TheRetailer_Autumn_2019

Celebrating over 90 years of transforming retail careers NEWS FROM THE bRC

Commercial Trading and Planning - Trading for Profit

On Saturday 17th August 2019, British Retail Consortium (BRC) Chief Executive Helen Dickinson took part in a long and prestigious tradition by opening the 90th OSS Retail Academy Programme at Keble College, Oxford. It was a momentous occasion following the acquisition of OSS Retail, formerly known as Oxford Summer School, by the BRC earlier this year. The programme was originally created in 1923 by the Drapers Chamber of Trade after they identified a lack of retail specific development for talented leaders. In order to protect and strengthen the industry they sought to create the highest quality retail specific development programme. With all the challenges currently facing the retail sector the ‘why’ of the Academy felt even more apt. We were therefore determined to provide our delegates with not only the knowledge but also the drive to positively impact the commercial performance of their business in order to support our industry. The Academy Programme is designed to create the conditions for delegates to be at their best and to stretch their talents in a challenging work programme facilitated and coached by a team of senior retail leaders. This year our team of Group Directors included the top talent from Harrods, New Look, Halfords, Joules, The Disney Store, DCK, Boots, M&S, World Duty Free, Learning Pool, Pret A Manger, and Humber Capital. The programme opened in glorious sunshine as delegates arrived from across the sector from the UK and overseas (over 20% of the delegates were international). Our unique programmes are structured to bring together likeminded individuals so they can learn together and equally from each other. As they are fully residential we also take away the distractions of normal working life and provide our delegates with the opportunity to spend time solely focussed on their development. Throughout our history a key component has been the support of top retail leaders and industry speakers to help shape the programme and inspire our delegates. This year was no exception as we welcomed Jason Cotta from Ole & Steen (former Managing Director at Costa), Tim Danaher from Brunswick, Paul Anderson- Walsh from The Centre for Inclusive Leadership, Tim Woollias from Google and Andrea Woodside - Wellbeing Expert from the retailTRUST. For our 90th year we also welcomed back two former delegates who are now senior leaders at pure play retailers Thread and The Protein Works™ respectively. The focus of the intensive 7-day residential programme was to enhance the delegate’s understanding and leadership of five key retail themes: People - Recognising Your Potential Despite the rapid growth of online sales, retail is still a people business and this was a key component of the week. Through a series of personal workshops and use of the McQuaig Psychometric System we helped our delegates to build their confidence, discover their true self and understand their personal effectiveness both as an individual and as a leader.  We were ready to deliver the 90th OSS Retail Academy!

To trade profitably retail businesses must plan commercially. Through an interactive merchandise exercise the teams competed against each other and take on real-world scenarios to make ‘buy side’ and ‘sell side’ product decisions. Congratulations to Group 14 who came out on top! Financial Management - Turning Complexity into Simplicity Successful retail leaders must understanding and influence the key financial levers. We showed delegates how their business is performing relative to others in the sector as well analysing and interpreting wider market financial data to improve future performance. Marketing - The Importance of Brand A strong brand is vital to the success of a retailer. We showed delegates how a brand is developed and how its value is built through emotional engagement in the tech savvy social media led world. During the day delegates produced a Marketing proposal for a designated brand, including a customer proposition, analysing target customer markets and all supporting media campaigns. The omnichannel exercise is the culmination of the week. We challenged delegates to produce a complete business strategy for a new retail business which included a brand and customer proposition, profitable merchandise plans, a people and wellbeing strategy and finally a 5 year Financial proposal…..all in just 8 hours! This challenged the delegates agility and strategic approach, bringing together the leadership learnings from the week and putting them into practice. NEXT PROGRAMME – MASTERS We’re now taking bookings for the OSS Masters (24 – 27 February 2020) at Saïd Business School, Oxford. The Masters is a strategic leadership development programme for Senior Managers, Directors and Business Owners with influence over business strategy. It is a unique opportunity for retail business leaders to get a clear view on the future of retail and how to best position your businesses for success. For more information on the Masters or if you’d like details on how we’re evolving our programmes for next year please contact Terry Lees on 07595 928 721 or email terry@ossretail.co.uk. Alternatively please visit ossretail.co.uk. Bringing it all Together – The Omnichannel Exercise

36 | autumn 2019 | the retailer