50 Colin Temple

When Schuh reported a sales lift of £12m to £146.4m in its full year to March 28 this year, it immediately pointed to its website as a driver of sales growth. It revamped its site in 2009 and said this led to an “impressive” increase in site visitors and customer conversions.

Temple, despite a portfolio of 57 shops, has succeeded by understanding the power of retail channels beyond bricks and mortar stores. This is not something he always had faith in; 10 years ago, he was sceptical anyone could sell shoes online.

So adamant was he that the retailer’s first move online would not work he took complete control of the operation himself refusing to hire anyone. After spending every morning having to pack and send out boxes upon boxes of shoes himself he had to admit he was wrong.

Schuh now not only sells millions of shoes online through its site but also through channels such as eBay where it was one of the first larger retailers to set up a successful store selling overstock.