International Women’s Day 2022: 12 female retail technology leaders
To mark IWD 2022, here are 12 women making positive impacts on the retail technology sector via their work at innovative suppliers and leading retailers.
Ying Zheng, Co-founder and President, AiFi
After stints at both Apple and Google, Ying launched checkout-free stores specialist AiFi in 2016 with fellow Co-founder Steve Gu.
Fast forward to the present day and the company is working with a wide range of retailers, including Carrefour, Compass Group, Aldi UK, and Choice Market, as it looks to bring efficiency and enjoyment to shopping experiences.
Maria Tikhonova, Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder, eyezon
eyezon, a platform that connects e-commerce shoppers with retail sales agents, friends, family and also product and category experts, via live streaming sessions, recently expanded to the UK.
The company, which launched in Russia in 2019, counts Adidas, De’Longhi, Panasonic, The Body Shop, VW and LG as clients.
Maria said: “The UK is a key territory in which to demonstrate our number one priority - the breaking down of customer experience barriers that typically result from traditional e-commerce platforms.”
“Our unique proprietary technology mitigates against what we see as the commoditisation of the customer journey. It helps retailers move away from on-demand transactions to on-demand customer experience and facilitates quicker purchasing decisions for consumers.”
Paula Bobbett, E-commerce Director, Boots UK
Paula joined Boots UK from Dixons Carphone, where she started as Senior Manager, E-commerce Insight in 2013, before becoming Head of Online Trade, Analytics and Insight in 2015 and finally Head of Online Performance in 2018.
Prior to that, she was Strategy & Analytics Manager at Avon.
She is also a member of the RTIH Innovation Awards judging panel.
Boots UK recently implemented Recite Me assistive and language support technology across its online store.
Paula said: “We know that shopping online or in-store isn’t as easy as it should be for everyone.”
“Hence why we’ve launched Recite Me to make it easier for people to navigate our site in the way that works best for them. We have also worked on a Boots best practice guide for our suppliers to ensure they also have this front of mind.”
Lindsay Fisher, Co-founder, Sparkbox
Praetura Ventures has invested £1.5 million into Sparkbox, a UK-based startup that uses AI and data to help retailers’ merchandising teams make better stock buying and pricing decisions.
Launched in 2019, Sparkbox works with the likes of River Island and MATCHESFASHION, enabling them to forecast demand, optimise their pricing and promotions and plan inventory to reduce waste and the need for big discounts.
It will use Praetura Ventures’ investment to double its team and onboard further fashion, home and seasonal retailers.
The company was co-founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 inductees Lindsay Fisher and Matthew Wong, and Kevin Blackmore, who prior to Sparkbox was VP of Customer Insights at Best Buy and a retail analytics partner at Accenture.
Fisher said: “As a team of former retailers, we’ve seen first hand how the retail industry is advancing in many areas but falling behind when it comes to making data-driven decisions.”
“We know how much potential there is for AI and machine learning to improve profits and reduce waste in retail, and we are thrilled to have Prateura join us on our mission to modernise merchandising and put data behind the important pricing and inventory decisions our users make every day.”
Geri Hebberd, Senior Director of Retail Innovation, Asda
Asda, which was named UK retailer of the year at the 2021 RTIH Innovation Awards, is trialling an automated age verification solution at self-checkouts.
It is also launching a trial early next month that will allow colleagues in four stores to test payments via a mobile Scan and Go app.
Geri said: “We know how time pressed some of our customers are, so we always want to make things quicker and easier for them when they shop with us.”
“We are excited to be the first retailer in the UK to test this new technology and are looking forward to seeing what our customers think of the trial.”
“The use of this software will enable colleagues to focus on serving customers and make sure they have an excellent experience whilst in store.”
Elodie Perthuisot, Executive Director E-Commerce, Data and Digital Transformation, Carrefour
Shoptalk Europe recently added Elodie to its list of keynote speakers.
