May 16, 2025 • 22 mins
In this episode of Five Things Friday, Alex and Laura break down the strategies, trends, and tensions shaping the retail landscape.
Fresh from the World Retail Congress in London, Alex shares how Morrisons is rebuilding trust with a simple but powerful 5-5-5 framework. Laura brings sharp insights from Australia, highlighting Shein’s explosive $12B sales surge and what it means for domestic retailers.
They also explore:
The overlooked role of inclusive leadership and how gender conversations need a reset
Why marketplaces like Amazon are reshaping luxury commerce
How brands can stay relevant in an era of shifting customer loyalty
The impact of tariff changes and cost-of-living pressure on global expansion strategies
Whether you’re a CEO, operator, strategist, or startup founder — this episode delivers the frontline signals you need to make better decisions.
🎙️ Hosted by: Alex from The Retail Podcast
🎧 Guest Co-Host: Laura, Tech Advisor for mid-market and enterprise brands in Australia
Morrisons, Shein, Amazon, Retail Strategy, World Retail Congress, Ecommerce Trends, Marketplaces, Gender in Leadership, Inclusive Leadership, Cost of Living, Retail Podcast, Digital Commerce, Australia Retail, UK Retail, Five Things Friday
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome back to Five Things Friday.
Now, Laura and I again, actuallylet's do an introduction because
you may have not watched last week, you may have never watched
the retail podcast. You're thinking, who is this
person and who is Laura? So I'm Alex, I'm from the retail
podcast. Hi, I'm Laura, I'm a Scottish
(00:20):
lassie and I am based out in Australia and I'm a technology
advisor to mid market and enterprise brands.
What we're going to do is look at 5 things that we have
experienced or a top of our minds over the last five days.
I've been in the UK, in London, at the World Retail Congress.
(00:40):
If you don't know the World Retail Congress, it's where CEOs
go to learn. So it's an incredibly, you know,
sort of boutique conference. It was in London's Park Lane, so
very exclusive. It's full board members, it's 4
CEOs and it's, you know, CEOs present and it's CEOs across the
world. And every year it's in a
(01:02):
different location. So I think it's like it's been
Madrid, Rome, Paris and London. And next week, next year we'll
be in Berlin. But let me get into what was
really interesting. So one of the CEOs that was I
thought, you know, he, he, I think he was, he was the closing
talk on on the last day and, youknow, tough gig because a bunch
(01:25):
of executives all that they all want to get back out, check
their emails. So I think, I think it was a
difficult slot to fill. But he did a great job and you
know, he is now the CEO of Morrisons, which was a
struggling UK supermarket grocer, but he's ex CEO of
Carrefour, which is a massive European and Latam grocer.
(01:50):
So they're, they're, you know, 5billion, I think Mark Caple or
more really big. But the reason I, I've, I've
gone with him, he spoke about something called, so basically,
you know, whatever sport, football or Aussie rules
football, UK football, American football, he's the guy that
comes in when you're not performing, when, when your
team's like at the bottom of the, of the, of the division and
(02:12):
they need to go up. Apparently he's, he's the guy
you call. And the reason you call him is
that he has a strategy called and I don't know if he created
it, but he created it when as indid, I don't know McKinsey or
BCG or someone come in and give it to him.
But anyway, he's claiming this as his own.
(02:33):
And it's the 555 principle, which is focused on three
pillars, trust, service and experience or, you know,
shopping experience. And you know why 5 Because, and
he said this, he wants him, his executives, his shop floor, his
headquarter head head office staff, to be able to put one
(02:55):
arm, one hand up and say, you know, the top five things that
they're focused on at any one time.
And I'll just quickly run through the, you know, within
that what they are. So for example, how do you
create trust? He's always about, you know, it
has to the price has to be clearand accurate in in the fruit
(03:17):
aisles. The vegetables always have to be
fresh and you know, have flavour, which which is crazy
that we're saying that. But anyway, not all, not all
fruit and vegetable, it's fresh and tasty private label, right,
has to be showcased as best in the market rather than as cheap
alternatives or cheap basics, right.
(03:37):
So there's all that premium, youknow, whether you call it
premiumisation promotions have to be clear so they don't run
out of stock. e-commerce deliveries have to be pick up.
So well, you have to have e-commerce deliveries, which I
think most grocers do now. And pickups are quick, are quick
and complete. I'm not going to do that.
