Kelly Colman, Founder, New CID Cosmetics

As a new cosmetics range we needed to have a busy beauty department with plenty of footfall as we are proactive sellers needing to traffic stop customers.

We are not a traditional brand with destination counters and huge budgets, so we couldn’t advertise in magazines to encourage visits to our counter for free samples.

We made constant calls to beauty buyers to get meetings. The unique story behind New CID always captures the buyers and now with increased brand awareness from sales channels like QVC we are getting so many more buyers already hearing about us and coming to us directly.

Getting stocked is a learning curve. Normally you will be responsible for staffing counters and you need to make sure you know how you are going to run that part of your business on a daily basis, along with everything else from recruitment and HR to daily sales, training, stock control and warehousing to new product.

Lisa Hilton, CEO, Rehab London

USPs are no longer enough for big retailers. A presentation must include a PR, advertising and product placement minimum to guarantee a buyer taking a chance on a non big five brand.

Remember this brand awareness doesn’t have to be costly. In these current times of digital media thousands of people can be reached cost effectively. Only promise what you can deliver.

Ensure you’re also able to answer the question “if your hero product goes BOOM can you refill orders to a very quick high turnover?” Incorporate an answer for this in the logistics part of your presentation listing nearby filling plants and factor in carrying excess stocks of bottles\cartons as these are usually the time costers.

I found logistical answers integral to success when speaking to CVS and Target America.

When dealing with the UK market incorporate what US retailers often do. Instead of a 100% SOR (sale or return) deal offer a 20% buy through option. This means once your retailer has sold through 20% of stock they pay 100% of the invoice no return option.

Also see: How to get cosmetic products stocked by retailers: Nicky Clarke and Naturally Cool Kids

The maternity brand, which has dressed celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Gwen Stefani, created Isabella Oliver 365 a womenswear (non-maternity) collection in 2009. Later this year the womenswear collection is to be rebranded as ‘Baukjen’.

In this interview Baukjen de Swaan Arons, from the Queen’s Award winning business, explains the reason behind the name change, how it was chosen, the demands of today’s intelligent customer and the strategy to make Isabella Oliver one of the “key global premium maternity brands in the world”.

Lesley Clarke, CEO, Nicky Clarke

All of our products have been developed by and are used by professionals. We wanted to make them available to consumers at home. We knew the range had to offer something special for retailers to stock them, so we assessed the market to ensure they did just that.

Elements such as formulation, ingredients, quality and packaging contribute to retailers wanting to stock the range. The unique Nicky Clarke endorsement also helps us, as all products have his seal of approval.

Every retailer has proficient buyers who know which products will perform best in their stores so you need to pick those with the right profile.

We are fortunate that we have 20 years of experience and a well-known, respected name in the industry – but even so it is sometimes a challenge to find the right buyer for the area and to make contact – you just have to be quietly persistent.

You need to present the range clearly, demonstrating that there is a position for it on shelves, and take them through what it offers the consumer and of course very importantly what it offers them in terms of prestige, profit and sales.

Fiona Wood, Founder, Naturally Cool Kids

John Lewis was at the top of a list of companies we wanted to take our brand on. The public trusts them for quality and we knew the John Lewis seal of approval would be beneficial for the brand.

When we were launching we sent out invitation letters to all the retailers large and small that we wanted to attract, inviting them to meet us at the Harrogate Nursery Fair where we exhibited.

We were very fortunate that such a well written letter hit the spot. I have a copywriter friend Rebecca Firth who helped me out with this and I do feel that gave me the edge. John Lewis visited the stand and were really impressed with the products, and us as a company. They took away some products and then within two weeks we had an order.

The only formal pitch I had to do was for Tesco Nutri Centre. I managed after months of letters, phone calls and emails to get a meeting with their buyer. I went through my products one by one but he seemed to have already made his decision to take them before I finished.

In these situations being yourself is important. I didn’t do the whole suit dressing up thing, it was all about being genuine and having a passion for my product.

Also see: How to get cosmetic products stocked by retailers: New CID Cosmetics and Rehab London

Monday’s are particularly busy, with numerous meetings being held to carefully review our performance and consider decisions required for the remainder of the week. After that I spend time in the field either meeting with my teams to review strategy and activities or looking at acquisition targets.

Simon Ewins, Business Development and CR Director, Whitbread

What is your performance judged on?
I’m judged on the quality of the investments we make and how our internal processes influence the performance / returns of our acquisitions, along with being responsible for the development and delivery of our Corporate Responsibility strategy.

