Hudson’s Bay Didn’t Fail at eCommerce—They Misunderstood the Assignment

🛑 SPECIAL EDITION

I’ll be honest—this one hits differently. HBC isn’t just a brand. It’s part of Canadian retail history. A 354-year-old icon that outlived empires. And now, suddenly... it’s gone silent online.

Not because people stopped shopping. Not because Canadians don’t care about legacy.

But because HBC couldn’t evolve.

Did I shop there recently? Well… I tried.

I went looking for something unique. Something with soul. But the experience was flat—clunky filters, generic selection, zero inspiration. No story. No feeling that “they got me.”

So, like most of us do now, I left. And bought that perfect AMI PARIS overshirt from Simons. Sometimes Harry Rosen. Sometimes SSENSE. Because those places understood what HBC didn’t:

B2B or B2C—customers don’t buy from catalogs. They buy from connection.

What HBC Got Wrong (And Why Legacy Brands Should Pay Attention)

Hudson’s Bay had an eCom team. They launched a marketplace. They invested in tech. But it all felt... bolted on.

→ No clear point of view. → No modern merchandising. → No digital joy.

Meanwhile, off-price players like Winners thrived. SSENSE built a cult. Simons became the benchmark for omnichannel done right.

HBC? They became the middle-of-the-road brand. And you know what happens in the middle of the road? You get run over.

Industry Data: Digital Isn’t Optional—It Is the Channel

Let’s ground this in numbers:

🔹 80% of B2B interactions will happen online by end of 2025 (Gartner) 🔹 Amazon Business will hit $83B this year alone 🔹 82% of brands expect Amazon to grow in 2025—and 64% are already selling there 🔹 Buyers now expect mobile-first, self-service, AI-powered personalization—not legacy ERP portals with a login from 2009

HBC didn’t ignore digital. They just failed to make it meaningful.

What Smart B2C & B2B Brands Are Doing Now

Here's the playbook if you want to avoid the same fate:

1. Go 3P to Own the Channel

Amazon is slowly ghosting smaller 1P suppliers. Margins are better. Control is better. And 3P means you can enforce MAP, manage resellers, and protect your pricing

2. AI is Table Stakes Now

Half of Amazon sellers still don’t use AI. And it shows. Tools like Rufus are reshaping how buyers search and discover. Your product content, pricing, and promotions should all be algorithm-aware

3. Invest in Composable Commerce

No more Frankenstein stacks. Composable = agility. Speed. Relevance. The best B2B brands use best-of-breed tools—search with Algolia , PIM with Akeneo: The Product Experience Company , punchout catalogs, Shopify Plus flexibility.

4. Design for Emotion

This one’s overlooked. People don’t just buy specs or price anymore. They buy vibes. SSENSE E sells story. Simons sells identity. HBC never picked a lane—and paid the price.

Final Thought

Hudson’s Bay didn’t fail because they didn’t try digital. They failed because they didn’t transform the way digital brands need to.

And that’s the lesson here: Legacy doesn’t protect you. Only relevance does.

If your digital strategy is still run by a siloed team with no access to the PIM, if your buyers can’t self-serve, and if your marketplace strategy is “wait and see”... you’re not evolving—you’re eroding.