(03:57):
Was that was on trust. I mean, you can sort, I think
you can Google it in terms of the five elements for trust,
service and shopping experience.But from all early indications,
it's working for Morrisons. Is it a turn around?
I think it's too, too quick to to call it.
But I just thought really interesting.
(04:18):
I actually saw him twice. He's he's because he's French.
I also saw him speaking at the French embassy at NRF.
And you know, I, I just, you know, it, it feels like he's
Aceo going places. And I really love this sort of
really simple methodology of 555and it seems to have worked at 2
grocers. The other one that was
(04:39):
interesting was a sort of panel conversation that foreign
intense purposes had some seniorpeople in there about the, you
know, the, the, the big thing, you know, why inclusive
leadership matters because with everything that, let's be
honest, all the politics that's happening in the US, are we
(05:02):
drifting back to an agenda that was very alienating and
isolating. But it feels like, especially in
the UK, the retailers are saying, hey, and I think this
was part of the 555 actually. Oh, no, no, no, it wasn't.
They, you have to have the representative and it's really
(05:22):
simple, but you have to have a representative of your customer
base within your board or withinyour chief exec group.
And you know, whether or not that's true or not, because
still something like 80% of women's clothes are made by men
or are made by businesses that have male orientated boardrooms
(05:48):
making decisions on what's best for, you know, the whole
inclusive realm. I thought was an interesting
article and you know, when I, I did my write up on it, it did
it, it got quite a good, it was quite well received.
And then, and then I've put all of the like, you know, there's
like all of the takeaways that are in there.
(06:10):
How many were there? I mean, it was a cracking old
talk. There was 15 points that I took
away in terms of, you know, and you know, data should inform,
not define talent strategy. But the best 1 I loved was the
fact that, you know, a lot of board room decisions or when
they're thinking about who we'regoing to recruit into senior
(06:33):
positions, they're looking at experience rather than potential
in, in the majority of cases, not all cases, but in the
majority of cases. And so, you know, you really
need to look at people's potential.
And then the one thing that I think I probably suffered
through my whole career because I did it so, so poorly, it's
(06:54):
meant it is getting a sponsor right, Getting someone in the
business who can sponsor you whoI, I just was really naive to
that because no one had ever told me right?
And so I can imagine and, and all of them were sort of
agreeing, you need someone in your business.
Actually, once someone said to me, you need two people from 2
(07:16):
parts of the business who will fight your corner when senior
directors are making or businessleaders are making decisions on
who's going to lead the business.
And so anyway, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm one for empowerment and, and
equality across all groups, not just gender, but the one reason
(07:37):
why gender comes in. Let's get one thing right and
then worry about getting, you know, like if they're still, you
know, one in 10 recruits in the UK were met, sorry, were female.
We still need to get to parity, then look at how we create.
So that that was for me really interesting.
And then I guess the last sorry,go on.
(08:00):
You know, you know, you know, Alex, on that point, right?
Like, I feel like a big part of the problem is for the last few
years when we've been talking about gender, we've kind of
isolated it away from men. And it should have been a joint
conversation, you know, And I dofeel like recently I have seen a
wee bit of a, a pull back to quite obvious, like male panels
(08:25):
or male startups that are just in like, you know, I would
rather see the truth than have some women plotted in there as
plants and fake. I want to know the truth.
I don't want as in a picture just to, you know, look like
it's real. But I do think that the
conversation to go forward has to be men and women together.
(08:46):
And like what you said, there's lots of ways inclusivity, but I
think this is the main one we have to tackle first, right?
Like then everything else can, will, will, will come.
Good. So yeah, no, I really obviously
I'm a female. I love that to hear.
Yeah, the men. You don't have.
Conversations. Because I've spent so much time
interviewing female leaders and asking them what advice would
(09:11):
you give yourself when you're younger?
And most of them say, I wish I had a voice earlier on in my
life. I wish I didn't listen to the
voice in my head that kept telling me that I didn't have
permission to speak in meetings.And then I, and I said, I find
it really difficult as a bloke because, you know, you don't
(09:33):
want to be seen as pandering, like, oh, you poor thing.
But ultimately you're well awarethat there's a disparity, right?
So you're aware that there's something not right.
But you're like, how do you likesensitively approach the subject
without being patronising or, and, and, and the thing that I
think most men are really, I think the younger generation
(09:56):
rather than my generation. Is it mansplaining?
Is that is that the term? Am I mansplaining?