How has your career developed at Whitbread in your 7 years?
Since joining Whitbread I’ve been lucky enough to have many different roles spanning senior operational roles, along with obtaining important functional experience. Whitbread is a great place to grow and develop.

Whitbread’s culture is to encourage people to positively affect their roles and stretch themselves.

What’s the best thing about working for the company?
It’s a great place. The people care, they are proud of the company and there is a genuine sense of respect for each other.

Why did you choose to work with WaterAid?
We wanted to work with a charity that delivered the basics to society.

We sell fun times and treats but we are very aware that these are inaccessible for some in deprived parts of the world. Providing access to safe water and sanitation really resonated with our team. Furthermore we were about to enter the Indian hotel market and we believed that this would help us really understand the country and culture more, making us a better employer there.

How did it feel to hit the £1m raised figure?
It was amazing. This represented the largest amount we had ever raised for charity and made us WaterAid’s number one corporate partner. We were very, very proud of our team.

Will you continue to work with the charity going forward?
We are now at the end of our partnership with WaterAid. We are currently finalising our selection process for the new charity which we will support.

We have engaged the whole of our business and enabled them to have an equal say in who we choose to support. We can’t wait to get started.

What are the business benefits of being involved with good causes?
Really business benefits come a long way down our list of reasons to do this. But if there was one absolute stand out reason to do it, I would say it is the feeling of pride you see in the faces of our people when they see the actual results of their hard work fundraising. It’s very rewarding.

How should businesses choose which charities, organisations and causes to back?
I think it is important to do some good research into the causes that your team want to support. This is over and above any business synergies, although if you can align both this can be very powerful. Develop a strong process that empowers people to get involved and influence the decision.

This really drives traction and alignment to the cause. Finally, give your teams the freedom and tools to make a difference when they fundraise. In our experience, the wackier the idea, the greater the interest.

www.whitbread.co.uk

• Staff hired from Harrods, John Lewis and ELLE
• “Homeware is not overly exposed online”
• “Customers get the same inspiration as with a showroom”

Trading as Westwing.de in Germany, the UK arm of the brand, Dalani.co.uk, was established to differentiate between the two regions.

“We didn’t want the brand to be misconstrued in the UK market. We wanted to start afresh in order to develop the brand and to respond to the specific needs of customers in this market; localisation is paramount to meeting your unique customer needs in an international business,” Davide explains.

Since the launch, Davide says the company has grown “exceptionally fast,” with tens of thousands of members joining the site each week. “Brands are very excited to work with us and acknowledge our unique market positioning. This will become a very significant business in the near future, if not already,” he adds.

Davide has secured an experienced team to help him achieve his vision for the brand. “We’ve established an expert local sourcing team who are brilliant at finding and curating beautiful things from both established and insider brands,” he says. “We hope that by doing so our members will look to us to take the effort out of hunting for homewares.”

The company has hired staff from the likes of Harrods, Debenhams and John Lewis, and recently secured former shopping and decorating editor at ELLE Decoration, Emilio Pimentel-Reid, after six and a half years at the magazine.

Emilio’s role at Dalani will encompass creating exciting and inspiring editorial content for Dalani Magazine and working closely with the buying team to provide trend direction, curation and style expertise.

Davide says that this is to ensure that members have an editorially rich experience when shopping on the site, as it differentiates them from other online interiors retailers, adding to the online content.

The aim of the website is to create a content rich destination for people who are interested in homewares

“Achica, Brand Alley and Secretsales offer a multitude of categories of which homewares is one. We specifically focus on design and homeware. We are experts in homewares retailing and editorial. Our site is a destination, trendsetter and leader in our market” Davide says.

The aim of the website is to create a content rich destination for people who are interested in homewares. Dalani focuses on applying the same editorial cohesion as an interiors magazine to the website, so that it provides a one-stop-shop for all decoration needs.

“With our site, customers get the editorial component. They get the same inspiration as with a showroom. They can see the décor and they can also get advice. We have great prices and the added bonus is that we have the magazine too.” Davide says.

The company doesn’t advertise promotions or discounts either. Instead, it sources individual deals targeted towards its demographic and exposes members to both British and International established and emerging brands.

This is possible, Davide says, because homeware is not overly exposed online. “On the supplier side, the market is highly fragmented and undergoing significant change. The way brands and retailers themselves use the traditional channel is evolving and whilst homewares has been late to embrace e-commerce to the same extent that fashion has, the high cost of items coupled with developments in mobile technology makes online an even more compelling proposition” he explains.

