Marcus Lemonis is the CEO of Camping World and the owner of a 2 billion dollar estate made world famous by a television show.
Star of the series “The Partner” aired by the History channel, Lemonis invests part of his fortune in small and medium-sized companies that are on the verge of bankruptcy in order to get them back on their feet and, of course, make more money from it.
In addition to the investment, Lemonis applies the philosophy he consolidated when developing Camping World, one of America's largest retailers of recreational vehicles, supplies and camping accessories in America.
Camping World currently has more than a hundred physical stores across the United States, a large virtual store and an e-commerce blog updated weekly.
The philosophy behind Lemonis' success is called the 3Ps, they are:
1. People
A company must have the best professionals possible working on what they do best, which is not always the case in reality. In many cases, people are placed in a certain role not because they are good at it, but because they are part of the family or because “it has always been that way”.
Other key points for dealing with people in your company are training them and giving them an environment that ensures they can do their jobs well.
Reflect: Are your e-commerce employees in the right positions, that is, are they doing what they do best?
"If a member of your family isn't contributing to the business, you need to deal with it the same way you would deal with an unproductive employee" – Marcus Lemonis
2. Processes
Many entrepreneurs tend to manage their businesses through processes based on intuition. They are reluctant to make decisions such as hiring a professional manager , for example. As a result, business processes become compromised and the losses can be significant.
For a company to function well and generate profit, its processes must be scientifically coordinated. There's no shortage of tools for this. Here on the E-Plus Digital Marketing agency blog , I've already discussed many of them, such as Markup , Product Life Cycle , Value Chain , etc.
Furthermore, in the e-commerce sector, there's a trend towards using multitasking tools (which are cheaper), but this also proves to be a process flaw in the long run for numerous reasons, which I listed in the article " Agencies, E-commerce Platforms, and the Duck Syndrome ".
Reflect: do you manage your online store in a scientific way or do you do everything through good old “achology”?
"You have to trust your process" – Marcus Lemonis
3. Products
Products can and should be improved from their most basic design to the creation of a new package. The episodes of the series “The Partner” that deal with a company that sells pies and a hairdressing salon reveal a lot about this topic.
Likewise, the mix of products sold by your e-commerce site must also be evaluated. Not always a product line can meet the needs of the target audience and, therefore, needs adjustments.
Reflect: is your product good enough and is your product line well balanced?
“I believe a profitable idea is one that has universal acceptance and that you don’t feel is a last resort or a passing fad. It’s something you can look at and think to yourself: will this product, or some version of it, be relevant in five years?” – Marcus Lemonis
So, here are Marcus Lemonis' tips. Take good care of people, processes and products to be more successful with your business which, in your case, is your virtual store.