Right? And I'm like, oh, man,
seriously. They've even created a word for
when men are sort of like, you know, talk down to women.
And I was like, ah, OK, all right, I can't fix it.
But I can definitely say, hey, look, it's not right when it is
(10:19):
like all things. I want a world that, you know,
is good for my kids. And anyway, it was a really good
talk and I, and I felt, as you said, it was, it wasn't, thank
God, it wasn't five men talking about diversity, right?
Or, or it wasn't like a really aclosed group.
(10:42):
It was an, it was like the, the female leaders, all of them
thing. And, and it's something that
also, you know, women very rarely support each other in
business as well. And so that's another thing.
But anyway, I don't want to focus on that too much as in I
think the other two things we are like a week or two weeks
(11:04):
away from shop talk. I just interviewed Ben Miller
who's head of content and he, soI'll hopefully get that out
there. And it was really good shop
talk. You're lined up to be a
phenomenal talk. If you go, there is a CDO from
(11:27):
LVMH and I forget the lady's name, she is awesome.
She will for me. I mean that will be the
highlight keynote because I saw her at Web Summit and she was
phenomenal. So if you're at Shop Talk
Europe, make sure you go to thattalk.
It was phenomenal. And then I will be at at Shop
Talk for a day. And then I will also be at NRF
(11:49):
Asia with our good friend Reef. Again, if there's one talk you
go to, it's got to be the one that I'm hosting with the CEO or
family. Ma.
Oh my God, what an incredible man.
But anyway, Laura, why don't youtake us through your top 2?
OK, cool. So the first thing I'm going to
talk about is Sheen. A couple of weeks ago, I was
(12:12):
reading the Australian FinancialReport review, Australian
Financial Review and it reportedthat Sheen has clocked about 12
billion and Aussie sales in the last year.
So that was up to December 2024 is up significantly on the year
before, up by like 980 million on the year prior.
(12:36):
So and they only entered this market in 2022.
Need to put that in context because I know a lot of people
may be listening or from the UK and the US.
So we've got about 28 million people population in Australia.
We have the group called the Accent Group.
So they have multiple brands in their portfolio.
They have about 900 stores across Australia and they've
(12:58):
been around for a long, long time.
Their their brands and their sales are sitting at 1.6
billion. So you've got someone like Sheen
who's in what three years that are that are Pureplay and
they're doing 1.2 billion. So it's it's pretty crazy.
And listen, it touches on a few points, right?
(13:18):
Like someone I posted about thisand someone called it digital
hypnosis. You could call it the, you know,
the they're really mastering that demand.
They're definitely putting us lot of money into the sponsored
ads on Google. They're everywhere and they're
building aggressively building out that influencer strategy.
But I think for me in in this market, we've made a wee bitty
(13:40):
noise. And I know there's definitely
some retail bodies quite concerned about it.
But as and the most recent what Trump has done on the tariffs,
the de minimis was at $800, right?
So you didn't, you didn't reallypay anything when it was if it
was under $800, you were hey. Is dividend anonymous on tariff?
Is that is that OK? Is that like the proper way of
(14:04):
steering? Tariffs, yeah.
Like it's like, well, you're notgoing to pay, you didn't pay
anything right on that product if it was under $800.
They've. So basically if you were selling
to the US, you could do it and unless it's high luxury, you
didn't have to have that, that tax, you weren't hitting that
tax threshold. Now they've reduced that to 0,
(14:25):
right? Which basically means even if
you sell some $30 into the US, you're going to get hit with,
you have to make a payment, right?
So the challenge is, is now the likes of she, Sheen and Timo are
going to focus on other markets,right?
So little old Australia is probably going to get targeted
(14:46):
right more aggressively from these these kind of, you know,
massive, you know, dominant forces of machines and the team
you. So yeah, I think it's just
something that as it's almost like watch what customers do not
what they say has been a lot of noise from the past before this
(15:09):
report was announced that, you know, our customers want more
quality. You know, they're going to
support their Australian brands.It's not really true whether
that be cost a lesson. They're doing this for them.
And you know, and and with respect to that, there's a lot
of like, you know, we're in a cost of living crisis, right?
Like it's very expensive out here for a home and you know, it
(15:33):
it it's a challenge. So but but it's it's very much
happening. And when you could just put it
on the comparison of that big accent group, it's pretty
significant. So that is the first one
probably touches on a little bitof a point of that loyalty,
right. Loyalty as loyalty is really not
(15:54):
real. Loyalty's changed and you have
to give the customer what they want.
