Building on the vision
Rubin initially grew the company by taking this proposition to retailers he knew in the sports industry.
“The great thing about sports was that it gave us experience in many different product categories: apparel, footwear, licensed products, hard goods,” Rubin says.
But Rubin knew GSI needed to expand its partner universe beyond sports, which represents only 3 percent to 4 percent of total e-commerce. So he translated this sports background into a selling point when he pitched GSI’s solution to retailers outside the sports industry in 2001 and 2002.
“It was harder to convince some of the partners in new product categories to work with us than it was to get the sporting goods partners to work with us,” Rubin says. “But partners are our best assets in getting new partners.”
Rubin plays a key role in building relationships and selling GSI to new retailers, among them Estee Lauder and Palm, two of GSI’s first clients outside the athletic arena. The retailers GSI was going after were larger than its existing sports partners, but Rubin broke down doors with a simple, honest pitch and proof of satisfaction from existing clients.
“The pitch is that our partners will do more business and make more money because we have more capabilities,” Rubin says.
He shows CEOs that to launch a successful e-commerce division, a company must build out an organizational team and invest dollars in management and technology. Though retailers were interested in e-commerce capabilities and online exposure, many did not want to build the infrastructure or hire more staff. At the same time, Rubin recognized that GSI needed big-name retailers to continue to grow.
“We knew the big-brand retailers would be successful online, not upstart Internet companies,” he says.
He also focused on providing infrastructure for established retailers rather than trying to sell their products under the GSI name.
Rubin’s strategy proved correct. The overall growth of e-commerce has ushered new partners to its door, and its portfolio includes 50 partners such as Polo, Timberland, kate spade, RadioShack and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
