High Gear
Virtual Meeting of April 15, 2020
This was Burlingame Rotary’s third virtual meeting using Zoom and 23 members participated. Adhering to current mask practices – Pierre Bouquet continued to wear his mask throughout the Zoom meeting even though we could not see him. Who we could see was a “half masked” Paul Watermulder who wore a trendy bandana around his neck.
Pledge of Allegiance
Mary Murphy led the Pledge of Alliance. And for a different perspective, Zoom captured members’ torsos as we stood throughout the pledge.
Invocation
Cheri cited reflections from Steve Jobs’ book and the importance of perspective during this time of COVID and shelter in place.
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Not applicable.
Announcements
Our weekly virtual social and fellowship hour is on Friday, April 17th, at 5 pm. Members are encouraged to join on Zoom with a drink in hand. Mary Murphy emailed us the Zoom login details.
The Board of Directors Meeting has been postponed by one week and will now take place next Wednesday, April 22nd at 4:30-6 pm via Zoom.
Welcome to our newest Club Member - David Gonzalez, Branch Manager at Comerica in Burlingame!
COVID Related Announcements and Updates
Cheri Carr announced the Rotary Giving Fund to help essential workers in our community, specifically our beloved Par 3 staff at Poplar Creek. Remember the day they helped us assemble the dental health care kits for kids? And how much we appreciate our crew for our weekly lunches? They need our help. Think about donating the money you would have spent on Rotary lunches this month – donate $100 to the Rotary Giving Fund. Details on how to donate on our website will be emailed out soon.
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Sheryl Young shared how we could get face masks while also helping an essential worker and a laid-off worker at the same time. A 3-way benefit for all! For $12 you can purchase 2 face masks sewn by people who were recently laid-off; one face mask is yours while the second face mask goes to an essential worker. This program will likely be available for only 2-3 weeks, so act now if you are interested and order masks at bit.ly/BABRmasks
Rotarian Delia Montano needs face masks for her essential workers at her Senior Care Facility, Cimino Care. If you have face masks to donate please contact Suzanne Juptner at suzanne@juptner.com or 650-218-2937, who will coordinate. (Meeting Postscript – Rotarian Cheryl Fama of Peninsula Health Care District has donated several masks to Cimino Care once she heard of the need. Thank you PHCD!)
Contact Sheryl Young if you want a sewing pattern to make masks at sherylhmb@gmail.com or 650-245-9090.
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Emily Beach, fellow Rotarian and Burlingame Mayor, gave a quick update on Burlingame’s shelter in place status. She clarified that gardeners are considered non-essential as is non-emergency construction. Staying safe includes staying within 5 miles of home, keeping social distance and wearing a mask. SIP is working and we need to stay the course. As stated before, the best place to identify and tap into resources is online at:
www.burlingame.org for city specific information and resources
www.smcgov.org for county wide information resources
Newscast: Jennifer Pence
Jennifer’s newscast focused on how our daily lives have changed during COVID shelter in place. Initially she thought her COVID life would entail wearing PJs all day (which may still be the case), but the reality is more about having chapped hands from all the hand washing we are doing. She also said that we are likely all familiar with the Freshman 15, but we need to prepare for the COVID 19. Most interesting, Jennifer reflected on much of this while eating lasagna and drinking wine in her bathtub at 6pm. Go Jennifer!
Speaker: Betsy McGinn, CEO of McGinn eComm
Betsy has worked with hundreds of companies and brands to successfully launch, optimize and recalibrate their Amazon generated business. She pioneered her company’s innovative eCommerce business model by creating a thriving multi-million-dollar partnership with Amazon that extends to her clients and their products and services.
McGinn eComm specializes in launching brands on Amazon for its clients. Amazon offers a wide range of services that extends well beyond the etail channel we know as amazon.com, specifically:
- Web Services (63% of Amazon’s operating income)
- Smart Speaker Market
- Amazon Studios
- Shipping and Logistics
- Retail Presence (Whole Food Markets and Amazon stores)
- Financial Services (Lending)
- Technology and Innovation (Drone)
- Private Label Brands
- Multiple eCommerce Platforms
- Multiple Brands
Amazon is the largest online retailer worldwide and has seen even more growth due to COVID since March 16th, namely a 400% year-over-year increase in essential product sales. 50% of their growth is from new customers.
When working with Amazon the approach is HOTW – Hands off the wheel. One can work successfully with Amazon for years and only interact with a person online, thereby never meeting them in person or even talking with them on the phone. Vendors are provided Seller Central, a vendor based dashboard used to manage their Amazon business, including inventory management and fulfilment.
Amazon has three primary business platform models for companies wanting to sell exclusively on Amazon or to expand their sales channels to include Amazon:
- Vendor Central: structured for large companies driving $10M per year in Amazon sales; Amazon buys and owns the inventory. The businesses are usually large brands and are designated as Prime vendors during the shopping experience. Cost of doing business is up to 37% for trade spend, damage and freight allowances and subscription costs, excluding marketing costs. Overall costs increase significantly when accounting for marketing costs.
- Fulfilment by Merchant: structured as a 3rd party selling and shipping model; vendors still own their inventory. Cost of doing business is subscription based at $40 per month, with incremental costs of 5% commission to Amazon, and their rated shipping costs and marketing costs.
- Fulfillment by Amazon: consignment model; vendors still own their inventory. This model is most advantageous for smaller merchants and/or newer products. Costs of doing business is subscription based and similar to the Fulfilment by Merchant model except fulfillment and shipping costs are set (and charged) by Amazon. This model pays the vendor every 2 weeks.
The entire Zoom meeting was recorded and will be made available to all Burlingame Rotarians.
Next Meeting
Our next virtual meeting will be Wednesday, April 22nd at 12:15 pm.
