Podcasts about very group

Send us a textThe "What They Said" podcast is back with another sparkling, insight-packed episode

Immerse yourself in an enlightening discussion with Lucie Child, Strategy Lead for Customer Care at The Very Group, as we explore the complexities of customer experience in our rapidly changing world. This episode dives into the heart of CX, highlighting the challenges that organisations face, from recruitment woes to the pressing issues surrounding customer vulnerability amidst a cost of living crisis. Lucie shares her insights and strategies from her extensive career journey, revealing how her experiences have shaped her approach to improving customer care.Throughout our conversation, Lucie passionately discusses the pivotal role of workplace inclusion and equity in enhancing CX. She highlights the success of her colleague-led networks, which aim to foster a more supportive environment for everyone. Engaging stories from her personal journey - transitioning from an archaeology degree to a career in customer insight - remind us that our diverse backgrounds can offer unique perspectives and strengths in any profession.Lucie also reveals her commitment to community well-being, sharing her latest projects like mindfulness colouring books and her participation in the challenging Coniston Challenge for charity. This episode is packed with valuable insights, practical advice, and inspiration, making it essential listening for anyone involved in or curious about the world of customer experience.  Be sure to check out the YouTube page for the Video version https://www.youtube.com/@CustomerExperienceFoundation24

SummaryMark Stocker is Senior Creative Manager for The Very Group, a collection of high volume retail brands based in Liverpool England. Mark was a speaker at the Henry Stewart Photo Studios Ops Forum back in October of 2021 and we invited him on this episode to discuss how the proverbial pendulum needs to (and is!) swing away from the lowest cost per shot possible, to a true strategic consideration capable of driving revenue in a more direct way. After all, it is the creative teams and the solutions they develop that will change the way we buy and sell digitally. Key TakeawaysIf there were a pendulum, with one side being "Profit Center" and the other side was "Cost Center" for Creative Production at any brand or retailer, the pendulum is probably headed to profit center. That means more investment in creative teams  and creative strategy, and moving away from the pursuit of lowest cost per shot.The time is now to focus on investing quality of creative.  The pandemic has forced to embrace EXTREME change in our processes and goals. We can save money now with our eyes closed.The power of the creative mind doesn't need to actually click the button to create. It will be todays photographers and stylists that will enable the next revolution of media and e-commerce creative.Investing in spaces is important to investing increasing quality.Links & ResourcesMark on LinkedInThe Very Group on LinkedInCreditsProduced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.ioEdited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.netHosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

Jess Myers CCO of The Very Group, returns to the podcast sharing the success of her role over the past year. We'll explore how Jess and her team navigates the crucial "Golden Quarter" leading up to Christmas, the importance of creative consistency, and the successes they've achieved by sticking with what works. Plus, we'll hear about the innovative launch of the Very Media Group and how their flamingo-themed campaigns resonate with customers.Jess also sheds light on balancing commercial objectives with customer experience, fostering collaborative relationships, and the unique challenges of her executive role. Whether it's optimizing holiday ads or championing a vibrant company culture, Jess's insights are sure to inspire.Timestamps00:00 - Start01:07 - Jess' custom merch for the podcast02:07 - Jess' review of the year at Very04:28 - From Chief Marketing Officer to Chief Customer Officer - what's changed06:17 - How marketers can thrive in the boardroom08:53 - Embracing “hun culture”12:35 - How important the golden quarter is for retailers15:46 - Why Very chose the run the same campaign at Christmas21:05 - Why short term is important in the Golden Quarter23:57 - Very's Flamazing Flamingos as a fluent device28:40 - Launching the Very Media Group31:03 - Launching House of Flamingo34:18 - Jess' learnings from the last year at Very35:45 - Making the most out of your agencies39:29 - Closing thoughts

The Very Group is the UK's Online Pure Play Department Store. Tom Goulden, their Director of Trading, Insights and Analytics joins Daniel live from Retail Media Summit UK 2024 in London to speak about how they've recently revamped their Retail Media offering with SMG, how their unique categories trade online and much more.  Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0_kphm0x-XA   Topics Covered: Tom's career in Retail The Very Group's unique value proposition as a pure-play Department Store How different is a Retail Media Network in their categories versus Grocery Data Science and Analytics: how they are embedding them into a digital first company More: Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fmcgguys/   Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fmcgguys/  Audio Mixing by Rodrigo Chávez Voice Acting by Jason Martorell Parsekian

Where will retail media be 12 months from now? Will the UK market finally be as "mature" as the US? Will AI have upended the channel? And will the term itself still be common place?To answer these questions, PMW's Editor Robin Langford (25:00) joined host Joe at Retail Media Summit UK '24. Recorded on the ground at the event, Robin and Joe discuss the channel's top talking points and reveal their biggest takeaways from the day. Interwoven within the discussion are clips from interviews conducted at the Summit with channel experts from the likes of Co-op, WH Smith, Tesco, Boots, The Very Group, and more.Also on this episode, the entire editorial team is in the studio (3:19) to reminisce about last week's PMW Awards 2024, each revealing a favourite winner and a personal highlight from the evening.This podcast was hosted by PMW's Multimedia Editor, Joseph Arthur.~ Episode breakdown ~ (3:19) The PMW team talk our 2024 awards(25:00) Defining retail media(37:27) What does the future of retail media look like?(44:14) Retail media in the US vs the UK~ Further reading ~ A moment at Retail Media Summit UK '24 with... Boots Media GroupCan retail media deliver a true halo effect this Christmas?Performance Marketing World Awards: all 28 winners announcedView from the red carpet: photos from the PMW Awards 2024PMW Awards 2024: The winner's circle in pictures Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Doing any kind of assessment or test can be daunting, but identifying your professional strengths and weaknesses can be even worse. Taking James through his strengths and weaknesses is Zoe Clayton-White development coach and senior talent developer at Very Group.Zoe takes James through his own Clifton Strengths evaluator to help him discover his own unique talent DNA. The Marketing Rules Podcast is sponsored by RChill ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.rchilli.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #MarketingRules #TheVoiceOfRecruitmentMarketing To connect with Zoë: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoë-clayton-white/ Learn more about James and ThinkinCircles: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thinkincircles.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.themarketingrules.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Marketing Rules Podcast is sponsored by RChill ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.rchilli.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #MarketingRules #TheVoiceOfRecruitmentMarketing To connect with Si: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/saeedbor/⁠ Learn more about James and ThinkinCircles: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thinkincircles.com/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.themarketingrules.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

