Global Industry Survey From Green Park and the World Retail Congress Reveals Retail Sector Leadership Must Change to Exploit Future Opportunities

LONDON, May 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Park's survey of global retail Chairs, CEOs and senior executives reveals that leadership teams are 'not fit for purpose' in the rapidly changing business environment.

The DNA of Future Retail Leadership reveals:

• Only 36% feel their leadership team is moving fast enough to keep up with changing consumer behaviour.
• Just 27% believe their team has the digital expertise necessary for success in the future.
• Just 26% feel their team has the necessary expertise in data and analytics.
• 56% believe their team is not diverse enough to reflect their customers.

Many top teams across the sector are found to be in crisis due to:

• A failure to adapt to the rapid changes in consumer behaviour brought about through technological change.
• A failure of culture, with a functional, siloed set-up unsuited to providing a seamless customer experience across multiple channels.
• A lack of diversity leading to less insight and focus on changing customer demand.
• A failure of skills with many struggling to implement transformational changes.

The report concludes there are three main areas where companies need to focus their strategies to create: 

• A hard-wired understanding of modern customer behaviour and mindset across all channels, linked to strategic decision making.
• A leadership structure embracing blurred lines, running all channels in an integrated manner to provide a seamless customer experience.
• A mindset in which all members of the leadership team regard digital as integral to their roles, using data analysis to drive the company's strategic vision.

Steve Baggi, Co-Founder of Green Park said: "This report should act as a wake-up call for the retail sector. As technological change increases in pace and consumers interact with brands in ever more innovative ways, leadership teams at many of our leading companies appear unable to adapt and risk failure in the future."

"However there is hope. Some companies, led by forward thinkers adept at using technology to harness insights about their customers, are thriving. The rest of the sector can follow their lead, taking some of the strategies we lay out in the report to help ensure they too can prosper in tomorrow's business environment."

The full report can be downloaded at https://www.green-park.co.uk/the-dna-of-future-retail-leadership.

For more information, please contact:

Mark Ogle, OH Communications
T: [phone]
E: [e-mail]