So they're definitely bringing that experience.
They're bringing that gamification.
And yeah, like that's how they're building that, that
loyalty. And the customer demographic is
so crazily skewed. This is, this is getting, you
know, you're getting the boomers, you're getting them
(16:15):
millennials and you're getting the young, the young.
And so, yeah, Sheen, first one, I think we're going to, I think
it's just the way they can do things, the speed to market, the
way they can innovate is just second to none, right?
It's it's, it's significant in three years, what they've done.
The other one is actually a little bit, it's actually
(16:35):
marketplaces my second one. So when I talk to when I work
with a lot of retailers, talk tosome boards, everyone's looking
at growth strategies and it's almost like I came from eBay,
eBay sponsored me to come over to Australia.
I've got, I know marketplaces pretty well.
(16:57):
So when I hear this, I kind of go, oh, what aren't we there
yet? But I think it's really
interesting that yeah, I think marketplaces are where the
customer is at. Not all places are equal.
We all know that there was a surgeons of everyone was a
marketplace doesn't work. I think the main one being let's
talk about Amazon massive. I think the the last thing I
(17:20):
heard, which is probably hopefully not more than this,
but it was like $0.60 to the dollar and online sales were
spent via Amazon in the US Crazy.
So if you're really looking for demand creation, you've got to
go where the customers are and they're on Amazon.
So locally I definitely see locally and globally, Amazon's
(17:42):
definitely back on the table as a growth, a strategy one for
getting going to the USA like you know, getting into the
American market, using a partnerto get there.
And locally as well, if they're not on it, they should be as the
highest, you know, the traffic is the highest to it's stealth
in Australia. It's been a lot.
(18:03):
It's took a lot longer to get where they're at.
Still got a way to go. So they've been a bit of a
creeper, but they're the number one trafficked commerce site
markets. I mean, what, what, what's
really interesting, I, I was, I was listening to the, the, the
CEO of Sachs of 5th, which is like Neiman Marcus, Barney's,
(18:26):
it's like a whole bunch of department stores in the US that
have just all come together and their joint venture is them
Amazon and Salesforce in luxury,where it's exactly what, what
you're saying in, in the, in thesense that everyone complained
and it's so funny, these CEOs, they were going, we know that,
(18:46):
you know, Amazon, I was like, really, Amazon's going to be the
place where you go to buy luxury.
And I was like, well anyway, butwhat was interesting.
No, it like I've seen what they were they're doing right.
So they've they've tried to break luxury for a while and now
they're going back again to do it and there'd be more.
There's definitely determined. I think it's like I even seen
(19:09):
another one, someone posted about a bike brand called Canyon
that sells $3000 bikes and they've got a storefront.
And the conversation was interesting.
Like some people were going, oh,it'll be brand damaging.
And you're like, well, they're holding tight on the price
point, right? The eyeballs are there and
(19:29):
you're giving them choice. If they want to buy through
Amazon, if people like and they like Prime and they like to use
it, let them do it. If they come to your website and
you offer a different service and they're, you know, and they
want to come there, you, you will acquire customers that way
too. But it's well, they are.
It's weird. I've been thinking about this
for a while and then in the lastweek I noticed the sax play.
(19:51):
So they're trying to go more luxury and as well, I think the
difference is this time they're trying to not be a discount
luxury retailer. They're trying, you know,
they're all so they could arguably be seen to be
supporting businesses. But again.
They're a frenemy. You need a strategy.
You need to know when a you knowwhat's that song?
(20:13):
You got to know when to hold them, know when to roll them and
you walk away, know when to run as you cannot go in blind to,
but you could argue and put. You down as a country music
lover, Kelly? Rogers You could argue that
there's no not much difference between a marketplace to TikTok
and Instagram now, right? They're all.
(20:34):
They're all. Yeah, it's your social, it was
part of your social strategy, right.
So if you've got a social strategy, what what is that
marketplace? I mean, just going back to the
sax thing, Amazon is saying, oh,sorry, sax are saying that they
will wall off the sax environment within the Amazon
world. So you're getting this truly
(20:55):
exclusive Amazon where you're not going to get all of these
other products coming into your feed.
It is just the SAX feed, but youknow, fulfilled by Amazon, which
I was like, OK, all right, let'ssee, is this a Shopify?
Are they are they creating now shop windows into walled areas?
(21:17):
Sales and average partnership, yeah, as well.
