News releases

OTTAWA – The finalists for the 5th annual Canada Post E-commerce Innovation Awards are examples of excellence in e-commerce, customer engagement and omni-channel strategies. The winners will be revealed at a gala event on September 22, hosted by TSN broadcaster James Duthie, and go home with up to $100,000 in free shipping and valuable marketing packages. The finalists, by category, are:

Best Customer Engagement Award:

• SHOES.com
• Frank & Oak
• Poppy Barley
• Running Room Canada Inc.
• Well.ca Inc.

Best Omni-Channel Retailer Award – large:

• Best Buy Canada
• Frank & Oak
• Staples Canada
• MEC
• Cabela’s Canada

Best Omni-Channel Retailer Award – small:

• Poppy Barley
• Golda’s Kitchen
• Big Al’s
• iDrinkCoffee.com
• Surmesur

Community Impact Award:

• MEC
• Manitobah Mukluks
• Lunapads International Products
• Running Room Canada Inc.
• Michael Kors

Most Exciting Start-Up Award:

• MATH Sport
• Oatbox
• bedface
• 39TH AVENUE
• NOTION

Pure Play of the Year Award – large:

• SHOES.com
• Knix Wear
• Well.ca Inc.
• dbrand
• ShirtPunch!

Pure Play of the Year Award – small:

• Cook It
• Momzelle
• GONGSHOW
• Fendrihan.ca
• WineCollective

Two other awards will be presented at the gala. The Consumer Champion Award will go to the finalist who earned the most votes in our online voting poll, which is open to the public today. Visit canadapost.ca/ecommerceawards to vote. The Canada Post E-commerce Innovator’s Award will be chosen by Canada Post and go to a retailer whose significant contributions have advanced e-commerce in Canada.

This year’s Awards welcomes three new judges: Jeremy Cain, Mohit Grover and Michael LeBlanc. Two judges are returning: Sucharita Mulpuru-Kodali and Stéphane Ricoul. The independent judging panel chose the finalists and will also determine the winners.

Jeremy Cain
Mr. Cain is with Facebook’s Global Marketing Solutions organization, where he leads partnerships with Canadian eCommerce companies to help them build growth-driving advertising programs across the Facebook Family of Applications. Prior to Facebook, Jeremy led a performance marketing team at eBay and he began his career in digital marketplaces. He holds Bachelors’ degrees from both McGill and Nipissing Universities.

Mohit Grover
Mr. Grover is the Head of Industry for the Retail vertical at Google Canada in Toronto.  He works with leading Canadian retailers to help solve their marketing and digital challenges. Prior to coming to Google Canada, Mr. Grover was an Associate Principal in the Toronto office and a leader in the North American Retail Practice of McKinsey & Company. In that role, he worked with clients primarily within the grocery industry in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Asia in a variety of areas including merchandising, marketing, format strategy, operations, mergers and acquisitions, and capability building.

Michael LeBlanc
Mr. LeBlanc is the Senior Vice President, Membership, Programs and Revenue at the Retail Council of Canada. He is responsible for membership, events, programs/education, directing the overall RCC brand experience, along with conference/event sponsorship sales and marketing, communication strategy. With over 20 years of retail, e-commerce and marketing experience, Mr. LeBlanc has worked for such companies as Black & Decker, Levi Strauss & Co, Hudson’s Bay Company, The Shopping Channel and as Chief Marketing Officer for a Torquest Partners portfolio company.

Sucharita Mulpuru-Kodali
Ms. Mulpuru-Kodali, Chief Retail Strategist, Shoptalk; former Forrester Research retail analyst, who has focused primarily on e-commerce, consumer behaviour and and technology developments that affect e-commerce. She is a leading authority in the U.S. on multichannel retail topics, and is frequently cited in leading media outlets such as CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, and Business Week.  Prior to Shoptalk and Forrester, she was the director of marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue, where she managed the customer acquisition, retention and market research efforts for the $2 billion luxury retailer’s online channel.

Stéphane Ricoul
Mr. Ricoul is the founding President of the eCOM events across Canada and internationally, such as eCOM Montreal, eCOM Sherbrooke, eCOM Vancouver, and eCOM Tunis. He is the founding President of the Academy of Digital, a company that provides coaching for executives in companies who wish to move towards a digital economy. Since 2010, Mr. Ricoul pursues the objective that every business in Canada can find its place in the 4th revolution, building a Canadian ecosystem dedicated to the digital economy.

For more information:
Media Relations
613-734-8888
medias@canadapost.ca