Partner viewpoints

Shilpi Narang, vice-president for customer experience, Bolt

It is time to redefine what we consider success and great leadership.

This year’s Retail 100 focuses on a range of leadership factors that are transforming retail for the better. Being different, disrupting the status quo, championing culture and purpose, and being conscious of our impact on others are all factors synonymous with the leaders and organisations we most admire today.

At Bolt, we aim to contribute by not only providing an innovative online checkout experience, but by showing a different kind of leadership through our commitments to a conscious culture. That is why we feel honoured to be learning from the 100 inspiring leaders featured in this year’s list. 

Creating an environment for accountability between management, colleagues and customers has never been more critical for businesses. It results in a ripple effect that reaches far beyond company culture, into the broader world.

We congratulate all the leaders named in the Retail 100, not only for being successful during testing times but for creating their own brand of conscious culture.

James Manderson, senior vice-president
for global customer success, Braze 

At Braze we are proud to once again partner with Retail Week’s annual Retail 100 to celebrate those individuals and brands who are transforming the industry, innovating and driving sustainable growth in uncertain times. 

Although many parts of our lives are ‘back to normal’, consumers and retailers are still feeling the effects of the recent years of turmoil. 

Furthermore, recent research by Braze and Censuswide shows that the increasing cost of living is motivating 82% of UK consumers to cut back on non-essential spending. This is a time for retailers to re-evaluate their offering to consumers and to provide customer engagement in a sensitive and personalised way that will build stronger brand loyalty in the long run and boost customer retention. 

By building a personal connection with customers and using first-party data to design meaningful and empathetic experiences, retailers can strongly position themselves to support consumers during this tough economic period. 

Congratulations to those inspiring individuals who made it into this year’s ranking. The future of retail looks bright.

Sebastien Sepierre, managing director for EMEA, Fourth

The Retail 100 celebrates the many retailers who are managing to thrive despite the challenges of the past few years. Where retailers have recently spent a lot of focus on adjusting business models to fit with changing consumer needs and behaviour during the pandemic, we now see them needing to look more inwardly at how they can better support their workforce.

Our recent research suggests 99% of retailers are worried about talent shortages this year, up from 94% in September 2021, and retail employees are seeking more financial support amid the rising cost of living.

While consumer spending and purchasing habits remain unpredictable, retailers must be sure to seek improvements in how they engage, communicate with and retain their employees through this difficult period. Our data suggests retail employers have payroll, scheduling and communication challenges to overcome, and we see that demand for workforce management technology is on the rise in line with this. Not only is this a positive sign that retail leaders are paying attention to their people’s needs, it is also timely given the introduction of The People Champions among the Retail 100, recognising their focus on culture and purpose.

We wish a huge congratulations to this year’s Retail 100 on their hard work throughout one of retail’s most challenging periods and look forward to seeing their successes continue.

Mark Guest, managing director for retail, Webhelp

The Retail 100 is the go-to source to learn more about the people who are truly transforming our sector and we extend our warmest congratulations to everyone who features this year. 

It has been another year of disruption, change and pressures. Supply chain management has seldom been more complex, consumer confidence remains fragile, attracting and retaining staff is a continued challenge – with ethical and sustainability issues being more important than ever. This is all set against a backdrop where customer expectations remain incredibly high. 

These challenges also present retail organisations with opportunities to transform their operations for the benefit of customers and staff alike. This will require retailers to show their human side, understand their customers, champion sustainability and diversity, and work in a collaborative way – free from historical, hierarchical structures. 

This is why it is fantastic to see this year’s Retail 100 recognise those leaders who operate beyond the position of CEO, representing the wider c-suite through roles including chief digital officers, chief people officers and chief operations officers. 

With 92% of customer experience leaders, according to our research, planning to transform their customer operations in the next 12 months, it is those on the Retail 100 who will provide inspiration for this change.   

Once again, our congratulations to this incredibly talented group of people.