Summary Paul Hornby, Digital Customer Experience Director at The Very Group (owner of very.co.uk and other brands) joins Ian Jindal and Georgia Scott to discuss his role, career and the positioning of Very within the market. We explore the history of the group, which dates back to 1890, and how it has evolved into the UK's largest domestic online-only retailer with an integrated flexible payment platform. We delve into the concept of digital experience and how the Very Group aims to help families get more out of life by offering a wide choice of products and flexible ways to pay. They also touch on the challenges of marketing and personalisation, as well as the ongoing technology transformation at the Very Group. Listen out for the term "technical cholesterol" - both the phrase and the explanation are delightful and we wish that we'd thought of this, but the recording doesn't lie ;)   Takeaways The Very Group is the UK's largest domestic online-only retailer with an integrated flexible payment platform. The company aims to help families get more out of life by offering a wide choice of products and flexible ways to pay. The role of credit is to support families in managing their household income and making purchases more affordable. The Very Group is focused on digital experience and constantly optimizing the customer journey. The company is undergoing a technology transformation to create a composable architecture and enhance the customer experience. Quotes "Our purpose as a business is to help families get more out of life." "Our job was to translate [the heritage] into a digital world, create a compelling digital experience, and then find a way of translating the mechanism of how you could spread the cost online." Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Lunch 01:17 - Introducing Paul Hornby 02:12 - Paul's Role at the Very Group 03:39 - The Unique Proposition of the Very Group 04:38 - The History of the Very Group 06:35 - The Catalog Business and Credit Offering 09:26 - The Transition to the Digital World 13:12 - The Role of Credit in Supporting Customers 15:08 - The Value Proposition to Customers 16:35 - Market Competitive Pricing and Credit Options 21:06 - Digital Marketing and Personalization 24:48 - Paul's Career Journey 29:34 - Returning to the Very Group 32:31 - The Technology Transformation at the Very Group 38:11 - Creating a Learning Culture 39:09 - The Exciting Future of the Very Group   --  Run time: 48 minutes INFORMATION: [

Fresh from last week's Creative Circle in Margate Campaign chief creativity reporter Charlotte Rawlings tells media editor Beau Jackson her highlights - including Conrad Haddaway and Sherwin Teo's insight on Uber's “Best friends” ad with Robert DeNiro and Asa Butterfield; and a rallying cry to agencies to improve access to the industry.She also shares her behind the scenes preview of 4Creative's “Considering what?” campaign for Channel 4's upcoming Paralympics coverage, and all the latest on Neverland resigning Tetley and winning Parkdean Resorts.The headlines from this episode:Veriça Djurdjevic to leave Channel 4Co-op consolidates creative and digital accountZenith wins Very Group's £60m media accountTBWALondon hires strategy director Opinion:My experience in Cannes underlined why men must speak up and take action against harassment Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

⭐️ Start your passion project with Hostinger here: ⁠⁠https://www.hostinger.com/girlsinmarketing⁠⁠ ⭐️ Welcome back to The Girls in Marketing Podcast! In this episode, we're diving deep into the world of performance marketing with a true trailblazer, Lily Thistlewood, the Head of Performance Marketing at Adanola. Adanola is one of the hottest brands right now and the athleisure brand has taken the fashion world by storm. Join us as we sit down with Lily to understand the secrets behind Adanola's remarkable success in performance marketing. From running her own marketing agency to working for big brands like The Very Group, Lily's career experience is something we can all learn a lot from. This episode discusses: What is performance marketing? Working at Adanola Agency vs. In house roles The shift from small to big businesses If you want to see more guests like Lily on the podcast, make sure you leave a rating as it helps us out more than you'd imagine. See you next week for another team episode!

Recorded live and in-person from commercetools' Elevate - The Global Commerce Summit in Miami Beach, FL, we welcome Paul Hornby, Director of Digital Commerce Experience at The Very Group which boasts a heritage dating back to the late 1800s. Paul speaks of his journey towards composable commerce.

Behind every company logo and corporate brand are real people with genuine emotions, aspirations and concerns

Today we're joined by Jessica Myers, CMO of The Very Group. Previously Jess was CMO at Metro Bank and has since made the transition to the highly competitive retail market. At Very, she has overseen the launch of a brand new fluent device; the pink flamingoes. The campaign featuring the new characters scored a whopping 5.7 stars on the System1 scoring platform, Test Your Ad, amongst the very best ads made this year.Timestamps00:00 - Intro00:52 - Jess' background06:11 - Marketing academy fellowship07:13 - From big brand to challenger brand10:46 - The modern marketer11:57 - From finance to retail15:31 - Dealing with the challenges of joining a new business18:03 - Nailing positioning22:09 - Doing long term marketing in retail23:39 - Agency selection process for Very27:22 - Understanding your customer31:50 - The power of testing creative36:36 - The increasing standard of advertising38:28 - Creating a new fluent device - The Flamingoes43:20 - The future of the brand46:08 - Jess' advice to aspiring marketers