Yeah. Like there's definitely
something in it like I think eBay when I was there what 15
years ago tried to break into fashion.
They all want to win in this fashion.
And this is now going to be probably third time round.
And you know, I think the it's just finding the right approach
(21:41):
to it, right? But but the customers you need,
what do we say? Like we talk about that Omni
channel strategy is be where thecustomers at on Amazon, where do
you like it or not? Was there anything that you
wanted? I know we've done our top five.
Is there anything you wanted to add as it like the icky 5th?
(22:01):
No, I think that is that says done 5 and this calls 5 things
Friday, so I'll hold my other one.
Next week.
Hello and welcome back to Five Things Friday.
Now, Laura and I again, actuallylet's do an introduction because
you may have not watched last week, you may have never watched
the retail podcast. You're thinking, who is this
person and who is Laura? So I'm Alex, I'm from the retail
podcast. Hi, I'm Laura, I'm a Scottish
(00:20):
lassie and I am based out in Australia and I'm a technology
advisor to mid market and enterprise brands.
What we're going to do is look at 5 things that we have
experienced or a top of our minds over the last five days.
I've been in the UK, in London, at the World Retail Congress.
(00:40):
If you don't know the World Retail Congress, it's where CEOs
go to learn. So it's an incredibly, you know,
sort of boutique conference. It was in London's Park Lane, so
very exclusive. It's full board members, it's 4
CEOs and it's, you know, CEOs present and it's CEOs across the
world. And every year it's in a
(01:02):
different location. So I think it's like it's been
Madrid, Rome, Paris and London. And next week, next year we'll
be in Berlin. But let me get into what was
really interesting. So one of the CEOs that was I
thought, you know, he, he, I think he was, he was the closing
talk on on the last day and, youknow, tough gig because a bunch
(01:25):
of executives all that they all want to get back out, check
their emails. So I think, I think it was a
difficult slot to fill. But he did a great job and you
know, he is now the CEO of Morrisons, which was a
struggling UK supermarket grocer, but he's ex CEO of
Carrefour, which is a massive European and Latam grocer.
(01:50):
So they're, they're, you know, 5billion, I think Mark Caple or
more really big. But the reason I, I've, I've
gone with him, he spoke about something called, so basically,
you know, whatever sport, football or Aussie rules
football, UK football, American football, he's the guy that
comes in when you're not performing, when, when your
team's like at the bottom of the, of the, of the division and
(02:12):
they need to go up. Apparently he's, he's the guy
you call. And the reason you call him is
that he has a strategy called and I don't know if he created
it, but he created it when as indid, I don't know McKinsey or
BCG or someone come in and give it to him.
But anyway, he's claiming this as his own.
(02:33):
And it's the 555 principle, which is focused on three
pillars, trust, service and experience or, you know,
shopping experience. And you know why 5 Because, and
he said this, he wants him, his executives, his shop floor, his
headquarter head head office staff, to be able to put one
(02:55):
arm, one hand up and say, you know, the top five things that
they're focused on at any one time.
And I'll just quickly run through the, you know, within
that what they are. So for example, how do you
create trust? He's always about, you know, it
has to the price has to be clearand accurate in in the fruit
(03:17):
aisles. The vegetables always have to be
fresh and you know, have flavour, which which is crazy
that we're saying that. But anyway, not all, not all
fruit and vegetable, it's fresh and tasty private label, right,
has to be showcased as best in the market rather than as cheap
alternatives or cheap basics, right.
(03:37):
So there's all that premium, youknow, whether you call it
premiumisation promotions have to be clear so they don't run
out of stock. e-commerce deliveries have to be pick up.
So well, you have to have e-commerce deliveries, which I
think most grocers do now. And pickups are quick, are quick
and complete. I'm not going to do that.
(03:57):
Was that was on trust. I mean, you can sort, I think
you can Google it in terms of the five elements for trust,
service and shopping experience.But from all early indications,
it's working for Morrisons. Is it a turn around?
I think it's too, too quick to to call it.
But I just thought really interesting.
(04:18):
I actually saw him twice. He's he's because he's French.
I also saw him speaking at the French embassy at NRF.