Carrefour is at the front of the pack in terms of grocery innovation, with its recent metaverse move into The Sandbox being a great example of of this.
Perthuisot will reveal her vision on the future of grocery and the technologies, tactics and strategies that she believes are needed to win in the long-term.
Diana Morato, Chief Revenue Growth Officer, Sensei
Last year, startup Sensei announced its first autonomous store opening to the public, in partnership with Portuguese retailer Sonae.
The move closely followed a $6.5 million seed fund raise.
Check out this rather excellent autonomous technology article by Diana that was recently published on our site.
Bryony Elliott, Co-founder, Hullabalook
UK-based e-commerce startup Hullabalook recently secured $8.2 million in a Series A funding round led by Nauta Capital and supported by existing investors Conviction VC and Passion Capital.
The cash will support the firm’s growth in the UK and new markets in North America and Europe.
Bryony said: “Our mission is to make retailer product catalogues easier to browse and purchase.”
“Online shopping journeys look the same as they did a decade ago and traditional navigation processes coupled with ever expanding product catalogues make product discovery very difficult for consumers.”
Sarah Friswell, CEO, Red Ant
Sarah’s recent achievements include Red Ant being certified a Great Place to Work (scoring 90% on the Trust Index Survey) and leading the way for women in tech with her company’s team of technology experts being 59% women and dedicated to diversity and inclusion since the company’s inception.
Red Ant also picked up the Best coronavirus innovation gong at the 2021 RTIH Innovation Awards.
Developed as an extension of its clienteling app during the pandemic, the company’s shoppable virtual consultations solution was the first of its kind to launch to market.
Trinh Le Fiedler, Co-founder and CEO, Nomitri
Berlin-based AI startup Nomitri recently closed a €2.5 million seed round led by FoodLabs.
The venture helps bricks and mortar retailers create a personalised and data driven shopping experience.
Its mobile shopping assistant serves as a self-checkout solution, including fraud prevention and customer behaviour insights.
Embedded AI technology enables deep learning algorithms to run directly on endpoints.
Customers include German supermarket chain Edeka Lüning.
“Securing this new funding is proof that the world is noticing us. We are happy to have the great FoodLabs team backing us on our mission to build products that make a difference to our customers and solve real problems in the retail space with our embedded AI solutions,” Trinh commented.
Nikki Baird, Vice President of Retail Innovation, Aptos
Nikki was last year included on the RTIH Top 50 Retail Technology Influencers List.
She joined Aptos in 2018, having previously served as Managing Partner at Retail Systems Research.
Nikki’s job involves helping bring the company’s solutions to market. Additionally, she works with Aptos Labs, its research and innovation initiative.
Zarina Lam Stanford, CMO, Bazaarvoice
Having sat on the Board of Advisors for the BD Foundation (BeyonDiversity), and having been recently named among the 2021 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business by the Asian American Business Development Center (AABDC), Zarina says she is proud to be a female, Asian American leader in the retail space.
"The only way to craft a culture that empowers women of colour is through action. We need to encourage active hiring practices,” she said.
“Companies have a responsibility to identify top talents who are women and women of colour. They need to be deliberate in finding and crystalising career paths for them.”
“The priority - beyond finding the right talent for the job - should be to provide the right opportunities to hire or promote those that are under-represented.”
She added: “There need to be forums provided for open conversation e.g. an employee resource group (ERG) for members of women of colour to coalesce and to provide a platform to share, exchange, learn, and practice.”
“Ultimately, progress needs to be measured and celebrated. As one of my previous bosses once said, inspect to expect.”
“Young women today should not be afraid to speak up and let others know what they think and what they want. In the very early days of my career I was told to speak up more often as I had value to give the business and the team.”
“As women we have a trait to overthink more so than men, so it was a reminder that if we keep our thoughts to ourselves then no benefit will come of them. Everyone brings a different perspective, so it’s important to ensure you speak up.”
“We as women are intuitive beings. Simply being yourself and following your instinct goes a long way."
