WWD Voices just wrapped up a podcast series presented by Accenture. Retail’s Responsible Reset Series featured 10 episodes and two bonus episodes and was hosted by WWD’s Evan Clark and Arthur Zaczkiewicz, with guest host Jill Standish of Accenture.
While the first five episodes took on topics including the state of the industry, resetting the customer experience, reimagining the workforce, reengineering the supply chain and refining data and insights, the following seven have continued the conversation by delving into repurposing the store, reinforcing ESG, the new generation beauty consumer, inclusive and sustainable beauty and reimaging brand purpose.
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During episode six, “Re-purposing the Store,” Standish and Zaczkiewicz chatted with Jaryn Bloom, group president of retail at Michael Kors, about the new customer experience, reimagining the physical store and why the future success of retail may lie in its roots. During the conversation, Standish noted the store’s role in inventory, saying if she sees a store has an item she needs in-store she’s likely to physically go get it, citing the retail industry’s ongoing struggle with supply chain issues leading to out of stocks and often long wait times for online orders. Stores, she said, are really the physical representation of brands and over the last 19 months have been appreciated as such to the consumer.
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From her perspective, as e-commerce and digital advancements have grown, Bloom said most of Michael Kors’ business is done in stores. “I personally look at how a brand approaches the entire ecosystem across both the digital and physical space with an understanding on how to maximize them,” she explained. “If you take the best of modern convinces the digital experiences offer, especially as of late, but combine it with a one-on-one personal touch that you get in a store to unlock the true potential between the brand and the consumer, that’s the unlock.”
Episode seven, “Re-enforcing ESG,” focused on the infusion of purpose into companies and keeping up with the rapidly evolving world of environmental, social and governance activism. Thomas Berry, director of sustainable business at Farfetch, joined Clark and Zaczkiewicz to share insights about how the luxury e-commerce platform is working to say on the right side of history.
Berry shared how Farfetch works together with brands and partners in a combined effort to make a difference, noting that while there are great examples of companies doing great things to push sustainability forward, there is no one group that can ever be truly sustainable because “sustainability fundamentally is about a system and the system it’s operating in.”
Meanwhile, episodes eight and nine focused on the beauty industry specifically. The episodes featured guest host Audrey Depraeter-Montacel, Accenture Beauty Lead.
During episode eight, “New Generation Beauty Consumer — What’s Next,” Angelica Munson, chief digital officer at Shiseido, shared insights into the new generation of beauty consumers and how they are driving greater digitalization in the market. A critical aspect of the new consumer is the desire to be heard by brands while also listening intently to what’s going on with those brands — both from the brand directly and peers on social media.
Technology, Munson said, has enabled the new generation to share opinions at the speed of light and ultimately have access to what is going on with brands. It’s a growing demand for transparency and the ability to see themselves within a brand’s story.
Continuing the conversation, episode nine, “Inclusive and Sustainable Beauty,” invited Nancy Mahon, senior vice president, global corporate citizenship and sustainability at The Estée Lauder Cos., to discuss what it takes to put ESG and inclusion initiatives into daily practice.
Mahon shared insights into how all of the brands under The Estée Lauder Cos. have prioritized initiatives to make a difference all over the world. Looking ahead, she said, leaders need to listen to the next generation and take action to support sustainability because “it’s not enough just to grow. We have to grow, we have to sell great products and we really need to make the communities where we live work and source better.”
To do this, Mahon said companies will have to dig deep to make sure they’re doing not just better, but the very best.
In WWD Voice’s first bonus episode, “A Recap of the Top Retail, Fashion Surprises of 2021,” Zaczkiewicz interviewed cohost Clark and Alex Badia, WWD’s style director, to discuss the year’s most surprising and shocking headlines. Each editor shared their three most surprising news stories and trends.
After examining 2021, the podcast’s second bonus episode, “Re-weaving the ‘Fabric’ of Retail: Accenture Fjord Trends 2022,” looked toward the future of retail. Now in its 15th year, Accenture’s Fjord Trends report has become a must-read for the retail industry. In the episode, Standish is joined by Mark Curtis, head of innovation and thought leadership of Accenture Interactive and author of the Fjord Trends report, to take Zaczkiewicz through 2022’s five consumer behavior trends that will impact retail and fashion apparel.
Taking points from the first nine episodes, and two bonus episodes, episode 10, “Re-imagining Brand Purpose,” examines how retailers are hitting the reset button amid a global pandemic in response to shifting consumer priorities. During the episode, Jill Kramer, Accenture’s chief marketing and communications officer, discussed how to define brand purpose, how it has evolved and how it can be used as a strategic tool.
Deciding on a company’s purpose is a significant commitment, Kramer told the audience, and it takes significant time to launch it and truly live it and make it part of the culture. To help companies achieve this, Accenture created a multiyear program to guide companies through this process called “Launch it. Live it. Love it.” The third stage of the program is affinity, where a company’s purpose becomes so naturally aligned that people can’t help but call it out and use it naturally in conversation.
“One of the biggest dangers in a fast-changing world is coming out with a purpose, a wonderful realization of something that’s so inherently true about your organization and your business and you say ‘tada, here it is’ and then you go on to the next thing,” Kramer said. “To launch it is only one little thing, but it’s very easy to get focused on that moment because then you have to start living it. If you truly believe that this is truly at the heart of how you do business, how do you intentionally call out every time you are living your purpose? You over-index on it. Because you really want to focus on it.”
To listen to all episodes of WWD Voices: Retail’s Responsible Reset Series click here.