For Marilyn admits, one of the major issues for retailers is the fact that many of the people working within retail today lack an overall picture of the entire process, “they understand that they receive a set amount of info, process it, add value to it and pass it down to the next person in the chain but they don’t have an overview of what the chain looks like and how their role contributes to it.” They cannot see the whole picture and this can constrain retailers when it comes to making improvements. There are few people in the industry who have experienced the whole process from start to finish with paper, pencil and a calculator and therefore have an overview on how it can be put together as an integrated structure.
Marilyn certainly belongs to this group. Having started her career as a junior manager at M&S, Marilyn went on to work as a senior merchandiser at Chelsea Girl. This was at the time when it rebranded itself as River Island and the experience was extremely valuable. Not only did the retailer have to consider transforming the image of a very dated brand from the 1960s to a very modern one but also the processes to ensure that all stores across the brand were updated with new stock. As Marilyn indicates, the operation had to be run very tightly: “We could only close each store for a maximum of 2 to 3 weeks for the re-fit so we had to take product out and then back into the store very quickly to ensure we maximised trading weeks.”
Following a successful career at River Island, Marilyn then added to her experience by becoming merchandise controller at Coats Viyella group, where she was responsible for budgeting and managing stock for the ladieswear area of Jaeger in the UK, and Europe as well as stock provision for the US part of the business, exports to the Far East and other accounts. As a complex business with its own manufacturing arm, the retailer required management of stock at a detailed level. It was throughout this period that she became interested in the development and implementation of systems to support the buying and merchandising process.
When she left Coats Viyella, Marilyn pursued her interest in systems and solutions and went on to work as a consultant at IBM. Over the years, her role developed from redesigning and reengineering business processes as part of the implementation of merchandise planning and supply chain systems to becoming regarded as a subject matter expert across many areas in retail. She would meet a variety of retail clients and talk to them about all aspects of retail, “from buying and sourcing products, merchandising and allocation, right the way through to clearance and outlets.” This covered stores and how they could make improvements to the customer experience and more recently the introduction and effects of the internet.
With such a wealth of experience, it made sense for Marilyn to set up her own company and this year 5A Retail was born to offer “consulting mainly around business process, systems, organisational structure and a certain amount of change management and training.” Marilyn’s company is aimed at the mid-sized retailers who are not looking for large project teams but would like help and advice across a wide spectrum of business areas and also target business improvement. 5A Retail has already gained traction and taken off quite rapidly so much so that Marilyn hasn’t even had time to do her website.
Marilyn’s expertise means that she can recognise the challenges facing the industry and offer a considered solution. The major change over the years is the speed at which customers are demanding new product and the pace at which people can communicate make things happen. The internet has been one of the main contributors to these developments within retail. By introducing the ability to shop online, retailers offer customers the chance to access a greater range of products than perhaps within their local stores. The online business model removes other restrictions such as opening hours and allows customers more freedom and an ability to manage their own time. In effect, the internet has increased consumer demand.