Stephen Taylor talks digital transformation and technology migration as he exits Debenhams Group
Stephen Taylor has left Debenhams Group, his home for the past three years, where he most recently served as Customer Experience Specialist.
He joined the online retailer from JD Sports Fashion where he worked for almost 13 years.
In a LinkedIn post, he said: “After three years, the time has come to close my chapter at Debenhams Group. I’ll never forget my first day: walking into a room with a tight-knit team of around ten people, some of the best in the industry across marketing, tech, marketplaces, and buying.”
“Our mission was ambitious: to build and grow Debenhams into the retail success it is today. It’s been an experience defined by growth, challenging work, and an immense amount of learning. I am particularly proud of the transformations we drove across our digital foundation and internal processes.”
“Tech and architecture: Being part of an incredible team to execute the migration of ten plus brands onto a new, industry leading tech stack across web and app. This complex undertaking now opens up endless future possibilities for rapid development and innovation.”
He added: “Content and efficiency: Transforming our digital infrastructure by implementing a headless CMS with the brilliant tech team. This shift is now utilised across the group, drastically minimising the need for multiple tools, supporting cost cutting and increasing productivity for our content, e-commerce, copy, and SEO functions.”
“Website capabilities: We dramatically transformed the customer experience across our core website and app by adopting an accelerated A/B testing programme. This allowed us to quickly test, validate, and implement high impact changes, ensuring we rapidly adapted to evolving consumer needs. These data driven enhancements ultimately enabled customers to easily discover and navigate nearly 1,000,000 products, sustaining a seamless UX amidst massive scale.”
“Operational excellence: Working closely with the creative team to implement and optimise processes for asset delivery, ensuring maximum efficiency. Crucially, I also worked closely with legal to ensure both the web and app environments remained fully compliant with ever changing regulations.”
He concluded: “I am so grateful to have been trusted with contributing to and often leading some of these major projects during the brand’s successful rebuild phase. This responsibility has pushed me to develop skills and experience in CRO, UX, and digital strategy that I’ll carry forward.”
“I am now on the search for my next role and would be open to any opportunities available through my connections. I'm incredibly excited for what's next and looking forward to bringing everything I’ve learnt into my next venture.”
2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS
Digital transformation was a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.
We received a record number of entries and many fantastic examples of the continued resilience and dynamism of the retail space during hugely challenging times.
For a full rundown of all of the shortlisted entries, click here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC in Central London on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
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