In these ‘Shorts' episodes of my podcast, I'll be selecting my favourite moments from previous episodes. This one comes from episode 101, with Ben Fletcher, who has been the Chief Financial Officer at The Very Group since January 2020 and leads the 150-strong finance team. In this clip, Adam reflects on the benefits of making bold decisions, no matter the industry.LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE: https://www.ben-morton.com/being-bold-and-brave-with-professor-adam-boddison/

In these ‘Shorts' episodes of my podcast, I'll be selecting my favourite moments from previous episodes. This one comes from episode 102, with Ben Fletcher, who has been the Chief Financial Officer at The Very Group since January 2020 and leads the 150-strong finance team. In this clip, Ben delves into the big lessons learnt from stepping into a general manager role for Boots from a finance background. LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE: https://www.ben-morton.com/working-with-and-for-the-board-with-ben-fletcher/

Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade.Today's edition of the podcast features Colin Lewis, retail media evangelist and global marketing consultant. Further down, a particularly good day for Domain on The Unmade Index.The only way to access Unmade's full archive, and our weekly Tuesdata analysis, is as a paying member. Unmade members also get discounted tickets to our events, including our retail media conference Re:Made, which takes place next month.‘The media business is a different game to retailing'Ahead of his appearance at next month's REmade conference, we talk to retail media evangelist and global consultant Colin Lewis about the state of play locally and globally.In the conversation with REmade curator Cat McGinn, Lewis says Australia can lay claim to being among the most sophisticated retail media markets in the world.He cites the media backgrounds of Coles360 boss Paul Brooks and Woolworths Cartology boss Mike Tyquin as key to the growth of the emerging sector. The duo both had deep media backgrounds until they moved across to the retail world. Brooks is a former CEO of Dentsu's Carat and former Sydney sales director for Nine; Tyquin ran outdoor companies Adshel and Eye. That's a mix not necessarily replicated in other markets.According to Lewis: “Setting up an ad network is actually the smallest part of the whole thing. The real thing is that you're in the media business - and the media business it's a different game to retailing.“This is one area where the Australian market is ahead of anyone else. I've worked with a lot of brands in the UK and they haven't quite worked out that ‘the game I'm in, is the media business'. But if you look at the two biggest retail media brands in Australia - Coles and Woolworths, they're led by media people - people who understand media and come from a media background.“Australia is punching above its weight and probably second in the world in terms of its forward thinking and its approach.”Lewi, who is the author of six best practice reports on retail media, focusing on Amazon, Walmart, Kroger, Target, and Instacart also writes a regular column for our RE:Made newsletter. His clients include the likes of Ferrero Rocher, Glambia, Colgate, and retailer clients like Superdrug, The Very Group, and Warehouse Group.During the conversation, Lewis also tackles the imminent arrival of Nine into the space with its RTLX play, announced at their Upfronts earlier this month. According to Lewis, he has “question marks” about the move.And he also addresses the growing presence of Amazon and offers a theory on how it has taken its hold . “We've got some new data showing that Amazon Prime is really far and away leading the pack in terms of TV on demand. It's almost as though Amazon has built it backwards. They've started with a marketplace and they've traveled up the funnel.”RE:Made returns to Sydney on October 11. Along with Lewis, Brooks and Tyquin are all among the confirmed speakers. Tickets are on sale now.Stronger performance across the Unmade IndexSeja Al Zaidi writes:It was a solid day across the board on the Unmade Index yesterday, our measurement system of ASX-listed media and marketing stocks. It rose 1.65% to land at 630.2 points.Domain performed the best, rising 3.29%. Seven West Media came in at a close second, lifting 3.23% in share price. Ooh Media scored 1.85% rise while IVE Group rose 1.61%. Nine climbed 0.99%.Enero Group was the only stock to move downwards, falling 3.13%.Time to leave you to your Thursday. We'll be back with an end of week update tomorrow.Audio production was courtesy of Abe's Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design and podcast production.Message us: letters@unmade.media This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe

Ali Hall & Julie Lavington, Co-CEOs & Co-Founders, and Steve Dilks, CFO, present final results for the year ended 31 March 2023, followed by Q&A. Julie Lavington, Joint CEO 00:16 - Introduction 00:51 - FY23 Highlights Steve Dilks, CFO 02:58 - Net revenue & PBT 04:04 - Gross Profit 05:14 - Overheads 08:55 - Website performance 10:31 - Income statement & balance sheet Ali hall, Joint CEO 13:41 - Growth intiatives 15:05 - Product range Julie Lavington, Joint CEO 15:33 - DTC Optimisation Ali hall, Joint CEO 18:37 - Mobile App development Julie Lavington, Joint CEO 19:43 - Online routes to market Ali hall, Joint CEO 20:47 - In-store routes to market Julie Lavington, Joint CEO 22:16 - International Expansion 23:16 - Summary & Outlook 24:35 - Q&A Sosandar is one of the fastest growing women's fashion brands in the UK targeting style conscious women who have graduated from price-led alternatives. The Company offers this underserved audience fashion-forward, affordable, quality clothing to make them feel sexy, feminine, and chic. The business sells predominantly own-label exclusive product designed in-house. Sosandar's product range is diverse, providing its customers with an array of choice for all occasions across all women's fashion categories. The company sells through Sosandar.com and has brand partnerships in place with Next, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, The Very Group, JD Williams and J Sainsbury. Sosandar's strategy is to continue growing brand awareness and expand its customer database, whilst also further driving its high levels of customer retention. This is achieved through its exceptional products, seamless customer experience and impactful, lifestyle marketing activities all of which is underpinned by combining innovation with data analysis. Sosandar was founded in 2016 and listed on AIM in 2017. More information is available at www.sosandar-ir.com

