Change, or lose your customers

The man who brought new vigour to Woolworths 12 years ago says retailers must adapt fast to new developments

Chances are you’ve heard of Andrew Jennings. The British national has held positions in some of the world’s most illustrious retailers: Harrods and House of Fraser in the

UK, Saks Fifth Avenue in the US and Karstadt in Germany.

It’s partly thanks to Jennings that we can walk into Woolworths to buy figs, cottage pies, toilet paper and Chuckles. As MD of retail at the upmarket chain he implemented the first iterations of Woolworths’ trolley-shopping and larger-sized stores strategy that forms the essence of its food business today.

In fact, Jennings coined the chain’s phrase: “We must have the mind of a supermarket and the soul of a deli.”

Jennings was brought in as a turnaround man in 2006, and during his three years at Woolworths introduced new ways of thinking about customers; reorganised buying, planning and design functions; and put the retailer back on track with a clear strategy.

Jennings famously butted heads with Woolworths chairman Simon Susman (then the retailer’s CEO), but in the end he got the job done.

“We brought him in to put in a segmented strategy,” said Susman in September 2009. “He is the most difficult man I have ever worked with. But what you see [in the store] is testament to him.”

The Financial Mail interviewed the retail veteran about his new book, Almost Is Not Good Enough, and about the evolution of retail, merchandise that becomes like dead fish and where to shop.

The current changes in the industry are being described as a “new dawn” for retail. What differentiates the transformation we’re seeing in the market now from shifts there have been in the past?