{"id":2471,"date":"2013-06-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/otava.test\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/"},"modified":"2013-06-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-03T00:00:00","slug":"gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/","title":{"rendered":"Gearing Up for IRCE: Michigan Business Owner Talks About Going Global"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chicago<\/p>\n

Tomorrow nearly 4,500 executives and over 200 speakers are going to flock to Chicago for the 9th annual Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibit (IRCE)<\/a><\/strong>. Here at Online Tech, we were too excited to wait for some of the amazing insights of the growing e-retailing industry. We figured no one wanted to wait, so I\u2019m bringing a little sneak-peek at what\u2019s to come at IRCE.<\/p>\n

I got the opportunity to speak with Dan Asma<\/a>, the president of Michigan-based McKeon Products. McKeon Products started as a small earplug business in 1962, and has since grown into a whole line of ear-care products that can be found in over 40,000 locations in-store and online. Dan started at McKeon\u2019s close to four years ago, when they were just starting to realize their export opportunities had great potential.<\/p>\n

So, they pushed their global initiatives. They went to trade shows across the globe. Asma explained that there were two phases for McKeon growing in a global market. The first phase was people coming to the U.S. and using their products. When they got home and realized they didn\u2019t have Mack\u2019s ear-care products available to them, they\u2019d call the company to see how they could become distributors in the area. Subsequently, the second phase involved slowly building those distributor relationships around the world.<\/p>\n

I assumed those relationships would be extremely different abroad than here in the U.S., but Asma holds that they were actually strikingly similar. Most of the issues had to do with customs, labelling, and the differences in a distributor\u2019s process (for instance, McKeon is regulated by the EPA and FDA, but in other countries those regulations could look wildly different, or be non-existent).<\/p>\n

This hasn\u2019t been the only challenge for Asma related to making McKeon Products a global entity. Dan explains, \u201cIt\u2019s been an ongoing process to meet each market\u2019s needs. There are language barriers, cultural differences, and a need to understand how each website\u2019s business model is different than American counterparts.\u201d Also, securing copyrights can be difficult if their brand name (their brand is named \u201cMack\u2019s\u201d, after the initial owner) has been used in another country for a different purpose.<\/p>\n

But they wouldn\u2019t have gone global if there weren\u2019t some rewards. I asked Asma what he found most rewarding about the shift:<\/p>\n

\u201cTop of mind, it\u2019s a real validation of the company platform and all the hard work of the people within our company to be able to say, \u2018people don\u2019t just like and use our products here, they use and enjoy them world-wide\u2019. It supports our values of supplying an exceptional product and experience to all customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asma says that he\u2019s excited for IRCE, because there\u2019s going to be so much intellectual capital that he can learn from and take back to the already successful McKeon Products. With 120 sessions ranging in topics from small retailers to e-marketing to technology (and everywhere in between), it\u2019s not hard to share in his excitement.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ll be at the show, make sure to see Dan Asma speak at 5:00pm on June 5th (Wednesday) in the Global E-Retailing track. Also, come see Online Tech in booth #108,<\/strong> where we\u2019re going to be exhibiting our PCI compliant offerings<\/a>. We\u2019ll also keep you connected if you can\u2019t make it to Chicago, with live-blogging<\/a> and live-tweeting all week long.<\/p>\n

Visit www.macksearplugs.com<\/a> for more about McKeon Products.<\/p>\n

\n

\"PCI<\/a>Looking for more information on PCI hosting requirements, recommendations, and the foundation of a secure PCI compliant data center<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Download our PCI Compliant Hosting white paper<\/a> now for a complete guide to PCI hosting with IT vendors.<\/p>\n