And you know, I, I just, you know, it, it feels like he's
Aceo going places. And I really love this sort of
really simple methodology of 555and it seems to have worked at 2
grocers. The other one that was
(04:39):
interesting was a sort of panel conversation that foreign
intense purposes had some seniorpeople in there about the, you
know, the, the, the big thing, you know, why inclusive
leadership matters because with everything that, let's be
honest, all the politics that's happening in the US, are we
(05:02):
drifting back to an agenda that was very alienating and
isolating. But it feels like, especially in
the UK, the retailers are saying, hey, and I think this
was part of the 555 actually. Oh, no, no, no, it wasn't.
They, you have to have the representative and it's really
(05:22):
simple, but you have to have a representative of your customer
base within your board or withinyour chief exec group.
And you know, whether or not that's true or not, because
still something like 80% of women's clothes are made by men
or are made by businesses that have male orientated boardrooms
(05:48):
making decisions on what's best for, you know, the whole
inclusive realm. I thought was an interesting
article and you know, when I, I did my write up on it, it did
it, it got quite a good, it was quite well received.
And then, and then I've put all of the like, you know, there's
like all of the takeaways that are in there.
(06:10):
How many were there? I mean, it was a cracking old
talk. There was 15 points that I took
away in terms of, you know, and you know, data should inform,
not define talent strategy. But the best 1 I loved was the
fact that, you know, a lot of board room decisions or when
they're thinking about who we'regoing to recruit into senior
(06:33):
positions, they're looking at experience rather than potential
in, in the majority of cases, not all cases, but in the
majority of cases. And so, you know, you really
need to look at people's potential.
And then the one thing that I think I probably suffered
through my whole career because I did it so, so poorly, it's
(06:54):
meant it is getting a sponsor right, Getting someone in the
business who can sponsor you whoI, I just was really naive to
that because no one had ever told me right?
And so I can imagine and, and all of them were sort of
agreeing, you need someone in your business.
Actually, once someone said to me, you need two people from 2
(07:16):
parts of the business who will fight your corner when senior
directors are making or businessleaders are making decisions on
who's going to lead the business.
And so anyway, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm one for empowerment and, and
equality across all groups, not just gender, but the one reason
(07:37):
why gender comes in. Let's get one thing right and
then worry about getting, you know, like if they're still, you
know, one in 10 recruits in the UK were met, sorry, were female.
We still need to get to parity, then look at how we create.
So that that was for me really interesting.
And then I guess the last sorry,go on.
(08:00):
You know, you know, you know, Alex, on that point, right?
Like, I feel like a big part of the problem is for the last few
years when we've been talking about gender, we've kind of
isolated it away from men. And it should have been a joint
conversation, you know, And I dofeel like recently I have seen a
wee bit of a, a pull back to quite obvious, like male panels
(08:25):
or male startups that are just in like, you know, I would
rather see the truth than have some women plotted in there as
plants and fake. I want to know the truth.
I don't want as in a picture just to, you know, look like
it's real. But I do think that the
conversation to go forward has to be men and women together.
(08:46):
And like what you said, there's lots of ways inclusivity, but I
think this is the main one we have to tackle first, right?
Like then everything else can, will, will, will come.
Good. So yeah, no, I really obviously
I'm a female. I love that to hear.
Yeah, the men. You don't have.
Conversations. Because I've spent so much time
interviewing female leaders and asking them what advice would
(09:11):
you give yourself when you're younger?
And most of them say, I wish I had a voice earlier on in my
life. I wish I didn't listen to the
voice in my head that kept telling me that I didn't have
permission to speak in meetings.And then I, and I said, I find
it really difficult as a bloke because, you know, you don't
(09:33):
want to be seen as pandering, like, oh, you poor thing.
But ultimately you're well awarethat there's a disparity, right?
So you're aware that there's something not right.
But you're like, how do you likesensitively approach the subject
without being patronising or, and, and, and the thing that I
think most men are really, I think the younger generation
(09:56):
rather than my generation. Is it mansplaining?
Is that is that the term? Am I mansplaining?
Right? And I'm like, oh, man,
seriously. They've even created a word for
when men are sort of like, you know, talk down to women.
And I was like, ah, OK, all right, I can't fix it.
But I can definitely say, hey, look, it's not right when it is
(10:19):
like all things. I want a world that, you know,
is good for my kids. And anyway, it was a really good
talk and I, and I felt, as you said, it was, it wasn't, thank
God, it wasn't five men talking about diversity, right?
Or, or it wasn't like a really aclosed group.
(10:42):
It was an, it was like the, the female leaders, all of them
thing. And, and it's something that
also, you know, women very rarely support each other in
business as well. And so that's another thing.