In Episode 34 of Season 3, of Driven by Data: The Podcast, Kyle Winterbottom is joined by Steve Pimblett, Chief Data Officer at The Very Group, where they discuss how to move data from a cost centre to a value creator, which includes;A transformation journey that has been ongoing for over a century Why some D&A teams are still seen as a cost centre and not a value-creating function Why demonstrating value creation is a primary responsibility of a Data Leader/CDOThe tangible things that Steve has done to be seen as a value-creating functionThe 4 key pillars of their Data Strategy and measuring the capability maturity The value-creation measurement framework they're using and how that helps to communicate Why you have to connect data and insight to actionThe importance of talking in outcomes and the benefits of those outcomes, and not data Why it's imperative to have an operating model that supports value-creationA Joint-Venture model to prove value and take to an investment board How they've used hastags to demonstrate the value of Data & Analytics as an enabler to the business functions in those JV'sWhy ‘data as a product' has bridged the communication gap and acts as a client success manager Why PR has been critical in the success of the D&A team and how external validation has helped

Sosandar's joint CEO's Julie Lavington, Ali Hall and CFO, Steve Dilks outline the FY23 highlights followed by Q&A. A milestone year, delivering revenue up 44% YoY and first full year of profitability. Julie Lavington, Joint CEO 00:16 - Introduction & Overview Ali hall, Joint CEO 02:04 - Strategic highlights Steve Dilks, CFO 04:10 - Financial highlights 06:22 - Outlook 07:32 - Q&A Sosandar is one of the fastest growing women's fashion brands in the UK targeting style conscious women who have graduated from price-led alternatives. The Company offers this underserved audience fashion-forward, affordable, quality clothing to make them feel sexy, feminine, and chic. The business sells predominantly own-label exclusive product designed in-house. Sosandar's product range is diverse, providing its customers with an array of choice for all occasions across all women's fashion categories. The company sells through Sosandar.com and has brand partnerships in place with Next, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, The Very Group, JD Williams and J Sainsbury. Sosandar's strategy is to continue growing brand awareness and expand its customer database, whilst also further driving its high levels of customer retention. This is achieved through its exceptional products, seamless customer experience and impactful, lifestyle marketing activities all of which is underpinned by combining innovation with data analysis. Sosandar was founded in 2016 and listed on AIM in 2017. More information is available at www.sosandar-ir.com

Working with influencers - or as they're increasingly being called - creators, isn't what it used to be. Today it's more of a default than an add-on, and for some brands it's at risk of wasting their ad spend. For a focused approach to influencer strategy, we're speaking to Shannon Jennings - head of social and influencers for The Very Group. With a huge roster of retailers in its portfolio, Shannon explains how to treat one-off and long-term talent campaigns, the pivot from traditional gifting when sustainability is front of mind, and whether or not interest in influencers will wain with the current economic state, and some marketing activity in danger of being viewed as a luxury. Got a question or suggestion for the Social Minds podcast? Get in touch at social.minds@socialchain.com.

Ali Hall & Julie Lavington, Co-CEOs & Co-Founders, and Steve Dilks, CEO, present Sosandar's interim results & trading update for the six months ending 30th September 2022. Continued revenue growth of +72%, delivering the Company's second six-month period of positive PBT. Momentum has continued into the second half of the financial year with record sales months in October and November, trading in line with market expectations for the full financial year. 00:00 Opening Ali Hall, Co-CEO & Co-Founder 00:17 Introduction Julie Lavington, Co-CEO & Co-Founder 00:45 Highlights of the period Steve Dilks, CEO 01:18 Financial highlights 03:17 Overheads 05:04 KPI's Julie Lavington, Co-CEO & Co-Founder 06:43 Customer acquisitions Steve Dilks, CEO 07:48 Income statement 08:16 Balance sheet Ali Hall, Co-CEO & Co-Founder 10:16 Current trading Julie Lavington, Co-CEO & Co-Founder 11:07 Factors driving growth Ali Hall, Co-CEO & Co-Founder 11:47 Vision & ambition Julie Lavington, Co-CEO & Co-Founder 11:59 UK addressable market Ali Hall, Co-CEO & Co-Founder 12:17 Product range 13:04 All categories in growth Julie Lavington, Co-CEO & Co-Founder 14:18 Marketing plan Ali Hall, Co-CEO & Co-Founder 15:34 Growth through own site & third parties Steve Dilks, CEO 16:15 Operationl bandwidth for growth Julie Lavington, Co-CEO & Co-Founder 18:29 Outlook 19:13 Q&A About Sosandar plc Sosandar is one of the fastest growing women's fashion brands in the UK targeting style conscious women who have graduated from price-led alternatives. The Company offers this underserved audience fashion-forward, affordable, quality clothing to make them feel sexy, feminine, and chic. The business sells predominantly own-label exclusive product designed in-house. Sosandar's product range is diverse, providing its customers with an array of choice for all occasions across all women's fashion categories. The company sells through Sosandar.com and has brand partnerships in place with Next, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, The Very Group and N Brown. Sosandar's strategy is to continue growing brand awareness and expand its customer database, whilst also further driving its high levels of customer retention. This is achieved through its exceptional products, seamless customer experience and impactful, lifestyle marketing activities, all of which is underpinned by combining innovation with data analysis. Sosandar was founded in 2016 and listed on AIM in 2017. More information is available at www.sosandar-ir.com

