International Women’s Day 2023: Showcasing ten female retail technology leaders
To mark IWD 2023, here are ten women making positive impacts on the retail technology sector via their work at innovative companies and leading retailers, including Mercaux’s Olga Kotsur, XY Retail’s Susan Jeffers, and True Fit’s Sarah Curran.
Olga Kotsur
Kotsur is Co-founder and CEO at Mercaux, which recently announced that it is delivering RFID self-checkout into stores of River Island, the British high street retailer, alongside key strategic partners.
Shoppers will be encouraged to use self-service devices to speed up the last step in their path to purchase.
After dropping the items into the “RFID Bucket”, said items appear instantly in a digital basket on Mercaux’s self-service kiosk where the customer completes the transaction.
This is made possible, in part, with Mercaux’s composable platform, allowing retailers to surface the checkout process on any device in-store (store associate or customer), eliminating the need for customers to join a line to be served by a store associate at the traditional cash register.
Mercaux’s technology was deployed and integrated with River Island’s existing omnichannel commerce platform with the support of system integrator, Cabiri.
Kotsur commented: “Exceptional customer experiences should encompass the entire path to purchase, and checkout should be no exception.”
“The pain of checking out in-store is often the primary cause of complaint and basket abandonment, and yet the experience has remained stagnant for many years.”
“By offering an alternative to Legacy PoS, River Island will be able to eliminate maintenance costs and break away from lengthy and expensive on-prem release cycles, towards quicker and more agile upgrades via the cloud.”
“We are delighted that they have chosen Mercaux as a key partner to support them in their vision.”
Wizz Selvey
Selvey is the former Head of Buying at Selfridges and Director at Cowshed Beauty and Soho Home.
She is a champion for change in the retail industry and has an instinct for trends, how to build a disruptive brand and is an expert on customer behaviour.
As well as speaking internationally Selvey is also a regular contributor to trade and mainstream media, being featured in the likes of WGSN, Beauty Independent, METRO, the Daily Mail, NatWest Business, and City AM.
She is also a member of the RTIH Innovation Awards judging panel.
Susan Jeffers
Jeffers is Founder, and CEO at XY Retail.
She is an enterprise technology and consumer marketing executive with diverse experience working with Fortune 500 brands and retail startups.
Jeffers has been instrumental in driving XY Retail’s successes through her strategic vision and efforts to improve the customer experience.
She has a deep understanding of strategy, product design, development for consumer companies, media, content innovation, brand positioning, team building, and operations.
In the wake of the tremendous digital transformation retailers saw in the last few years, her conviction that a focus on the needs of physical retail storefronts would continue to be successful seemed counterintuitive and, initially faced headwinds.
She realised the retail industry was rapidly changing with the rise of e-commerce, and she knew the in-store experience was also ripe for transformation, and created XY Retail, a PoS and omnichannel commerce solution for retailers.
As a result, fashion brands in 35 countries are already using XY Retail to manage their stores, e-commerce, customers, products, inventory, orders, and more.
Mary Portas
Queen of Shops and co-chair of the Better Business Act, Mary Portas, has been confirmed as a keynote speaker at Retail Technology Show 2023, taking place on 26th and 27th April 2023 at London’s Olympia.
Portas will join over 100+ retail thought leaders taking to the stage at the event.
Speaking on the Headline Stage on day two, moderated this year by retail broadcaster and ‘Customer Whisperer’ Kate Hardcastle, she will discuss the role of human connectivity and the Kindness Economy in the future of retail.
Portas will explore what this new value system, where businesses must understand the fundamental role they play in the fabric of people’s lives, means for retailers – and their omnichannel technology roadmaps – as they look ahead to 2023 and beyond.
Claire McHugh
McHugh co-founded Axonista in 2010 to seize an emerging market opportunity in video commerce.
In the 12 following years the company has grown to employ 48 employees and have clients including QVC and Virgin Media.
She is active in the Irish startup industry, serving as advisor to companies and serving on Scale Ireland's board.
