Think of many of the UK’s leading retailers and the story behind their creation will be of one man and one shop.
But, in the arduous journey of business growth from corner shops to small chains and then into large multiples, that original entrepreneurial drive and spirit can often get lost.
Increasingly, retailers are waking up to the fact that an enterprise culture can thrive within even the most corporate of environments. National Enterprise Week, which starts next week, aims to fuel just that sort of attitude in industries throughout the UK.
National campaign group Make Your Mark has organised the week, which it says will involve significantly more retailers this year. The Make Your Mark in Retail offshoot has organised its own events within the week to allow the stores industry to show off its enterprise initiatives. Big-name participants include Argos, Asda, Ted Baker, John Lewis, Sainsbury’s, Superdrug and Harrods.
Make Your Mark head of retail campaign Vanessa Johnson believes that retailers are becoming increasingly aware of what enterprise action is and how it can benefit their businesses. “It’s about the capability of innovation, creativity and a can-do attitude. The ones who have that are the ones who are showing successful year-on-year figures,” she says.
A big theme of the week is to change the perception of networking from its stuffy old-boy image to an activity that can be youthful, fun and practical. Tesco plans to make a speed-networking event it piloted during Enterprise Week last year a regular event. Tesco personnel manager in resourcing Louise Woodley explains: “We adapted it around our careers programme. It’s very important that people understand what training and development routes there are.”
The event starts with a presentation and then people move around in groups talking to each other, before coming back into one big group to ask any further questions. The retailer aims to hold about 30 such events a year.
Tesco will celebrate Women’s Enterprise Day with a specially commissioned article in International Women’s Month magazine that will be delivered throughout the organisation. A leaflet profiling successful women who work at the retailer will also be distributed. Woodley says: “We already have a women’s network in place and are looking to highlight and then progress it further.”
Pets At Home is using the week to put a new spin on its suggestion scheme Think Tank. It will ask colleagues to provide suggestions on how to make each store a better place – such as arranging an event or sorting out the staff room – rather than looking at company-level proposals. Pets At Home HR director Ryan Cheyne says: “There are so many little nuggets of ideas floating out there – it’s a great way to add to the business.”
KEEP THE DREAM ALIVE
Dreams chief executive Mike Clare also believes that a retailer’s best ideas and that “entrepreneurial spirit” will come through engaging those staff on the frontline. The retailer is coinciding National Enterprise Week with the hard launch of its Money For Ideas suggestion scheme. Staff will be rewarded for coming up with ideas that make money, improve customer service or reduce wastage. Rewards vary from£50 to£500. The retailer expects to act on about 25 per cent of the ideas it receives.
“It’s all very well us in head office saying things, but it’s the people driving the vans and talking to the customers – it’s important to talk to them. They can see what is or isn’t logical,” says Clare.
Cheyne says Pets At Home is particularly keen to receive general feedback from the shopfloor as well as money-spinning ideas. It has started a focus group programme designed to provide a regular mechanism for face-to-face feedback. About every eight weeks a representative group is invited to discuss a particular issue. Last time, a group of deputy managers were asked along to discuss what the company should be doing about green issues and then feed back their conclusions to the retail operations director.
Clare believes that creating a network of “mini businesses” within the company will help to ensure that the business maintains its entrepreneurial spirit. “Each branch and region needs its own ethos. It creates lots of small groups passionate about the business. If you can give the mindset of ‘I can make a difference’ it’s hugely important,” he advises.
“Encourage people to think of it as their own unit. Always get them to think: ‘If it was your business, would you make that decision?’”
In a large organisation, maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit can be a huge task in itself. Think Tank has been in operation for a number of years but, according to Cheyne, it had “dried up a bit” before it relaunched 18 months ago.
“With any communication, you have to look at it regularly and make sure it is still working. You’ve got to constantly make sure its fresh and people know about it – it’s not just wallpaper,” he says.
Johnson agrees. “You can use the opportunity of Enterprise Week to highlight it, but it’s about how you sustain and embed it,” she says.
As an incentive, rewards of£100 are offered for exceptional ideas at Pets At Home. Those who provide good, solid suggestions that are likely to be implemented are awarded£25. So far,£16,000 has been paid out. All successful brainwaves are featured on the back page of the retailer’s monthly internal magazine. Cheyne says: “We were founded by an entrepreneur and that feeling is still around. It is important that people genuinely feel they can make a difference.”
The relaunch appears to have worked and the programme has become an established tradition within the business. A workforce of about 3,500 has provided 3,600 suggestions in the past 18 months. And Cheyne says that the retailer is definitely seeing tangible results.
The array of big-name retailers participating in National Enterprise Week demonstrates the importance that the sector attaches to entrepreneurialism. After all, whether it is a one-man operation or a large multinational, it is this culture that will help businesses survive and compete. But the trick in a large conglomerate is to maintain the momentum by making sure innovation is rewarded and kept visible to all.
For further information on how to get involved in this year’s National Enterprise Week, visit www.enterpriseweek.org/retail
NATIONAL ENTERPRISE WEEK: THE HIGHLIGHTS
Tuesday: Mentor me
Retailers are encouraged to use this day to pair up employees with a mentor who can help inspire them to make their mark in the workplace. “Imagine how priceless it would be for a fashion graduate in their final year, working on the shopfloor, to spend the day with the head of buying,” says Johnson.
Wednesday: Women in retail
In a recent survey of 66 retail companies in the UK, only three had female chief executives. Retail industry leaders want to make a change. To help start to remedy this, retailers are encouraged to organise their own events and highlight the opportunities for women in the sector.
Friday: The young retailer forum
This is an annual conference for young retailers designed to inspire the next generation of retailers. There will be talks from senior role models from the industry and retail surgeries throughout the day to help young people make their mark in retail.
Throughout the week: Make your mark at work
Employers are encouraged to develop an activity to facilitate communication between head office and stores. Suggestion schemes and networking gatherings all help highlight innovative ideas to help the business grow.
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