This week we are joined by Ben Fletcher, who has been the Chief Financial Officer at The Very Group since January 2020 and leads the 150-strong finance team. He was previously the UK and European President at Clarks Shoes, Managing Director of Boots Opticians, and spent at Walgreens Boots Alliance and Procter & Gamble. Ben is a trustee of the National Literacy Trust and chairs the St John's Foundation in Bath. For nearly ten years, he was a non-executive director and Audit Committee Chair of the British Retail Consortium. He has a massive amount of experience to share on the topic of how to work with and for Boards of Directors most effectively. So, if you aspire to an executive position, or are required to present to them, this is the episode for you. Get In TouchWhether it's a leadership question for Ben, some feedback on the show, or a guest suggestion, we'd love to hear from you. Whatever the reason for getting in touch, you can easily do it by clicking the link below that Ben will personally review.You can also use this link if you'd like to come on the show for 5 minutes to talk about your favorite episode; we love having listeners on the show!Resources mentioned in this episode:10-4-10 Mini Course: https://bit.ly/FREEleadershipmini-course Ben's Website: https://bit.ly/BenMortonLeadershipThe Very Group: https://www.theverygroup.com/Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-fletcher-2a95252/ Book | Team of Rivals: https://amzn.to/3C8A1OT

Sosandar's Joint CEOs, Julie Lavington, Ali Hall and CFO, Steve Dilks outline the H123 highlights followed by questions. 00:18 Introduction and overview, Julie Lavington, Joint CEO 01:23 Strategy highlights, Ali hall, Joint CEO 02:56 Macroeconomic backdrop, Julie Lavington, Joint CEO 04:14 Financial overview, Steve Dilks, CFO 06:26 Outlook, Julie Lavington, Joint CEO 07:25 Questions Sosandar is one of the fastest growing women's fashion brands in the UK targeting style conscious women who have graduated from price-led alternatives. The Company offers this underserved audience fashion-forward, affordable, quality clothing to make them feel sexy, feminine, and chic. The business sells predominantly own-label exclusive product designed in-house. Sosandar's product range is diverse, providing its customers with an array of choice for all occasions across all women's fashion categories. The company sells through Sosandar.com and has brand partnerships in place with Next, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, The Very Group and N Brown. Sosandar's strategy is to continue growing brand awareness and expand its customer database, whilst also further driving its high levels of customer retention. This is achieved through its exceptional products, seamless customer experience and impactful, lifestyle marketing activities all of which is underpinned by combining innovation with data analysis. Sosandar was founded in 2016 and listed on AIM in 2017. More information is available at www.sosandar-ir.com

In this episode, CDO Steve Pimblett of The Very Group describes the four pillars of extracting value from data and shares how he's built a successful B2C data team. Steve shares his advice for CDOs just starting off or maybe years into the role. He discusses optimizing your data strategy, making your business more data-driven, leveraging account managers, and much more.--------“Set up some sort of an internal agency to see how you can make business areas more data-driven.” - Steve Pimblett--------Time Stamps* (2:28) What CDOs should know on day one* (8:44) A deep dive into The Very Group* (14:26) How to approach your company's data strategy* (20:56) Using data to better approach tough conversations* (22:59) Account managers are your secret weapon--------SponsorThis podcast is presented by Alation.Hear more radical perspectives on leading data culture at Alation.com/podcast--------LinksConnect with Steve on LinkedInCheck out The Very Group

The Very Group, which operates Very in Ireland, has announced a new partnership with leading global product experience management (PXM) vendor Akeneo, as part of an ongoing tech transformation to optimise customer experience and modernise its tech stack. Using Akeneo's PXM platform, Very will provide customers with rich product information, such as digital media, technical specifications and enhanced product details, to create a better shopping experience. Customers will be supported in their buying decisions by tailored and category-specific product information, for example highlighting different features for beauty products than for electrical goods. The platform will allow new products to be added to site in less than a minute, increasing speed to market and allowing the Very team to focus on data quality, enrichment and consistency, while enabling suppliers' product information to be automatically uploaded to the Very site. The move is the latest milestone in Very's multi-year tech investment programme, and follows the ongoing transformation of its ecommerce platform through a partnership with commercetools, personalised size and fit guidance provided by working with True Fit and the creation of enriched, engaging content, like editorial pages and marketing content, by partnering with Amplience. Very will continue momentum with further technology and talent investments imminently, supporting the modernisation of its tech stack towards a microservices-based, API-first, cloud-native, and headless architecture (MACH). This will allow the retailer to deliver customer experience changes more frequently and faster than ever before. Rossa Butler, Managing Director for Ireland at Very said: “We have ambitious plans to grow the Very brand in Ireland and we will do this by continuing to offer the brands that our customers want and love, coupled with a seamless digital customer experience with data and technology at the core. Our partnership with Akeneo represents a key milestone in our innovation story and will enable us to deliver a best-in-class shopping experience for our customers in Ireland, with additional innovations and services to launch in early 2023.” Matt Grest, chief information officer at The Very Group, said: “Our tech transformation is already delivering fantastic results for our customers and our business, and we're excited to take another big step by partnering with Akeneo. Better, richer product content will help us continue taking customer experience to the next level, including tailoring the experience of shopping different categories, and help us drive efficiency by streamlining internal processes.” James Barlow, regional director UK & IRL at Akeneo, commented: “The Very Group has always been a future-forward retailer that puts customer-centricity front and centre. And its commitment to digitally transforming its business lies at the heart of delivering exceptional online shopping experiences for its customers. With unified product data and enriched product information, we're thrilled to have been able to support Very in its efforts to enhance customer experience, all while improving operational efficiencies and speed to market.” In March 2022, Akeneo became a certified member of the MACH Alliance, a group of independent tech companies which champion open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems. Very technology partners commercetools and Amplience are also accredited. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can ...

