Estore at Shell Canada Limited

Shell Canada Limited took an innovative initiative in 2003: to launch an eStore for our business customers. But even though many customers have signed up, the utilization rate remains low. In that sense, the initiative doesn't match our business objectives which consists of cutting costs of sales representatives by providing a self-service technology to agricultural customers to place their orders directly. In return, we could obtain account information through eStore. The two main causes of "discontinuance" seem to be a problem of website conception and an ineffective interpersonal communication. This failure raises the risk of taking an innovative initiative for a company such as Shell Canada Ltd, in terms of missed sales and even lost customers. After the analysis of our company, its environment and its customers, building a skilled team for improving the eStore and a business unit responsible for the customer relationship management appears to be the best strategy.

[...] The problem is to make people willing to adopt new technologies. - TOUGH COMPETITION The Canadian market of oil refining and marketing is owned at 85% by 5 large companies: Shell Canada Ltd, Suncor, Husky Energy, Petro-Canada and Imperial Oil. Competitors performed better than Shell Canada Ltd during the fiscal year 2003 (appendix 1). But when compared to the oil products earnings, Shell's results are close to Imperial Oil's performance. Besides, the government still owns 19% of Petro-Canada, which can explain their performance for consolidated revenues. [...]

[...] Promotion: Advertising could be made on the Shell Canada Ltd website, through direct marketing (newsletter, e-mail and mail) and public relations (business unit). People: Value the role of the eTeam and the business unit who create and reflect the value and the quality of eStore's services through their skills. Physical evidence: Since eStore 2.0 is not tangible, it must have a strong and visible identity (eStore 2.0 logo on main page and letter heads, brochures, business cards for the business unit, consultancy reports and so on). [...]

[...] To ensure the transparency of this program, we have edited a four-page document called "Your Career at Shell Canada - See what we have to offer" (see Shell Canada Ltd Website). Since 2001, Shell Canada Ltd appears in "One Website). of Canada’s Top 100 Employers" examination made by Mediacorp Canada Inc. (Shell Canada Ltd Website, "Shell Canada Limited - One of Canada's Top 100 Employers"). II. SEGMENTATION ANALYSIS On one hand, the transactors account for 95% of our customer base but they buy small quantities. [...]