Hello, and welcome back to the retail podcast.
Today, I'm with uncrowded and some of you may know Richard
from, I think it was during lockdown where we did the first
podcast episode, it is an absolute pleasure to see the
success that you guys have had and deservingly.
So, because there are so few people who talk about the path
to purchase shopping missions, and how you improve that for
retailers as passionately. And as accurately as you do.
But wait, but for the people who don't know, you Richard, what
are you? Tell us a little bit about
yourselves and maybe your journey to him.
So I mean I'm a retailer. I started when I was 15 37 years
ago now and I've always loved a really simple question in
retail, which is why uncrowded exists which is what makes a
person choose that store. Instead of that store, what
makes a person? Open your web page first or your
app? First Hall Park at your end of
town. What what makes that happen?
And we haven't had a metric. That does that explains that
proper way. I wrote it, a couple of books
about retailer been very successful with small retail for
initials, 22 languages at and for that I thought we must we
must build a metric as an academic exercise.
And so I hunted down the world's best tools and eventually made a
combination of kind of. How do you create a unbiased
experience data set across all retailers?
The weather, I owe you as a retailer to see where you fit on
that continual performance, but it was just an idea.
And I put it out there and people constantly came and said
this looks like a customer analytics business.
So, here we are four years later when it is a customer analytics
business and it is the only customer analytics business.
That is able to do a very simple thing, which is essentially
provide the causality of choice that MPS never Road system,
lacks across all of your competitors.
Editor's. And that's what we do.
Is, if your, if your target here, for example.
Yeah, we can actually show you through the same data set, where
Walmart are beating you, and why?
Where you're ahead and why, when Amazon app eating your lunch and
why, and that, that, that kind of equality of data, is the big
breakthrough. It's the same data, we're
assessing Walmart, on the recessing you on a Target.
I'm really curious in terms of the event and the number of
retailers you must have met in the last Us two years.
Obviously, you must have had an academic approach to what the
problem was that people were trying to solve and I know
you're quite passionate about the problem that MPS wasn't
shelving. So we've all Amir engages, what
do you think retailers are doing right or wrong in terms of when
they're coming to you saying, we want to do this better.
There's there's a couple of things that really come to mind.
The first is for the, I think we're the first time ever in my
modern part of my retail career we're really saying big
retailers get back to this idea of Anything.
I invest in anything, I do anywhere in the business, must
help me shift another box. It's got to help me sell
something. It must be actionable.
And that's brilliant. Because that discipline is
something. That means that as an industry,
we get better and better, or we do.
But the second thing has happened, is very specific to
the last year. So we are in a slow down.
I don't think this load is going to be as bad as some of us
thought it would be last Autumn, which is a positive.
But we are in a slow down. There's a little bit less money
in the tills and there was last year.
We've got customers and Prospects coming to us and I'm
sure to other people as well saying, look, we're taking
physically fewer dollars in the till my NPS am icsat and my
customer effort scoring. All tell me pretty much the same
thing they told me last year but I'm taking less money.
Therefore, what I thought was the real story is not the real
story and I need to start again and it's great for us because it
means that you know those conversations begin and end with
well you know, we can show you exactly Ali where those dollars
are going and how to pull them back into, how to increase your
market, share in a diminishing Market.
That's, that's really the key. That's the one number that
matters. So that that click the, the
short answer to your question is, I'm delighted to see the
mind. Can we go colleagues and peers
in retailers again of come back to that, but it's not about
vanity anymore. So I'm luxury it's what puts
more money. That's our what shifts boxes.
I mean there's two points there, just to touch on.
I've been blown away by the positive sentiment in the US
economy. To me.
And without, there was a press. And in this briefing yesterday,
again, positive sentiment today in the keynote, Holly everyone
agrees that it's going to get tight.
I must admit, I thought there was gonna be a, we're gonna go
over the edge. Well, we'll see, perhaps missing
in one hour. Any recent LinkedIn.
Post, she talked about data sets and an almond eyes data sets
from all of. I can't remember.
You said, ladies hundred plus or so.
And so from for made me one of the ones we've been talking
about recently is mainstream apparelled.
In the UK and we've ever, so quietly gathered, 1.1 million,
individual observations across the 18, most important retailers
in their Market base. We know more about those
retailers right now and the experience, they deliver that
they know about themselves. And even more importantly, that
they know about each other. Now, one of those 18 is our is
our customer and our customers are really forward-thinking
British retailer, who has just delivered.
Fabulous numbers over Christmas who is already optimized in
depth. To open more stores to double
down on this success. And but that million-plus
observation Points, each one of those is potentially actionable
what our software does. What I put forward, our
algorithm does is rise to the surface to these three things.
These are the three things that will help you beat next next
quarter. These are the three things that
will stop metal am pulling away and that's really critical
because that's very much about if mainstream apparel is
shrinking. As a market, I need to Reese, my
market share with idiot to not just stand still, but to
progress and that's where a data source, that tells you exactly
how to do that. And this was at that has a
problem as well as an advantage. Now it could be so startling and
so sharp. So shocking the almost step back
from this. Say how can that possibly be the
case? But what our platform then?
Does it unravels it. Yeah.
Underneath but 1.0 I'd really wanted to strengthen.
You just made there is that optimism is really well founded
and it's there's something that's Happened.
We've seen with pretty much all us and UK retailers, we talk to
which is the pandemic caught people by surprise, you know,
there were blocked it and transformation projects.
There were cios with great ideas who are frustrated by Boards who
wouldn't sign off the spends. Yep.
And then of course pandemic hit and we were all called with our
chances down this time. The consistent line we've heard
is to know what times might get tough but now's the time to
invest because if I don't invest, I'm definitely going to
have a disaster now, that's different.
I know it's really refreshing. Again, Louis Vuitton keynote.
That was exactly the point that they made in 2008.
They were one of the few organizations buying companies
investing in in technology and therefore they saw the
accelerate to the growth post. We did six months in Louis, we
Tom's paris-based Narator last year, fabulous program but we're
all really illustrate exactly what you said they have 52
separate. They got amazed old, of course,
52 separate Maison within the business.
Each one of those comes to that particular leave it on program
and says, what are the cool things that can help us build?
Better experiences relationships with customers.
It's so proactive and it's a big part of their success.
Yeah. Richard as, you know, I can talk
to you forever. So if I don't know where I can
find you, how do I get hold of one?
Crowd. Where are you based?
And what was what should I do next?
So, we're active in the US and the UK in the Canadian Market
places, and we are a ton crowd dot U, k--, and you can find me
on LinkedIn. I love to talk retail.
And actually, even if you haven't got a problem, we can
solve just talking about. Your business is something I get
a great deal of pleasure from so, yeah.
Get in touch brilliant. Thanks.