“Thanks to mobile technology, customers can easily view a product on our site via their tablet, place it in situ to decide whether it works – having considered our styling advice – and buy easily from the convenience of their home, all at a great value.”

But it helps to put Dalani in a unique retailing position and has allowed some newer brands to see just how successful they can be without a traditional high street presence.

“We’re confident that our site will attract recognised brands and expose them to a highly engaged demographic of homewares enthusiastic shoppers in a tastefully curated setting,” Davide enthuses.

Jonathan Hall, Founder, Cranberry Panda

What significant changes have you seen in the structure of e-commerce teams over the past two years?
E-commerce teams are growing and the result of this is that roles split and become more specialised. Trading teams add merchandisers, content and analysts and marketing teams bring search, affiliates and social in-house.

What digital roles are retailers currently finding most difficult to fill?
There is still a shortage of good web analysts, e-commerce designers and also experienced search specialists.

Why do you think that is?
As retailers are increasingly bringing these skills in-house there is a fight between agency and client side. Agencies still tend to pay better.

What makes Cranberry Panda’s recruitment consultants unique?
We have all been in e-commerce for years and have directly worked with e-commerce clients helping them to grow their online business before moving into recruitment. This is the key reason clients and candidates enjoy working with us; because we understand.

What would you think of a candidate who sent their application for a digital role in the post – unique or plain wrong?
In the two years we’ve been going we have not had a single postal entry. That would be a bit odd!

Any funny CV stories?
Plenty! We noticed that a significant number of candidates put swimming as one of their activities so we started a swimming top 5 and a person who swam for the UK team is currently in the lead, just above someone who swam the channel.

You’re doing a jungle run in Peru later this month. Tell us about it
Yes, Joe [Mountain, co-founder of Cranberry Panda] and I are running the Peru Ultra which is a 155 mile, 7 day run through the Amazon Jungle. We have to carry all our food and equipment for the week (12kg-until we eat the food). The long day is 52 miles!

And you’re raising money for charity
The charity this year is very close to Joe’s heart as his amazing step mum Sara was diagnosed with MSA a couple of years ago. It is a cruel disease which takes your physical abilities away but leaves your mind. So far we have raised over £8,000 and are aiming for £10,000. Any support is hugely appreciated.

You can sponsor Jonathan and Joe at http://www.justgiving.com/JoeMountainMSAJungleChallenge

www.cranberrypanda.co.uk

How many restaurants does Ponti’s Italian Kitchen have?
We currently have two sites – one at 5-7 John Princes Street, Oxford Circus and another at 54 Duke Street towards Bond Street.

Stefano Ispani, CEO, Ponti's Group

How many stores will Ponti’s Italian Kitchen in three years’ time?
We are aiming for an additional 12 sites in the next three years.

Explain Caffé Italia in ten words
Fresh and simple Italian classics served in a stylish setting.

How many stores does Caffé Italia have?
We currently have 7 sites, a new café at the Eden Shopping centre in High Wycombe, another in Midsummer Place, Milton Keynes, three at Heathrow airport and two at Stansted.

How many stores will Caffé Italia have in three years’ time?
It is our intention to increase the number of sites to 15 by 2015.

Ponti’s has been around for nearly 50 years. What is your history?
It’s all about our roots with the Ponti’s Group. Our family originates from Piacenza in the Emilia Romagna Region of Italy – a region renowned throughout the world for its dedication to the pleasures of good food and genuine speciality produce such as the famous Prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano and Aceto Balsamico.

We are passionate about serving the fantastic food from this region and source many of our ingredients directly from carefully selected suppliers.

My father came to the UK in 1957, aged 14 and in 1963 opened the first Ponti’s on Elizabeth Street in Belgravia with the help of his uncle, “Zio” Johnny. Then in 2001, a week before 9/11, my father died suddenly of a heart attack.

You’ve been involved since an early age. What were the highlights on your journey to CEO?
The start of the ’90s springs to mind, when there was suddenly this amazing food revolution. People started to appreciate good food a lot more and wanted fresh, good quality ingredients. All of a sudden, people got really tuned into good food and the marketplace really started to change.

Last year, we took the decision to re-brand Ponti’s Italian Kitchen, which has exceeded all expectations. We asked ourselves how we could possibly compete with the big brands in London. We don’t have their marketing spend, resources or property portfolio. We realised that the only way we could compete was through our people. We focussed strongly on providing our customers with an exceptional experience, to ensure they returned again and again, whilst also spreading the word amongst their family, friends and colleagues.

