omni-channel retail, and have specialized even more recently in the B2B/Wholesale side of the industry, empowering organizations to serve a wide client base, whether direct to consumer or in the more complex distribution channel of the B2B user with complex warehousing and fulfillment needs.
What advantages does Commerce5 offer for POS/ERP integrated B2C and B2B eCommerce?
We’re working with the top names in both retail management and eCommerce: NCR and Magento. We bring these systems into lock-step while providing the intelligence our clients need to architect not just technology systems, but best-practices in getting the most of both environments, using our partner network to improve traffic, conversion, retention, and accurate fulfillment, and giving a unified user experience for their customers.
What’s one thing that you wish merchants/your clients knew about Magento?
We chose Magento because it’s open source and continues to lead the way as the ideal web solution for the fledgling or growing serious online retailer. Magento is also aggressively developing B2B capabilities, and we see a heavy trend of wholesalers pushing into the eCommerce world to streamline their operations.
What’s the most challenging Commerce5 integration situation you’ve encountered?
We’ve worked with an organization comprising six businesses in the B2B2C space, all operating loosely as a single entity while maintaining almost complete autonomy at the individual level. This required complex design and development to provide a unified experience to their end-users while providing multi-level portal access and visibility across parent-child level users accessing from micro-sites while maintaining a monolithic veneer to the observer. It was a large project, but the results have been fantastic.
What industry certifications and/or awards has Red Rook received? What do they mean to you and the Red Rook team?
We have certifications from NCR in retail systems and eCommerce, as well as certifications from Magento as a solutions partner. We’ve been awarded many times over as a channel leader and Product Advisory Board member for NCR Counterpoint, and are among the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies. We were also recently recognized by the University of South Florida as part of the USF Fast 56, the fastest growing USF alumni owned or -led businesses in the world.
Are there any platform improvements which you’re looking forward to in Magento 2.2?
The next release adds new features that we consider part of the next hot topic in eCommerce and fulfillment: improved B2B functionality that helps make Magento Enterprise one of the best in the business. Cart-to-quote, a 2.2 feature, is a necessity in the online wholesale arena. New customization capability for catalogs and price list will improve client-specific pricing needs, and credit purchases will give B2B organizations greater flexibility in client payments. I think we’ll see a boom in B2B sites migrating to Magento next year.
Our team has worked with Shero on multiple Magento and Counterpoint integrations over the years. We look forward to collaborating and helping our existing and future clients together!
Gentian, CSO and co-founder of Shero Commerce, guides the company and client digital strategies. He's an expert in technical SEO, Inbound Marketing, and eCommerce strategy.
