Andy Jayes is a retail and digital veteran, and has earned that accolade given his background in BHS, House of Fraser, Selfridges, Virgin Megastores… along with covering the gamut of digital – from product and merchandising, via operations and development – to his current role as Digital Director at Fenwicks, the independently-owned, unique and quirky department store mini-chain.
There’s so much to follow here – his journey from chef to chief, the positioning of Fenwicks and the sources of distinctiveness, the role of Digital Director, and how digital can transform a last-century business while retaining and using its DNA… As a result we just dived straight into the middle!
If you’re not already familiar with Fenwicks then do check out their website (https://www.fenwick.co.uk/) to see the range of products and something of their history on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenwick_(department_store)) or in their own words (https://www.fenwick.co.uk/our-story.html).
Camilla Henriksson is the Global Brand Innovation Manager at H&M, as well as the Global Head of Customer Experience for their Lifestyle Brands… that should give you a clue as to just how busy Camilla is, and the range of her interests. We caught up with her fresh from the launch of Atelier100, a global collaboration with another global Swedish powerhouse, IKEA. Atelier100 (https://www.atelier100.com/) is a project that seeks to ‘democratise design’ and has three objectives for the partnership: to find and support local creatives; to explore and support local production; and to work on local relevance.
This is an extraordinary project as a stand-alone, but when you consider it’s a joint endeavour between two global businesses it acquires an additional level of purpose, learning and connection.
During our conversation Camilla gives us an insight into her career and how she’s moved through product, visual merchandising, stores, digital, innovation, circular economy and sustainability… as well as in different parts of H&M. Her clarity on delivery, focus and learning is clear – and from her open conversation and enjoyment of her role we can see that humour and culture are definite contributing factors to success!
During our discussion we mentioned in passing the Grand Prix-winning project at Cannes Lions in 2021. Called “the Loop” it’s an in-store end-to-end recycling machine and you can see details here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQhaZNWfZmY
We also discussed the role of Matter, the local/sourcing research consultancy, and you can see their work here: https://ma-tt-er.org/
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All of our podcasts now have a full transcript and notes available – check out the episode page on https://internetretailing.net/retailcraft-retail-podcasts/retailcraft-retail-podcasts
Operating in 25 countries, with 49million active customers and featuring 5,800 brands, Zalando is a European fashion powerhouse that we’ve long tracked and admired. Megan Maley spoke at Shoptalk Europe 2022 when we launched the Global Elite 1000 report, and I invited her to share with us some of the dynamics, focus areas and directions of travel for Zalando from the vantage point of her role as GM UK/Ireland and Benelux.
We hear about the platform approach, an obsessive customer focus, a relationship with the brands they sell, market entry and growth and of course the long-standing commitment to sustainability, with some 22% of products sold now coming from the more sustainable ranges.
Megan shares with us the importance of getting into the path of the customer, but we also hear about her career path and the idea of “provoking your destiny”.
This is a generous, open and inspiring conversation with a thoughtful leader in one of Europe’s leading retailers.
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All of our podcasts now have a full transcript and notes available – check out the episode page on https://internetretailing.net/retailcraft-retail-podcasts/retailcraft-retail-podcasts
Provenance provides a framework for retailers and brands to assess, monitor and communicate their sustainability, and this has progressed from a technology play (developing data and blockchain services) into “sustainability marketing technology”. We go behind the scenes with Jessi Baker, the founder and CEO, and along the way discuss the challenges of implementation, how brands are adapting to and embracing transparency, and the direction of travel in making sustainable supply chains easy and relevant for the consumer. Jessi mentioned the phrase “glass-box brands”, succinctly describing the radical transparency and scrutiny under which modern businesses now operate.
Sienne Veit is the Group Digital Product and Platform Director for Kingfisher PLC, owners of Screwfix, B&Q, Castorama and others in a £13bn turnover powerhouse in the “homes” and DIY sectors across Europe. Sienne tracks the idea of a “product” and how the aim is to “create joyful things” that increase not only increased sales but also enhance the experience of interacting with the brand, solving consumer problems. She repeats the concept when she describes how the combination of data science and engineering can ‘make meaning and create joy’ – surely a rallying cry for our times!
Join us in the studio for this informative, wide-ranging and clear discussion on key themes in modern retail: data, transparency, technology and the consumer’s experience.
All of our podcasts now have a full transcript and notes available – check out the episode page on https://internetretailing.net/retailcraft-retail-podcasts/retailcraft-retail-podcasts
Two major brands discuss innovation, digital, delivery and retail. We hear from Ali Holmes, Senior Ecommerce Director at Pepsico Europe, and Megan Ludlow, Innovation Partnership at Marks & Spencer.
All of our podcasts now have a full transcript and notes available – check out the episode page on https://internetretailing.net/retailcraft-retail-podcasts/retailcraft-retail-podcasts
As we return to the studio, this is a conversation full of surprises, of twists, turns and revelations, and it’s one of those serendipitous discussions that just leave you thinking “wow”.
We hear from Claire Bottle, the new-ish CEO of the UK Warehousing Association. Claire covers the serendipity that led from a secretarial role to a logistics leader, with the mentoring she received and how she now looks to create opportunities and training within the industry.
Gavin’s journey goes from Facebook to establishing a cannabis store, via Tesco and arrives at digital health data. It’s a track that blends bravery with analysis, clarity and flexibility.
Both of these journeys share one thread – that they defy our expectations. Claire comments that her path is “by no means stereotypical” while Gavin notes several times that the commercial realities today and in the future and “different to our mental model”.