SummaryMark Stock of The Very Group returns for a discussion on the future of relatable content in a post-covid world. Customers that were previously hesitant to shop online have become quite savvy over the last two years of almost exclusively shopping online, and our content has reflected the values that we all found solace in during a traumatic world event. Now that we seem to be moving past the COVID era, how do we as content creators respond?Key TakeawaysIn direct response to COVID, many retailers and their studios did what they could to keep commerce moving, shooting at home, letting go of the perfection of the merchandised studio shot and embracing an aesthetic that was more real.Relatable and authenticity could be here to stay for a while, as the world slowly begins to open up again.Focusing on the customer journey, and being authentic could be a trend that we see a lot in e-commerce.If there's one thing we've learned, it's to be forward facing. Expect everything.  Be brave and try things.Video is going to be BIG for the future of relatable content.Data can help drive some relatable content efforts, but you have to be careful because data can lead to content that lacks emotion.Daniel made too many movie references.ResourcesHenry Stewart - Creative Operations London 2022CreditsProduced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.ioEdited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.netHosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

Sean Allen is the Head of Talent Acquisition at The Very Group, a community admin at DBR and a member of RL100. He has tons of recruitment experience and is here to teach us a thing or two about: (01:00) intro to Sean, living in the North vs London, thoughts on hybrid work (08:40) DBR, RL100, the value of networking (15:00) tips on becoming a lead, what to expect (22:55) improving diversity in hiring (31:50) tips on being a great leader (39:30) horror movies and tattoos Also, Sean is looking for a talent partner! The Very Group is passionate about making good things easily accessible to more people to live life well. They combine amazing brands and products with flexible payment options that help people say yes when it matters most. If you're interested in a career within the recruitment team at The Very Group, then do reach out to Sean. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coffeewitharecruiter/message

Welcome to our final episode of Season 4, and 2021. Never fear, we'll be back with Season 5 next year, in January (another great episode already lined-up). In this episode, we're joined by Mark Billingham, Group Customer Operations & CX Director for The Very Group, with The Very Group being the UK's largest integrated retail and financial services provider – it's the home of Very.co.uk and Littlewoods.com. We're also delighted to be joined by Ipsos MORI's head of XM, Jamie Thorpe. Mark takes time away from his very busy schedule (it's Christmas time in retail …) to discuss some of our very favourite Customer Perspective topics, including the importance of getting CX ‘right' and why, successfully delivering that all important omnichannel experience, where CX is going, and the challenges that lie ahead. The last time I saw Mark was at the ECCCSA | European Contact Centre & Customer Service Awards, where I presented his customer care team with the gold award for the best customer service team in Europe – and, in fact, his team scooped three awards … an amazing achievement (and an amazing night)! Congratulations, again, Mark – and thanks for the interview. Find out more about our latest Ipsos CX and Channel Performance thinking.

This week, Karen is joined by The Very Group's, Gemma Turner (Analytics Manager for Digital Product) and Michelle Williams (Data Product Owner). In this episode, they explore introversion in data professionals from the differing perspectives of these two leaders. While Michelle covers what it means to lead as an introvert; Gemma brings the viewpoint of an extrovert who leads a team of introverts. They talk about why careers in data analytics and engineering are particularly attractive to those of an introverted nature and how they can benefit data teams. They also share how introverts can perform and progress in their careers and how leaders can support their team members, especially when it comes to meeting participation. Enjoy!  ************************  Show notes:  ************************  The power of vulnerability – Brené Brown  The Ripple Effect – Dr. Greg Wells  The power of introverts – Susan Cain 

SummaryMark Stocker is Senior Creative Manager for The Very Group, a collection of high volume retail brands based in Liverpool England. Mark was a speaker at the Henry Stewart Photo Studios Ops Forum back in October of 2021 and we invited him on this episode to discuss how the proverbial pendulum needs to (and is!) swing away from the lowest cost per shot possible, to a true strategic consideration capable of driving revenue in a more direct way. After all, it is the creative teams and the solutions they develop that will change the way we buy and sell digitally. Key TakeawaysIf there were a pendulum, with one side being "Profit Center" and the other side was "Cost Center" for Creative Production at any brand or retailer, the pendulum is probably headed to profit center. That means more investment in creative teams  and creative strategy, and moving away from the pursuit of lowest cost per shot.The time is now to focus on investing quality of creative.  The pandemic has forced to embrace EXTREME change in our processes and goals. We can save money now with our eyes closed.The power of the creative mind doesn't need to actually click the button to create. It will be todays photographers and stylists that will enable the next revolution of media and e-commerce creative.Investing in spaces is important to investing increasing quality.Links & ResourcesMark on LinkedInThe Very Group on LinkedInCreditsProduced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.ioEdited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.netHosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