Still have questions? <\/strong>Contact us<\/a> or chat<\/a> with us now. Find out more about our fully compliant, PCI hosting<\/a> solutions, or submit a quote request<\/a> for your project today.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow nearly 4,500 executives and over 200 speakers are going to flock to Chicago for the 9th annual Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibit (IRCE). Here at Online Tech, we were too excited to wait for some of the amazing insights of the growing e-retailing industry. We figured no one wanted to wait, so I\u2019m bringing a little sneak-peek at what\u2019s to come at IRCE. I got the opportunity to speak with Dan Asma, the president of Michigan-based McKeon Products. McKeon Products started as a small earplug business in 1962, and has since grown into a whole line of ear-care products that can be found in over 40,000 locations in-store and online. Dan started at McKeon\u2019s close to four years ago, when they were just starting to realize their export opportunities had great potential. So, they pushed their global initiatives. They went to trade shows across the globe. Asma explained that there were two phases for McKeon growing in a global market. The first phase was people coming to the U.S. and using their products. When they got home and realized they didn\u2019t have Mack\u2019s ear-care products available to them, they\u2019d call the company to see how they could become distributors…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"other_category":[],"class_list":["post-2471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGearing Up for IRCE: Michigan Business Owner Talks About Going Global | OTAVA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We were too excited to wait for some of the amazing insights of the e-retailing industry so I\u2019m bringing a little sneak-peek at what\u2019s to come at IRCE.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gearing Up for IRCE: Michigan Business Owner Talks About Going Global\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We were too excited to wait for some of the amazing insights of the e-retailing industry so I\u2019m bringing a little sneak-peek at what\u2019s to come at IRCE.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OTAVA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-03T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/irce.internetretailer.com\/static\/uploads\/conf_site\/Home-Page-Image-Chicago-Town_.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Irma Brillantes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Irma Brillantes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Irma Brillantes\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263\"},\"headline\":\"Gearing Up for IRCE: Michigan Business Owner Talks About Going Global\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-03T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/\"},\"wordCount\":656,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/irce.internetretailer.com\/static\/uploads\/conf_site\/Home-Page-Image-Chicago-Town_.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/\",\"name\":\"Gearing Up for IRCE: Michigan Business Owner Talks About Going Global | OTAVA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/irce.internetretailer.com\/static\/uploads\/conf_site\/Home-Page-Image-Chicago-Town_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-03T00:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"We were too excited to wait for some of the amazing insights of the e-retailing industry so I\u2019m bringing a little sneak-peek at what\u2019s to come at IRCE.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/irce.internetretailer.com\/static\/uploads\/conf_site\/Home-Page-Image-Chicago-Town_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/irce.internetretailer.com\/static\/uploads\/conf_site\/Home-Page-Image-Chicago-Town_.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gearing Up for IRCE: Michigan Business Owner Talks About Going Global\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/\",\"name\":\"OTAVA\u00ae\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"OTAVA\u00ae\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/otava-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/otava-logo.svg\",\"caption\":\"OTAVA\u00ae\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263\",\"name\":\"Irma Brillantes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Irma Brillantes\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/author\/ibrillantesotava-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gearing Up for IRCE: Michigan Business Owner Talks About Going Global | OTAVA","description":"We were too excited to wait for some of the amazing insights of the e-retailing industry so I\u2019m bringing a little sneak-peek at what\u2019s to come at IRCE.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gearing Up for IRCE: Michigan Business Owner Talks About Going Global","og_description":"We were too excited to wait for some of the amazing insights of the e-retailing industry so I\u2019m bringing a little sneak-peek at what\u2019s to come at IRCE.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/","og_site_name":"OTAVA","article_published_time":"2013-06-03T00:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/irce.internetretailer.com\/static\/uploads\/conf_site\/Home-Page-Image-Chicago-Town_.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Irma Brillantes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Irma Brillantes","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/"},"author":{"name":"Irma Brillantes","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263"},"headline":"Gearing Up for IRCE: Michigan Business Owner Talks About Going Global","datePublished":"2013-06-03T00:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/"},"wordCount":656,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/irce.internetretailer.com\/static\/uploads\/conf_site\/Home-Page-Image-Chicago-Town_.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/","url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/","name":"Gearing Up for IRCE: Michigan Business Owner Talks About Going Global | OTAVA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/irce.internetretailer.com\/static\/uploads\/conf_site\/Home-Page-Image-Chicago-Town_.jpg","datePublished":"2013-06-03T00:00:00+00:00","description":"We were too excited to wait for some of the amazing insights of the e-retailing industry so I\u2019m bringing a little sneak-peek at what\u2019s to come at IRCE.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/irce.internetretailer.com\/static\/uploads\/conf_site\/Home-Page-Image-Chicago-Town_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/irce.internetretailer.com\/static\/uploads\/conf_site\/Home-Page-Image-Chicago-Town_.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/gearing-up-for-irce-speaker-dan-asma-talks-about-going-global\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gearing Up for IRCE: Michigan Business Owner Talks About Going Global"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/","name":"OTAVA\u00ae","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization","name":"OTAVA\u00ae","url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/otava-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/otava-logo.svg","caption":"OTAVA\u00ae"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263","name":"Irma Brillantes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Irma Brillantes"},"url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/author\/ibrillantesotava-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2471"},{"taxonomy":"other_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/other_category?post=2471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}