Mission

The mission of HEC Montréal’s RBC Financial Group Chair of E-Commerce is to develop and spread cutting-edge knowledge and expertise about the adoption and use of new technologies by Canadian consumers.

Over the last fifteen years we have witnessed the proliferation of new technologies intended, in principle, to better reach and better serve consumers. From the Internet and its many facets to digital television, smartphones and chip cards, technologies have multiplied the points of contact with consumers and the means to develop a relationship with them.

Today, mobility and ubiquity characterize these technologies which, through multiple applications, provide access to consumers at their workplace, at home or in their car. But do we really know how to take advantage of these technologies? Do we have enough information on how consumers use them to allow us to maximize their business potential?

The Chair’s objective is to answer these questions through basic and applied research and to help you navigate through the implications of the above questions for your business and services.

The Chair

The Chair’s founder, Jacques Nantel, has set up an extremely dynamic organization orbited by a large number of Master’s and Ph.D. students, companies and professors. Since the creation of the Chair, its activities have generated numerous professional and academic publications and close ties with many companies. Over time, it has also contributed significantly to the training of many students in marketing, e-commerce and business intelligence.

Over the years, the Chair has helped to create an ecosystem nurturing its activities, including a consulting firm in customer experience, imarklab (imarklab.com) and a user experience research laboratory, Tech³Lab (tech3lab.hec.ca). These organizations assist the Chair in its activities of research and knowledge transfer to industries.

With an aim to develop and hone knowledge in the areas of e-commerce for consumers, we invite all interested researchers to contact us to take part in our work.

Sylvain Sénécal