But anyway, I don't want to focus on that too much as in I
think the other two things we are like a week or two weeks
(11:04):
away from shop talk. I just interviewed Ben Miller
who's head of content and he, soI'll hopefully get that out
there. And it was really good shop
talk. You're lined up to be a
phenomenal talk. If you go, there is a CDO from
(11:27):
LVMH and I forget the lady's name, she is awesome.
She will for me. I mean that will be the
highlight keynote because I saw her at Web Summit and she was
phenomenal. So if you're at Shop Talk
Europe, make sure you go to thattalk.
It was phenomenal. And then I will be at at Shop
Talk for a day. And then I will also be at NRF
(11:49):
Asia with our good friend Reef. Again, if there's one talk you
go to, it's got to be the one that I'm hosting with the CEO or
family. Ma.
Oh my God, what an incredible man.
But anyway, Laura, why don't youtake us through your top 2?
OK, cool. So the first thing I'm going to
talk about is Sheen. A couple of weeks ago, I was
(12:12):
reading the Australian FinancialReport review, Australian
Financial Review and it reportedthat Sheen has clocked about 12
billion and Aussie sales in the last year.
So that was up to December 2024 is up significantly on the year
before, up by like 980 million on the year prior.
(12:36):
So and they only entered this market in 2022.
Need to put that in context because I know a lot of people
may be listening or from the UK and the US.
So we've got about 28 million people population in Australia.
We have the group called the Accent Group.
So they have multiple brands in their portfolio.
They have about 900 stores across Australia and they've
(12:58):
been around for a long, long time.
Their their brands and their sales are sitting at 1.6
billion. So you've got someone like Sheen
who's in what three years that are that are Pureplay and
they're doing 1.2 billion. So it's it's pretty crazy.
And listen, it touches on a few points, right?
(13:18):
Like someone I posted about thisand someone called it digital
hypnosis. You could call it the, you know,
the they're really mastering that demand.
They're definitely putting us lot of money into the sponsored
ads on Google. They're everywhere and they're
building aggressively building out that influencer strategy.
But I think for me in in this market, we've made a wee bitty
(13:40):
noise. And I know there's definitely
some retail bodies quite concerned about it.
But as and the most recent what Trump has done on the tariffs,
the de minimis was at $800, right?
So you didn't, you didn't reallypay anything when it was if it
was under $800, you were hey. Is dividend anonymous on tariff?
Is that is that OK? Is that like the proper way of
(14:04):
steering? Tariffs, yeah.
Like it's like, well, you're notgoing to pay, you didn't pay
anything right on that product if it was under $800.
They've. So basically if you were selling
to the US, you could do it and unless it's high luxury, you
didn't have to have that, that tax, you weren't hitting that
tax threshold. Now they've reduced that to 0,
(14:25):
right? Which basically means even if
you sell some $30 into the US, you're going to get hit with,
you have to make a payment, right?
So the challenge is, is now the likes of she, Sheen and Timo are
going to focus on other markets,right?
So little old Australia is probably going to get targeted
(14:46):
right more aggressively from these these kind of, you know,
massive, you know, dominant forces of machines and the team
you. So yeah, I think it's just
something that as it's almost like watch what customers do not
what they say has been a lot of noise from the past before this
(15:09):
report was announced that, you know, our customers want more
quality. You know, they're going to
support their Australian brands.It's not really true whether
that be cost a lesson. They're doing this for them.
And you know, and and with respect to that, there's a lot
of like, you know, we're in a cost of living crisis, right?
Like it's very expensive out here for a home and you know, it
(15:33):
it it's a challenge. So but but it's it's very much
happening. And when you could just put it
on the comparison of that big accent group, it's pretty
significant. So that is the first one
probably touches on a little bitof a point of that loyalty,
right. Loyalty as loyalty is really not
(15:54):
real. Loyalty's changed and you have
to give the customer what they want.
So they're definitely bringing that experience.
They're bringing that gamification.
And yeah, like that's how they're building that, that
loyalty. And the customer demographic is
so crazily skewed. This is, this is getting, you
know, you're getting the boomers, you're getting them
(16:15):
millennials and you're getting the young, the young.
And so, yeah, Sheen, first one, I think we're going to, I think
it's just the way they can do things, the speed to market, the
way they can innovate is just second to none, right?
It's it's, it's significant in three years, what they've done.
