Interview: Meet ex-Superdry exec Chris Griffin who is building an off-price retail empire

Former Superdry ecommerce boss Chris Griffin has had a busy time since leaving the fast fashion retailer in 2014.

He, and ex-eBay exec Matt Purt, have built and subsequently sold supply chain tech provider Anatwine to German etail giant Zalando. The pair have now partnered again to create Lifestyle Retail Group (LRG) - and their plan is to shake up the world of off-price retail.

Griffin and Purt have partnered with private equity firm Big Ideas Group to buy a majority stake in Secret Sales under their newly formed company.

As part of the deal, Secret Sales founders and former owners Nish and Sach Kukadia will maintain a minority stake in the company and take a place on the LRG board.

LRG is now in acquisition discussions with other retailers and brands within the off-price sector as it seeks to build a business focused on optimising the supply chain through clearing stock.

Griffin tells Retail Week the idea came from their time running Anatwine, which provided a supply chain solution to optimise full price inventory sales between brands and retailers.

“We had 65-70 of the world’s top 100 fashion and apparel brands as clients and everyone of them had spoken to me at some point or another about working with us on an off-price basis to clear excess inventory,” says Griffin. “When I sold Anatwine I knew immediately what I wanted to do.”

Griffin says after the sale he travelled across Europe, US, China and India to speak to off-price inventory experts to determine whether to start his own company from scratch or to build a business through acquisition.

After deciding to acquire a European-based off-price retailer, Secret Sales soon became the prime target.

Griffin is dismissive of Secret Sales’ previous flash-sales based proposition and is planning a total transformation of the business.

“They had a very interesting level of engagement with a quite sub-optimal business model. The flash sales business model is okay but the reality of it is we are building a 360-degree retailer,” says Griffin, which he says will comprise the Secret Sales marketplace, digital storefronts, consignment, wholesale and physical pop-up shops in locations throughout Europe.

“I’m going to change the entire business model. We are launching a totally new technology platform, front end experience and customer proposition in October.

“The reality is the old Secret Sales will cease to exist come October 1 and will have evolved into a 21st century retailer with the relevant customer service and support mechanisms that you would expect.”

Griffin believes the current discount retail model generally offers “reasonably good levels of service with poor levels of stock” or vice versa. The experience of Griffin and Purt in building the Anatwine business will stand them in good stead as they seek to optimise off-price stock levels.

“The new business model is very much creating a connected inventory model,” says Griffin. “We will be using our own internal technology to facilitate this using best in class SaaS services, coupled with our internal teams.”

Griffin also wants to bring down delivery times for off-price products, which typically take two or three weeks to fulfil orders.

Each brand selling on Secret Sales will be given its own “digital storefront” on the website, which the brand themselves can control.

The new Secret Sales will remain “designer-led but will probably expand the core level of reach outside of premium to be mid-to-premium”, says Griffin.

He claims premium brands are not worried about devaluing their brand equity through selling on LRG’s new off-price platform.

“The largest and most positive reaction we have had when people have seen the new value proposition and how it is presented is from the premium sector,” claims Griffin.

Secret Sales will also seek to further its reach with pop-up shops throughout Europe in prime fashion destinations with the help of pop-up operator Showcase, which has a pre-existing partnership with the Big Ideas Group.

Griffin, a former ecommerce director at Superdry, still believes in the power of the high street and says pop-up shops are “almost as fundamental as having a mobile app”.

Secret Sales will remain a members-only platform and Griffin has ambitions to increase membership base from its current six million to “tens of millions” in the next two years.

This will be driven by an international expansion of Secret Sales, which is currently only in the UK, into six European markets next year.

Griffin is confident Secret Sales’ annual GMV revenues, which currently stand at around £50m, will increase fivefold within two years.

“We are focused on growth but not at any cost,” says Griffin. “On its current run rate Secret Sales would be profitable but we are adding in costs for growth.”

Griffin has a lot on his plate in the coming months as he pursues acquisitions and seeks to relaunch Secret Sales. However, it is a challenge he relishes after an 18-month hiatus following the sale of Anatwine.

“It’s great to be back involved in something,” concludes Griffin.

With lofty ambition and technical expertise, Griffin is confident he can make Secret Sales off-price retail’s worst-kept secret.