Sarah Curran
True Fit, a fit personalisation platform for fashion retailers, recently announced the promotion of its MD EMEA, Sarah Curran, to Global Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
Former Luxury Director at fashion retailer Shop Direct (now The Very Group), Curran joined True Fit in 2020 as Managing Director (MD) of Europe, having worked with the firm as a retail adviser between March and July of the same year.
She also founded her own affordable luxury fashion e-commerce site, My-Wardrobe, in 2006 – a seven year tenure which saw her awarded an MBE for services to fashion.
Curran says: “Coming from the retail side, and understanding as a retailer what the shopper demands are and knowing the data that is available from the Fashion Genome as I now do, this is such an important tool and partner for retail.”
“This is particularly true in today’s climate, as retailers grapple with rising returns rates and spiralling costs of customer acquisition, while cost-of-living pricing and promotions sensitivities from shoppers put even more pressure on retailers to discount in order to drive demand.”
“Data that can help retailers leverage insights to sell more at full price, whilst minimising operational costs - especially around reverse logistics and returns - will not only protect margin in the short-term, but help grow customer loyalty and CLV in the longer-term.”
Danielle Vermeer
Vermeer recently left her “dream job” leading resale fashion CX at Amazon for life at a fashion tech startup.
She is now Co-founder and CEO at Teleport, a social commerce app to share and shop outfit videos in a Gen Z driven community (think TikTok and Depop combined).
In a Twitter post, she said: “I believe the future of fashion is where content, community and (re)commerce collide.”
“Younger consumers want a “third space” online to express their authentic style and to shop cute clothes from trusted peers. I’m obsessed with making this vision a reality.”
Teleport is co-founded by Jon Choi (ex-Ethereum, Dropbox).
Vermeer added: “We believe that fashion is more than just the clothes you wear. It's a way to express your unique style, get inspired and make genuine connections in a niche community.”
Sarah Friswell
Friswell is CEO at 2022 RTIH Innovation Awards winner Red Ant
Recent achievements include being certified Great Place to Work (scoring 90% on the Trust Index Survey) and her leading the way for women in tech with Red Ant’s team of technology experts being 59% women and dedicated to diversity and inclusion since the company’s inception.
After beginning her career in account management, Friswell followed the client relationship ladder all the way to the emerging digital landscape in Dubai, where she led major projects for brands including IBM and Volvo.
On her return to the UK, she joined Red Ant where she applied her experience of networked and independent tech-based businesses to drive the company forward in its work with the likes of Charlotte Tilbury, Furniture Village and Chalhoub Group.
She is particularly passionate about diversity, equality and encouraging the progression of women in what can be a tough industry and has been instrumental in ensuring positive measures are part of Red Ant’s policies.
Michelle Grant
Grant is Senior Manager, Strategy and Insights, Retail and Consumer Goods at Salesforce.
Check out our Top 100 Retail Technology Influencers List interview with her, in which we discuss QR codes, automation, and augmented reality, here.
Deann Evans
Director of EMEA Expansion & Partnerships, Shopify, Evans comments: “Embracing equity is so important as it is the first step to equality. It means gaining a deep understanding of the reasons why people are not starting from the same place.”
“There are factors at an individual, societal and structural level which can mean that some people have more opportunities, meaning they have privilege, whilst others face barriers. Opportunity and action can't start until you have this understanding from which to act.”
“As an individual, embracing equity in your professional life can mean choosing to work for a company that is creating opportunity.”
“As a leader, it can mean amplifying and normalising the opportunities your company creates for equity. Actions such as normalising and celebrating parental leave for all genders can play a crucial role in this.”
“Being a digital first company can also help to create a safe space for people to work around their needs outside of work. This is a key part of how we embrace equity at Shopify, with our Digital by Design working model.”
“Traditional barriers to success at work - including location, physical or mental health disabilities and caring duties - no longer need to be seen as barriers when such a flexible working model exists.”
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