I am Steve Gendron. I am the co-founder and CEO of ENDVR, a retail sales enablement platform. Before starting ENDVR, I spent a couple of years working in finance before opening my first retail store in Montreal, Canada back in 2003. We sold X products. After that I started a distribution company and brought products into the Canadian market. That’s when I found TOMS, a little start-up shoe company at the time, and helped bring them into Canada. Then over the course of 12 to 15 years I had the opportunity to work with some amazing brands, like Liberty Skis, Javina Sandals, and Richard Poor Socks. I carried a lot of brands in the action sport and lifestyle footwear business I’m passionate about skiing. That really gave me the experience to see retail from both sides of the coin and transaction – from being a store owner and going out and trying to influence store sales and sell-through.

I remember when we first brought TOMS to Canada just to give you an example. We were using a sales agency model and we were all commission-based. And I remember having months where my little business had negative commission checks because there were more returns than purchases. I was on the books for a few grand and it was extremely nerve wracking.And then on the brand side, you don’t see what sell-through is happening. It’s difficult to keep your finger on the pulse. You don’t know what’s going on until you get an email from the buyer saying stuff is moving really slowly and they need your help. Or, things are going great and they need more product. It absolutely was not a good feeling in those early days. 

I remember this like it was yesterday. I found an amazing brand called Crochet Kits. They make these incredible knit products, like hats, scarves, accessories, sweaters. Every single piece is handmade by these women in Uganda and Perua and they’re hand signed. They get education and mentorship and the proceeds are given back to them. So, just an incredible company with an incredible mission. They created this two minute video that was so impactful, it gave me goosebumps. And I remember seeing it and saying, we need to make sure that every single employee at every single point of sale sees this video.

We have some of the world’s biggest brands using ENDVR, like Oakley, Adidas and Burton. And the results speak for themselves. Oakley saw a 43% lift in sales using ENDVR. Vuori saw a 35:1 return on associate spend. Burton’s average purchase revenue is $257K. And I can’t tell you how often we’ve heard from store owners or managers about the impact ENDVR is making in helping them find and keep great employees. In a post-COVID world, it’s really hard to find great hourly talent. And because we’re giving these individuals access to all these rewards and incentives, retailers are using this as part of the recruitment and way to retain good employees.