The other one is actually a little bit, it's actually
(16:35):
marketplaces my second one. So when I talk to when I work
with a lot of retailers, talk tosome boards, everyone's looking
at growth strategies and it's almost like I came from eBay,
eBay sponsored me to come over to Australia.
I've got, I know marketplaces pretty well.
(16:57):
So when I hear this, I kind of go, oh, what aren't we there
yet? But I think it's really
interesting that yeah, I think marketplaces are where the
customer is at. Not all places are equal.
We all know that there was a surgeons of everyone was a
marketplace doesn't work. I think the main one being let's
talk about Amazon massive. I think the the last thing I
(17:20):
heard, which is probably hopefully not more than this,
but it was like $0.60 to the dollar and online sales were
spent via Amazon in the US Crazy.
So if you're really looking for demand creation, you've got to
go where the customers are and they're on Amazon.
So locally I definitely see locally and globally, Amazon's
(17:42):
definitely back on the table as a growth, a strategy one for
getting going to the USA like you know, getting into the
American market, using a partnerto get there.
And locally as well, if they're not on it, they should be as the
highest, you know, the traffic is the highest to it's stealth
in Australia. It's been a lot.
(18:03):
It's took a lot longer to get where they're at.
Still got a way to go. So they've been a bit of a
creeper, but they're the number one trafficked commerce site
markets. I mean, what, what, what's
really interesting, I, I was, I was listening to the, the, the
CEO of Sachs of 5th, which is like Neiman Marcus, Barney's,
(18:26):
it's like a whole bunch of department stores in the US that
have just all come together and their joint venture is them
Amazon and Salesforce in luxury,where it's exactly what, what
you're saying in, in the, in thesense that everyone complained
and it's so funny, these CEOs, they were going, we know that,
(18:46):
you know, Amazon, I was like, really, Amazon's going to be the
place where you go to buy luxury.
And I was like, well anyway, butwhat was interesting.
No, it like I've seen what they were they're doing right.
So they've they've tried to break luxury for a while and now
they're going back again to do it and there'd be more.
There's definitely determined. I think it's like I even seen
(19:09):
another one, someone posted about a bike brand called Canyon
that sells $3000 bikes and they've got a storefront.
And the conversation was interesting.
Like some people were going, oh,it'll be brand damaging.
And you're like, well, they're holding tight on the price
point, right? The eyeballs are there and
(19:29):
you're giving them choice. If they want to buy through
Amazon, if people like and they like Prime and they like to use
it, let them do it. If they come to your website and
you offer a different service and they're, you know, and they
want to come there, you, you will acquire customers that way
too. But it's well, they are.
It's weird. I've been thinking about this
for a while and then in the lastweek I noticed the sax play.
(19:51):
So they're trying to go more luxury and as well, I think the
difference is this time they're trying to not be a discount
luxury retailer. They're trying, you know,
they're all so they could arguably be seen to be
supporting businesses. But again.
They're a frenemy. You need a strategy.
You need to know when a you knowwhat's that song?
(20:13):
You got to know when to hold them, know when to roll them and
you walk away, know when to run as you cannot go in blind to,
but you could argue and put. You down as a country music
lover, Kelly? Rogers You could argue that
there's no not much difference between a marketplace to TikTok
and Instagram now, right? They're all.
(20:34):
They're all. Yeah, it's your social, it was
part of your social strategy, right.
So if you've got a social strategy, what what is that
marketplace? I mean, just going back to the
sax thing, Amazon is saying, oh,sorry, sax are saying that they
will wall off the sax environment within the Amazon
world. So you're getting this truly
(20:55):
exclusive Amazon where you're not going to get all of these
other products coming into your feed.
It is just the SAX feed, but youknow, fulfilled by Amazon, which
I was like, OK, all right, let'ssee, is this a Shopify?
Are they are they creating now shop windows into walled areas?
(21:17):
Sales and average partnership, yeah, as well.
Yeah. Like there's definitely
something in it like I think eBay when I was there what 15
years ago tried to break into fashion.
They all want to win in this fashion.
And this is now going to be probably third time round.
And you know, I think the it's just finding the right approach
(21:41):
to it, right? But but the customers you need,
what do we say? Like we talk about that Omni
channel strategy is be where thecustomers at on Amazon, where do
you like it or not? Was there anything that you
wanted? I know we've done our top five.
Is there anything you wanted to add as it like the icky 5th?
(22:01):
No, I think that is that says done 5 and this calls 5 things
Friday, so I'll hold my other one.
Next week.
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