Terminator. Blade Runner. Ex Machina. iRobot. While Emma's chat today with Mark Billingham of the Very Group isn't quite as dramatic as some of those blockbusters, the topic of AI has been around for a long time. Mark gives us some amazing insight into his learnings, practical tips and overwhelmingly positive results of building a bot to handle a huge amount of customer queries each month - 250,000 to be exact. They dive into what capability you need sitting behind the bot, how they got customers involved using their UX Lab (which is as cool as it sounds), the opportunities it creates for your internal team and why the job is never done even after you have built your bot.  If you are looking to build an AI chatbot in your organisation, here is a 45-minute practical guide from someone who has done just that. So please enjoy the show and don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. Intro - 1.20   250,000 contacts handled per month at The Very Group AI frees up advisers for more complex and emotive questions for customers Contacts have reduced by 23% and nearly 50% over two years The bot is getting ⅘ stars for ease of use from customers The catalyst for building AI functionality - 2.37 Previously navigated trying out a bot in Vodafone called Toby Learnt how NOT to do it Need to understand every single reason a customer contacts you There were 10,000 different reasons they got in touch Acts as a concierge service and fix it, otherwise will send to a human Training a bot is like training a person - takes time What was the goal? - 7.29 Don't upset our customers Put something on the web that got users to the right place and answers quickly Ideally, people can self-serve which benefits both us and customers Start with ease and simplicity  The Capability that sat behind the AI - 9.43 Used our own web development team to create a look and feel Then use tech dev team to build but use IBM Watson technology in the background But all knowledge comes from the customer care team Customer Involvement - 11.24 We have a UX lab where we get customers to come in and try out the bot Kept it going during the pandemic virtually, but not the same as the face to face Feedback can often be based on how comfortable they are with technology ‘I wouldn't have used this bot before, but now I absolutely would' 40% of customers use our bot, so plenty of work to do UX Lab Investment - 14.14 Need two rooms - can be really basic Just need customers using the tech and giving you feedback Doesn't have to be Big Brother /MI5 Intentional Actions Delivered During Change Project - 17.07 Identify key reasons why they contact us Understand what we need to build Build the most important questions first Make sure its useful straight away means the customers are on board Where does the bot need guidance? The balance between it being too ‘botty' but also not too human and missing the tone What are the next steps to perfection? - 20.51 Target is to go from 40% to 70% using the bot Need to expose the bot to more people - only available for people who are logged in The next step will be using them on the outside of the site SEO needs to work for us to point to the bot Teach it to answer more queries 25% have to ring contact centre after - so need to focus on them, get it below 10% Biggest Challenges - 25.19 Hygiene - we are a digital business so web changes Finding the right resource and prioritisation Making sure the language is absolutely spot on How far through the maturity curve is AI? Have to make sure using the bot is optional for users Managing the internal feeling that the robots are taking our jobs? - 29.11 The organisation has been continuously evolving for the last 90 years We have a high tolerance for change Give lots of notice and move onto other campaigns Re-investing savings made and into your people Biggest benefits for your employees - 32.21 The new set of skills and roles that have been developed internally Continuous improvement, change management culture Created specialism that people can grow entire careers from Where is the future headed? - 36.50 Pandemic has swung it back to the preference for human touch Bots will become more mainstream and better You will have a divide of people based on consumer demographics My 8-year-old son uses Alexa for everything Bots could be superseded by voice assistants  Video is up for debate. It's expensive and Zoom fatigue hasn't helped Customer Feedback - 42.24 Yes, positive reaction and easy to navigate Use NPS and TrustPilot feedback Negative is when there's a handover between channels Advice before an organisation kicks off a bot build? - 43.19 Understand why customers contact you.  Don't shoe-horn assumptions into the bot Don't lie to people that its a human No dead ends It's a consistent journey and needs continual management

In this episode, Victoria Betts, Chief Commercial Officer of Hotter Shoes, shares how she developed and delivered strategies that stimulate sales and streamline content across all of Hotter Shoes' channels and markets. By leading with expertise and influence, Victoria walks us through how her experience with brands like Missguided and The Very Group has helped her reposition Hotter Shoes' with a new, eCommerce-driven approach that's ready to meet a new generation of customers.

In this episode of Career Chats, we host Phil Hackney, Chief Operating Officer at The Very Group. With a revenue of £2bn annually and 1900 brands, The Very Group is a leading integrated online retailer and financial services provider, delivering 49 million products a year. Prior to his role at The Very Group, Phil has served in leadership positions across a variety of retail organisations, including Boots and Pets at Home. In this episode, we focus on how good leadership, workforce happiness, and a positive working culture filter through to strong commercial performance. In our new interview series, Career Chats, Page Executive host a series of inspirational leaders from across industries and sectors. We discuss their paths, explore the challenges they have faced and growth they have achieved, and provide crucial insights into the traits aspiring leaders should cultivate to achieve success.

On this episode of the Humans of DevOps, Jason Baum is joined by DevOps Institute Ambassador Jamal Walsh, Technical Product Owner at The Very Group.They discuss passions, applying DevOps practices to legacy platforms, airplane hangars, mountain biking and more! Want access to more content like this? Become a Premium member of DevOps Institute. A Premium Membership gives you all-access to what DevOps Institute has to offer including 30% off certification exams, ADOC to assess your teams’ DevOps Capabilities, SKILbooks to support you during your DevOps Journey, members-only networking and more. Get started today for the price of a cup of coffee. Learn more.

Sarah Curran-Usher is an online fashion pioneer, having first made her name in the UK with the establishment of the trailblazing accessible luxury fashion site my-wardrobe.com, before moving on launch Very Exclusive for the home shopping giant The Very Group. Curran has also been a consultant and a non-executive director for a number of big names and for the past year, she has been managing director of EMEA for fashion personalisation platform True Fit – a role that combines her twin loves of data and ecommerce.True Fit’s data-driven personalisation platform for footwear and apparel retailers uses rich connected data and machine learning to enable personal experiences for fashion retailers, and ensures consumers feel confident to buy the right product first time, leading to a better experience for the customer and fewer returns for the retailer.In this episode of ‘In Detail’ Sarah tells Lauretta Roberts, Editor in chief of TheIndustry.fashion, all about her new role while also looking back on her career and looking forward to what’s next for the dynamic online fashion market in the post-pandemic word. 

