Nick Glynne

What was your first job in retailing?

I set up a stack ’em high store for my father’s men’s clothing factory in the northern mining town of Castleford.

Which retail company do you admire most and why?

Mamas & Papas for successfully making the transition from wholesaler and manufacturer to retailer.

Who have you learnt most from in your retail career?

My commercial director Andy Field, who taught me that ideas are cheap and numbers are everything.

What advice would you give someone starting out in retail?

If you don’t have massive drive and an almost obsessive eye for detail, forget it.

What keeps you awake at night?

Hoping that I didn’t leave it too late to realise that etailing is not as fundamentally different to retailing as I once thought.

What’s the most satisfying part of your job?

Buying an underperforming business and turning it around. In 2008 I bought a failed kitchen appliance retailer out of administration and now AppliancesDirect has grown by more than 300% and is one of our most successful brands.

What’s your proudest achievement?

Changing my company from a discount etailer with little credibility into a customer-focused online retailer.

What is the trait you least like in yourself and why?

I still chase too many new ideas rather than perfecting what is already there.

What job would you have done if you hadn’t become a retailer?

I would have stayed in my career as a documentary film-maker.

What’s your favourite shop and why?

Amazon because it perfected first-generation, long-tail etailing.

What was your last purchase?

Mystery shopping for a baby walker on our new brand Bambinodirect.co.uk.