 ShoeMetro’s website states they are “Changing the way you buy shoes.” In reality, the company is changing much more. By using the eBay Giving Works program, ShoeMetro gives back to causes they care about while providing employees with meaningful reasons to take pride in their work.
Stepping Up
 Will Huynh, the company’s Chief Operating Officer, had noticed the trademark blue and gold eBay Giving Works ribbon in eBay search results pages for awhile. After learning more about the program at an industry conference, he decided to give eBay Giving Works a try and list some items for the 2006 Spotlight on Breast Cancer Awareness event.
Employee Excitement
“We talked about [using eBay Giving Works] with the employees and they got pretty excited about it,” Will says of the initial company discussion regarding the program. Employees were encouraged to provide input around which nonprofit they would like ShoeMetro to support, and the resounding answer
was Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Huynh began listing pairs of shoes to
benefit the breast cancer nonprofit.
Walking the Walk
ShoeMetro
eBay ID: ShoeMetro
Status: Titanium PowerSeller
Products: men’s and women’s footwear
Business type: for-profit
Nonprofits supported: American Heart Assoc., Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, MusiCares Foundation, etc.
Quirky fact: Will and his business partner David Duong were high school friends
Since then, ShoeMetro has been an active participant in the monthly eBay Giving Works Spotlight on a Cause events and their 17 employees have a voice in deciding which nonprofits they choose. “Our employees tell us which nonprofits they’d like us to support. To date they’ve chosen the American Heart Association, The Humane Society of the United States, The Center for Ecosystem Survival and others” explains Will. “At our meetings we cheer about our eBay Giving Works involvement.”
ShoeMetro’s future plans for promoting their use of eBay Giving Works involve adding information about it to their eBay About Me Page along with a link to all their items that benefit nonprofits.
What is Will’s favorite aspect of the program? “It makes it very easy to give back. When a business wants to be charitable, it can be difficult for them to spend a lot of time creating partnerships with nonprofits. eBay Giving Works makes it seamless to incorporate cause-marketing into your business strategy.”
Visit ShoeMetro’s eBay store at http://stores.ebay.com/ShoeMetro
|