We also took the decision to out cook the competition by committing to our culinary heritage of Emilia Romagna, where our core values lie, which has hugely paid off.

The rise of social media has been great for the Ponti’s Italian Kitchen and Caffé Italia brands. It’s allowed us to really engage with our customers, create communities and drive loyalty, whilst also showcasing the personalities of the brands.

Are there any special plans to celebrate the company’s 50 years in business?
Yes, absolutely. But it’s very hush, hush at the moment and I’ve been sworn to secrecy!

Will you go global for growth or is the UK your focus?
All brands aspire to do great things and going global isn’t something we wouldn’t currently consider. However, we’ve grown organically over the years and are currently focused on continuing to do so.

How have customer habits changed over the past five years?
Customers are definitely more discerning in their eating habits, which has been driven by their love of travel and desire to experience different cuisines and ingredients.

Jamie Oliver has driven the nation’s love of cooking, especially men within the 30+ audience, whilst Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has championed a back-to-basics philosophy and ethical sourcing with his Chicken Out and Hugh’s Fish Fight campaigns.

They, together with chefs like Gordon Ramsay, have had a massive influence on the choices customers make when choosing to dine out. They are far less tolerant of bad food and service and want to dine out on an experience.

This change in eating habits has been great for us, enabling us to really celebrate the provenance of our food and the great produce, whilst focusing on offering great Italian hospitality.

Apart from your group, which company does dining and hospitality well?
Angela Hartnett at Murano, who has a real appreciation and love of good Italian food gained from her grandmother and mother. And of course Giorgio Locatelli at Locanda Locatelli, who is passionate about serving traditional Italian dishes with an emphasis on quality and freshness of produce. Both chefs share the same values and passion for great Italian food and hospitality that we share at the Ponti’s Group.

Ponti’s Italian Kitchen
Caffé Italia

For more information on how you can attend our events, or to suggest an event, contact dinner@directorsof.com.

Upcoming events:
DIRECTORS OF COSMETIC BRANDS DINNER
DIRECTORS OF RETAIL STRATEGY AND INTERNATIONAL GROWTH DINNER
DIRECTORS OF ONLINE RETAIL DINNER

Our research has shown that 40% of shoppers will stay longer in a shop if they feel the music is well chosen for the environment. Making customers feel comfortable in their environment can encourage them to change their behaviour, including making purchases.

Bruno Brookes, CEO, Immedia

Can it make people in a café buy more coffee?
Let’s not go too far! Music is not any kind of magic elixir for persuasion. We work with brands on their music strategy to provide the right auditory environment, whereby customers can feel comfortable, relaxed and engaged.

What is the psychology or science behind it?
Neuroscience studies show that music is capable of activating the oldest reward centres of our brain. Depending on the music, it can energise us, relax and soothe us, from the time that we are infants through to the end of life.

Music can have a large impact on our reactions to everyday environments, but importantly for music strategy, on our behaviours inside and reactions towards shops, restaurants and other commercial premises.

Explain the process of finding out what music works for each shop
We work closely with retailers to amplify brand values and commercial objectives. Our aim is to create the ‘Sound of a Brand’ that reflects customer expectations and provides an enriched experience.

What other services does Immedia offer?
Immedia also provides leading edge visual display technology and its systems enable the management of essential marketing communications to a localised level.

Which retailers have you worked with?
Our client list includes retail and banking brands such as Topshop, Ikea, Spar UK and HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Halifax

Where have we heard your name before?
I was a presenter/DJ for Radio 1 from 1984 to 1995. I presented numerous TV shows including Top of the Pops.

Where did the idea come from for Immedia?
Immedia comes from the word Immediate. Our live radio stations to our customers deliver real time communications, it is the immediacy of Live and real time that shapes the name. The business idea identifies large audiences in retail with a common cause enabling broadcasts to be specific to their needs.

What will your business look like in five years’ time?
We plan to grow the business in the fastest way we can.

www.immediaplc.com

• 52% of sales online
• “Argos TV launch helped our business”
• £135m revenue in 2011

The television branch of the company began in 2000. Mike joined at the end of 2008 as part of a management overhaul. He eventually bought the company, which was publically listed, and took it off the stock market. “The company was struggling,” he admits. “2008 was a bad year for business.”

Mike had zero TV shopping experience. His background was in home shopping and distance retail. He previously worked at GUS, Argos’ former owner, where he became CEO. He then moved to the Otto Group.

However he was able to transform the fortunes of Ideal Shopping Direct. Last year, the company made £135m worth of sales, with the figure reaching £165m this year, a 22% rate of growth. “Not many retail companies are growing at that level,” he beams.