Today's guest is Susan Azari, the Mobile App Commercial Lead at The Very Group. She is an experienced marketer with over 7 years experience across a number of verticals including beauty, fashion, and tech. You will discover: - How do you decide which KPIs to focus on? - The levers to pull when you want to increase retention - How to balance testing new app marketing channels vs proven ones? - The new app marketing channel that's working for them - What's the most important A/B test to run to increase organic downloads - How paid ads contribute to ASO - Her most memorable email marketing campaign Susan Azari is the Mobile App Commercial Lead at The Very Group. Show Mentions - Fav app: Clubhouse - Loop Me SPONSORS Want to scale your growth faster? GamesBoost42 gives you early access to your App Store revenues allowing you to multiply your growth without losing equity. See how they can help by visiting GamesBoost42.com. B7DEV.com is the app development firm dedicated to helping entrepreneurs go from app idea to success because they understand startups and don't charge you huge fees just to get your app off the ground. Learn more at B7Dev.com *************** Follow us: YouTube: AppMasters.com/YouTube Instagram: @stevepyoung Twitter: @stevepyoung Facebook: App Masters *************** --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/app-marketing-podcast/message

Olivia and Martha are joined by Shannon Jennings who is Influencer, Social Media and Content Marketing Lead for The VERY Group. Shannon talks about her experience setting up her side project: The CLCK and gives actionable tips and tricks for all those looking to start their fashion marketing journey. The girls talk about creating a clear career vision and aligning your day to day work with it as well as the competitive world of fashion.

What A/B testing on Google Play store has to do with your daily routine? Well, every morning, most of us hit the snooze button on our alarm app. Then, we make other small decisions throughout the day without even knowing it. How can we make the right decisions?  Do you run tests? Well, in a way you do, every day you take notice on outcomes of your decisions and correct your future decisions accordingly. Now,  to make the right decisions about an Android app marketing and development is to conduct an A/B testing. Today's guest is Susan Azari, Mobile App Commercial Lead at The Very Group. She shares best practices and practical advice for A/B testing, specifically for Google Plays store. Today's Topics Include: ✔️A/B Testing: Different hypotheses and scenarios impact user behavior ✔️ A/B Testing Process: Create and document ideas, plans, KPIs, timeline, and sample size ✔️ Failed Tests: Learn from past mistakes to develop integrations, outcomes, and elements ✔️ Avoid Common Mistakes: Proofread, conduct check, control variables, skewed results ✔️ Google Play vs. Apple App Store: A/B testing easier and more efficient in Google Play ✔️ Useful A/B Testing Tools: Optimizely, Splitly, and Phiture Links and Resources: Susan Azari on LinkedIn The Very Group Optimizely Splitly Phiture App Store A/B Testing Strategy Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Tweets/Quotes by Susan Azari: “It's very easy for people to have subjective opinions about what they think might work best.” “Realistically, data tells the true story. That's the main reason why I'm a big fan of A/B testing.” “The reason why A/B testing is important can fall under a few different streams of activity.” “There's no such thing as a failed test. You can always learn from it.” Follow the Business Of Apps podcast Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

On our first episode of Lets Talk Leadership we had the pleasure of interviewing the very humble Andy Burton who is the CTO at The Very Group. Andy gave us some great insight into his leadership style, managing disasters and the importance of honest feedback! 

Welcome to this week's episode of The Mindset Mentor Meets Podcast which hears Angela interviewing Mark Billingham, Group CX Director and COO Financial Services at Very Group. About our guest Mark currently works at The Very Group, the UK's largest integrated online retailer and financial services business which owns very.co.uk and littlewoods.com. He has had a varied career spanning 15+ years across Operational Management, Transformation and Customer Experience. In both 2018 and 2019 the Very Group (Shop Direct), under Mark's leadership, were recognised as industry leading at the European Call Centre awards for their Customer transformation programmes. Previously, Mark has been responsible for major customer changes at British Gas and Vodafone, most notably as Customer Experience Director at Vodafone, improving TNPS by 70 points, first contact resolution by 20% points, reducing complaints by 60% and driving a 40% reduction in call volume. While at Vodafone Mark also led the implementation of AI (Tobi) and the growth of Digital Customer Service through webchat and messaging which now makes up over 40% of overall service. About this show Mark's genuine passion for doing the right thing for customers shines through during this episode and he credits his people for providing customer service that delivers above and beyond. He generously shares his proudest moments and the lessons he has learnt along the way and tells us how he uses his in-car commutes as a way to evaluate the day and prioritise for the next one, before decompressing with music so he can be fully present when he walks through the front door and takes on the role of Dad. He shares his ethos for being positive and honest, particularly when things are tough and his down to earth approach is refreshing and open. Mark's believes having respect for people is key and it's been the times when he has experienced leaders who don't show respect that have driven him to get to the heights he has achieved. Mark shares his experience about a time when he was in the wrong role and frustrated with his performance, and how he believes that in that situation, it's key to make a change. An uplifting and inspiring half hour. Keep in touch with Mark You can link-in with Mark here http;//www.linkedin.com/in/mark-billingham-3164978 About the Host Angela Cox, Mindset Mentor is an award-winning behavioural change life coach. She works with leaders and professionals helping them to stop being stuck, build the belief and unleash their absolute potential. To find out more about working with Angela visit http://www.angela-cox.co.uk To follow on social media http://www.linkedin.com/in/angelacoxmindsetmentor http://www.instagram.com/mindset_mentor_angela_cox http://www.facebook.com/mindsetmentorangelacox You can purchase Angela's book, Enough here... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Enough-proves-achieve-anything-believe-ebook/dp/B07D3RZH8J/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1585036301&sr=8-4