b'ONLINE RETAILWHY E-COMMERCE?By Gavin Johnt With global salesR aven Reads is a Kamloops,more online shopping and look for alter-B.C.-basedsubscriptionnative ways to get their books. opping $5 trillion,box service that provides authentic curated contentWithout online businesses, important Indigenousand educational materialsstories of Indigenous people like the made by Indigenous people. Its alsoones that McLaren champions would businesses area good example of an Indigenousbe contained regionally. E-commerce, business that found success throughon the other hand, opens up a global wise to tap intothe e-commerce channel. Every threemarketwithlimitlessreach.Many months,thecompanysendsoutIndigenous business owners, large and the e-commerce700 boxescontaining Indigenoussmall, have already built an online pres-books, giftware and cultural itemstoence in order to reap the rewards of this sales channel subscribers all across North America.increasingly important sales channel. Those that havent, should consider The business was founded by Nicoleclimbing onboard. McLaren, a Mtis woman from Logan Lake, B.C., who developed the ideaPERFECT TIMINGwhile working for another company. IThe explosion of online retail has turned was helping them come up with theirinto a modern-day phenomenon and own reconciliation action plan. So, Iit shows no sign of slowing down. For started a book club, and we focusedIndigenous people, this presents a exclusively on books by Indigenousunique opportunity for economic recon-authors, she says. When I saw how wellciliation, and a prosperous future for the books helped people understandthe Indigenous economy overall. So inter-generational trauma, I thought,long as they have access to high-speed What a great opportunity to share theseinternet, Indigenous artists, authors and books with the rest of Canadians.businesspeople have the potential to market and sell their goods to global McLaren began procuring and pack- audiences with relative ease and conve-aging books out of her garage, scalingnience, no matter their location. up her business as demand increased, and she now sells across the continent.This comes at a time when Indigenous This reach could only be achievedparticipation in the Canadian economy through e-commerce and it has had arepresents the largest growing demo-profound impact in sharing Indigenousgraphic in Canada. And despite the stories. We are amplifying Indigenousuncertaintythatsurroundedbusi-storiestoabroaderaudienceofnesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians and North Americans, sayse-commerce has seen explosive growth McLaren.Weve seen incredible oppor- over the past five years. As the pandemic tunities for growth as people switch toshuttered businesses across the globe, 16A CCAB PUBLICATION2023'