‘Retail needs to sit up and listen to every available different way of thinking’

Engaging with other industries to learn from, exchange ideas, embrace change, broaden skills, apply new technology and work more efficiently and effectively, I am fortunate that I am the only person in my family with a retail background.

We have a mechanical engineer, a sustainable energy engineer, a civil engineer and an environmentalist. What these young people have taught me is that it’s becoming increasingly important, if not critical, that retail sits up and listens to every available different way of thinking if it wants to improve its carbon footprint, reduce waste, improve the customer experience and generally stay ahead.

“I attend events, network and correspond, talk about what my business is doing and get a very positive reception from business leaders, chief financial officers and chief technology officers”

To be honest, some struggle to grasp the concept, but that probably says more about my articulating skills than anything else. At this point the data scientists step in and explain further. Using generative AI at the front of a commercial process in fashion is, in a nutshell, what we are pushing at Tru-Size.

That is where it stops. The above-mentioned say they agree the problem needs to be addressed and that this product could save money, waste, and landfill, as well as improve customer loyalty and satisfaction.

But it involves engaging with some of the busiest people in retail and they just do not have the bandwidth to take on any more. This is because they’re stretched to survive, up against budget performance, squeezed margins, raw material costs, a changing retail scene, and consumers are financially stretched while trying to stay ahead of trends and seasons.

We have engaged with academia and talked at length about these challenges. The one thing that we have agreed on is that we need to help the fashion industry change. Yes, there is a lot being done on recycling, sustainability, guiding customers to the right place, and communication with customers about what is being done to save the planet.

To me, however, we are looking at it from the wrong end of the telescope. We are also effectively telling lots of people that things have moved on, and what they have done for years is now no longer fit for purpose. Also, the way they are working is obsolete and now we need to use technology, generative AI, and to think further upstream of the value chain.

“The irony is that not all this change involves spending millions and restructuring entire businesses – it is simply a change in thinking, coming up for air and taking time to rethink the value chain”

All retailers firmly believe that they put the customer at the front of every decision but, when it comes to fashion, I am not so sure. Perhaps we end up trying to find customers to fit the product rather than creating product to fit the customers.

So how do we help commercial retail to engage with change in a more supportive way? Let me refer to my opening point about engaging with other industries. There is a lot to be gained from it, particularly engineering and technology. Get academia to help – there are lots of brilliant things going on in our universities and colleges, and those institutions are at best disappointed with many retailers and at worst plainly exasperated.

Listen to the chief technology officers and chief financial officers/data analysts in your organisations now more than ever. Retailers need to give bandwidth and airspace to some of their brightest commercial broad thinkers, and above all support them with small budgets and the chance to deliver and make mistakes along the way.

Change is happening faster than at any time in history. While it may feel like all retail is embracing that as best as possible, my challenge would be, should we be looking at it differently from the other end of the telescope?