Mike says that the brand’s success is due to his team’s unique entrepreneurial trading style. “We can move quickly and take advantage of key trends,” he says, the main one being the digital switchover.

Last year, the company made £135m worth of sales

It will mean TV sets in every room of every home will have access to Ideal World TV. “We’re good at getting people to buy once they’ve watched us, because we show the value of a product. And customers get to know our presenters’ personalities and trust them, and they remain loyal,” Mike explains.

And although new entrants to the scene are always ones to watch, Mike is not fazed. Argos started its TV channel in June last year, but the impact on Mike’s brand has been positive. “Our sales increased,” Mike reveals.

“Our problem was always that we were good at selling, but not so great at telling people about it. Argos is great at telling people about TV shopping, and has really raised awareness of it, which is good for us. The Argos channel is also close to ours, so when customers flick up they find us. Our range and prices are competitive so they tend to keep watching,” he adds.

For the rest of 2012, expansion is on the cards. This year, the company acquired the gift card website createtoday.com and is close to closing its second acquisition.

The company acquired the gift card website createtoday.com

Internationally, the company wants to replicate its business model in areas that heavily use broadband and where people buy with credit cards online, but where TV shopping is still a novelty. “We’re in research phase at the moment, we’re not sure exactly where we will choose, but we want to be operational by the end of the year,” Mike reveals.

Mobile commerce is another increasingly important area for the brand. “We released an app that enables users to broadcast the Ideal World TV channel directly to their smartphones and iPads. And they can buy directly from these devices. The number of people downloading this app is increasing.”

These are exciting times for Idea Shopping Direct… Stay tuned.

• 50% year on year growth
• Laura Tenison is business idol
• Social media “lot of focus and effort without much of a return”

The seven-figure turnover gift website, which is growing by over 50% year-on-year, was launched in 2007 by Jo McGivern, a former journalist and PR director.

“Jo was a mother of two at the time and wanted to start a business that could work around her family,” begins Natasha Cubitt, the company’s Managing Director.

Inspired by an article about the enormous profit Vogue magazine would stand to make if it sold the products endorsed on its pages, Jo began to put her business idea, involving trusted faces endorsing products, into action.

The website’s “panel” of experts review a long list of products and endorse those they feel passionately about. “There doesn’t have to be a consensus about a product, in fact, when there isn’t a consensus, it makes things more interesting,” explains Natasha.

This helps the brand stand out from the packed market place, as does the company’s stylised and editorial-based catalogue, which Natasha says makes them less anonymous and transforms the “dry experience of online retailing.”

Natasha joined The Handpicked Collection nine months after its launch, initially as maternity cover for Jo. “We got on so well that it made sense for me to stay,” she says.

Natasha joined The Handpicked Collection nine months after its launch

Neither Natasha nor Jo had any previous experience in the retail and mail order arena, Natasha’s background being in marketing.

“This has had its pitfalls,” she admits. “We hadn’t seen and done it all before, but it did mean we could bring freshness to the brand. We weren’t afraid to do things differently or exactly how we liked. So the lack of experience was also a big plus for us. And we’ve all been customers. We know how we like to be treated as customers, what works and what doesn’t,” she adds.

With over 60,000 existing customers, customer service is paramount to the brand. So the company uses the online feedback tool Feefo to monitor user experience. “It’s a great, transparent tool that provides concrete feedback, rather than us having to speculate about what people might want,” Natasha says.

Marketing is also important in helping to grow the customer base. The company’s catalogue will continue to be published and social media will be utilised.

“Using social media is tricky for businesses our size,” reveals Natasha. “It’s fun, but you have to put a lot of focus and effort into it without much of a return. We use Facebook and Twitter as a customer service tool, but we have to keep a handle on it.” The company is also building up a pin board on the social interest website Pinterest.

Eventually, the aim is to expand into new categories including food and weddings. And with business idols such as the proponent of female entrepreneurism Laura Tenison of JoJo Maman Bebe – who hails from the same part of south Wales as Natasha – the business is destined for a bright future.

The government has announced a temporary change to Sunday trading laws, allowing retailers to trade longer shopping hours during the eight week Olympic period. If this change were to be introduced permanently, what long term impact do you think it would have for online retail sales?

RESULTS

Multi-channel retailers
Rise in online sales 30%
Drop in online sales 30%
No change 40%

Online only retailers
Rise in online sales 0%
Drop in online sales 20%
No change 80%