This is a podcast full of opinion-changing insights and rather than spoiling the surprises now, I’ll just remind our listeners that a full transcript with notes and links is available via https://internetretailing.net/retailcraft-retail-podcasts
Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC is a British multinational consumer goods company. Formed some 200 years ago it is a stalwart of the FTSE100 and turns over some £14bn (2020). It owns some global powerhouse brands in the health/hygiene/nutrition space, many of which are part of the fabric of UK society – Durex, Dettol, Airwick, Clearasil, Nurofen…
In this episode we spend time with Greg Duce, General Manager, Ecommerce, Europe at Reckitt and it’s a privileged look behind the brands at the realities of moving direct to consumer, embracing digital and maintaining values.
We were struck in chatting with Greg at the focus upon people and skills development, the need to move rapidly yet without losing track of the brand values. Greg articulated with great clarity that the transition to digital-first (without leaving behind the successful, multi-billion legacy) requires the ability to see multiple things at the same time – and to act for now and the future at the same time. Greg talks about the need to “win today and win tomorrow’, and how this requires the simultaneous adoption of two competing maxims: the first is the mantra of “fewer, bigger, better” investments (using Reckitt’s scale), while at the same time placing “bets everywhere to see what sticks” (because you have to recognise that new competitors are not limited to the legacy competitors). This ‘duality’ is at the heart of the digital approach – a flexibility of mind and approach that is worthy of a chapter or two by Von Clauswitz or Sun Tzu!
The full transcript is available via https://internetretailing.net/retailcraft-retail-podcasts/retailcraft-retail-podcasts
At the intersection of sustainability, design and technology, Another Tomorrow is an inspiring, lucid and enlightening startup that ‘bakes in’ the circular economy to its whole business model.
The founder and CEO, Vanessa Barboni Hallik, kindly invited me to her Bleeker Street store when I was in #NYC a fortnight ago, and despite the early morning noise of film crews, leaf blowers and garbage collection (!) we covered a lot of ground about how one starts a brand that’s sustainable ‘ab initio’. Vanessa covers sourcing, marketplaces, being a point of discovery, the plans for scaling and reselling, values and culture – it’s a tour de force of things to consider in setting up a direct to consumer brand for a modern consumer. I particularly loved the combination of vision with analysis with execution.
RetailX Nexus launches, with the mission of bringing ecommerce and multichannel leaders face-to-face once more
RetailX marks its return to face-to-face events with the launch of the first RetailX Nexus event, to be held this autumn.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, RetailX was known for its in-person events, from roundtables and private dinners to think tank meetings. Now the company, an InternetRetailing sister company, is unveiling a landmark return to face-to-face, supplementing the digital events that have become commonplace during the pandemic.
Mark Pigou, co-founder of RetailX, says: “We have weathered a tsunami of ‘pivoting to digital’ over the past 18 months and we have learnt that whilst digital can provide an effective and engaging channel to deliver content, it cannot replace the clear advantages and benefits of face to face events.
“You cannot sit in front of a screen all day and you cannot have the kind of meaningful conversations and interaction that leads to real business benefits that live in person delivers. Digital will always have its place at the table but it simply cannot replace live events nor can it deliver comparable experiences and results.”
The new RetailX Nexus event, to be held on October 7, rethinks the in-person event for a post-Covid audience. It will focus on the three key strategic priorities that are now moving quickly up the board agendas at ecommerce and multichannel retail businesses: sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion, and customer intelligence – about how automated technologies including machine-learning and AI will transform the retail customer experience.
Numbers will be limited to 100 senior retailers for an event that will run under strict Chatham House rules, thus giving participants the chance to think aloud in discussions, sharing experiences while learning from what others share.
Ian Jindal, chief executive and co-founder of RetailX, says: “The Nexus event is about taking back the space to think strategically. In this event we will relish the debate, the silent moment to reflect and question, and a safe space to change your mind. It’s for a corpus of leaders who can take the many ideas that this event will offer and coalesce into action.
“Senior leaders don’t need to debate simple issues, so we’ve focused upon the central questions that are currently affecting, engaging and testing the whole organisation and have a real impact that’s being felt both by customers and colleagues.”
RETHINKING FACE-TO-FACE
The event, to be held at Etc. Venues in London between 8.30am and 3.30pm, with after party networking from 3.35pm onwards, has been designed in close collaboration with an 18-member RetailX advisory panel that includes senior retailers and industry figures including Sienne Veit, group digital product and platform director at Kingfisher, David Kohn, customer and ecommerce director at Heals, Georgina Stoaling, head of ecommerce at Superdrug, Simon Forster, former CEO at Selfridges, Jennifer Roebuck, chief customer officer at Ted Baker, Robin Philips, chief executive and founder of The WatchShop Group and Donna Chen, marketing and digital director at House of Benney,.
RetailX content strategy and event event development director Anthony Parker says: “When we went out to speak to our advisory board and others, the response, after 18 months of Covid, was to say, ‘Just let us speak with each other. There’s so much that you can learn from conversations.’
“That’s very important to the structure of the event. After each of our central sessions there’ll be a 45-minute table discussion guided by a member of our advisory board. It’s a way of translating what’s up on the stage to a discussion among 10 retail leaders – from chief executives to company founders and directors – about what that means to their businesses.”
Download our #Sustainability Report 2020 to discover how retailers are improving their sustainability throughout the full retail value chain, and embracing the circular economy.
52 pages of facts, case studies and analysis, including:
— Zalando SE was the first retailer to make it compulsory for the brands selling via its platform to measure their business sustainability, substantially reducing the fashion industry’s impact on the environment; — Supermarkets are working to reduce food waste across their supply chains. Tesco‘s contribution has dropped by 200,000 tonnes over the past three years; — C&A avoids using nearly 1.1 billion cubic metres of water – the equivalent of 440,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, thanks to sourcing organic and Better Cotton Initiative.
