I’ve done a lot of work in eCommerce and other digital channels, creating, advising or leading several of the top UK online and multi-channel propositions. Here are a relevant selection of clients, case studies, references and articles about this work.
“I supported the board with a demerger of the business, refinancing and plans for expansion” I supported this family owned business to manage the practicalities of a demerger of their business that they had agreed to carry out. Once complete, I supported the CEO, new board and investors to develop an ambitious new strategy including[…]
“I supported the board with strategy development and planning” I worked with the board of this B2B retailer of tools and other equipment and suppliers, to develop a turnaround and growth strategy, together with leadership development and coaching. Having completed a series of workshops and parallel strategic planning, I worked with functional teams, in particular[…]
“I consulted with this online retailer, supporting the restructure of their transformation programme.” With nearly £1 billion turnover across over 20 multi-channel retail brands, N Brown is one of the largest online retail operators in the UK. When new senior management joined the business in 2014 they engaged me to support the review of their £100m technology-enabled business[…]
“I consulted with Morrisons on a variety of digital initiatives, including leading the design & delivery of a major CRM programme.” Morrisons is the 4th largest supermarket in the UK with a turnover in excess of £15bn pa and around 500 stores. Following acquisition of Safeway in 2004 and the ensuing integration and changes in[…]
I created and led the Morrisons CRM programme which built a world class capability for managing customer data. In this article, Marketing Week discusses the scope of the CRM capability.
I set up the knowledge transfer process and induction for business leads heading to Fresh Direct in New York. In this article the Guardian discusses the Fresh Direct acquisition by Morrisons.
I helped refocus the Morrisons eCommerce strategy to exploit the newly acquired online business, Kiddicare.com, and led a number of projects to integrate the operation into the wider Morrisons business. In this article, the Guardian reports on the acquisition.
“What started as a consulting brief focused on growth quickly turned into a turnaround-focused restructuring assignment.” With over €12 billion turnover through over 120 multi-channel retail brands, Otto is one of the very largest online retail operators globally. Otto acquired a number of retail catalogue brands in the UK in 1999, including Freemans and Grattans,[…]
Iain is a talented Programme Manager who has the ability to operate at a strategic level but also “deep dive” to a significant level of detail. He has a hands on approach, is pragmatic and delivery focused. A very good mix of business understanding and IT knowledge. Chief Operating Officer Otto UK – Freeman Grattan[…]
Iain joined WH Smith Direct a few weeks before me. He quickly grasped the business and key issues and developed business plan initiatives. Iain is an exceptional team player and worked very hard to develop the team ethos within the management team and the wider business. Communications on KPI’s and performance improved considerably and each[…]
“I was engaged to review the Lloyds Pharmacy e-commerce strategy and capability.” Lloyds Pharmacy, part of the multi-national Celesio AG group, operates more than 1500 pharmacy stores in local communities and health centres turning over in excess of £1.5bn. Stores stock a range of prescription and over the counter pharmaceuticals in addition to a broad range of[…]
“I helped the North East cultural agency develop its online proposition” Audiences North East was a regional agency set up in 2004 to increase the number and range of people engaging with cultural activity in the North East of England to the mutual benefit of audiences and cultural providers. It is the most important new cultural[…]
“I supported the directors of this online retailer with the turnaround and sale of their business.” The Food Ferry were a niche online retailer, providing customers with grocery and gourmet products. With a range of online and offline ordering mechanisms and delivery within London through its own fleet of vehicles and outside of London via courier,[…]
“I led WHSmith Direct through the most significant period of business change in its history, delivering step change improvement in sales and profit performance” In April 2003, I was engaged to lead WHSmith Direct through this period of significant business change and opportunity. This would allow the main board director responsible for the business to focus[…]
I provide this reference in the sure knowledge that Iain can make a significant contribution to your own organisation, in a wide variety of ways. Iain’s significant track record in retail, and in particular his wide experience in online businesses, was the driver for us asking him to take on the role of Chief Operating[…]
I was a contractor involved in some substantial business sytem changes in WHSmith Direct before and while Iain was interim CEO. It was very helpful when Iain arrived and grasped the key important issues very quickly. Consultant WHSmith 22 June 2003
“I advised Marksandspencer.com on its content management strategy” Marks & Spencer is one of the UK’s best known general retailers, with a broad range of products from clothing (number one market share) to financial services, home & furniture to fresh food. I was engaged by marksandspencer.com to carry out a full review of its content management[…]
Iain is an affliative manager and as such a successful change agent, always bringing others along with him. He has a visionary leadership style and his lateral thinking abilities are to be admired. Operations Manager WHSmith Direct 3 March 2003
“Following a 10 year career in a variety of senior management roles, I’ve continued to consult with Asda on occasional projects.” Asda is the second largest supermarket retailer in the UK with annual sales of around £20 billion and almost 200,000 employees. The business became part of the largest retailer in the world, Wal-mart Inc, in[…]
I worked closely with Iain when we explored our strategic options for entering the personal financial services industry, and more recently when he led the development of our shopping services on Asda.com and Sky Active digital TV. In both of these new businesses, Iain demonstrated excellent strategic thinking, rigorous planning and first rate leadership skills in implementing our strategic plans….
Building Asda’s multi-channel retail business across web, call centre, catalogue, CD-Rom and interactive TV is no mean feet. We explain how we achieved it in a little over 12 months.
I led Asda’s programme to migrate away from loss making warehouses, building a store fulfilment operation to allow rapid scalability. In this article, Revolution magazine interview me about Asda’s plans.
I led the programme to build Asda’s online technology platform, one of the largest online retail propositions in the UK. Iain Spence was the featured Information Age interview discussing what it takes to develop such large scale platforms.
I led the development of Asda’s interactive TV shopping proposition, the largest and one of the first in the world. In this article, The Grocer discusses the future of online shopping on alternative devices.
I led the first online grocery shopping experience on interactive TV, a joint venture between Sky and Asda. Revolution Magazine discusses the future of interactive TV.
Closing Asda’s home shopping depot’s in Watford and Croydon was part of the strategy to migrate to a more profitable store picking model. I explain how we did it.