In episode 30 of the RetailCraft podcast we were joined by Ali Holmes of Pepsico Europe and Megan Ludlow of Marks & Spencer, who shared their thoughts on innovation, digital delivery and controversial campaigns.
Digital Editor, Scarlette Isaac, highlights the key discussion points from part 2, with Megan Ludlow, innovation partnership at Marks & Spencer. For a full transcript of the conversation, click here.
What does open innovation mean in the world of M&S?
“So open innovation, it is partly that cultural perspective, it is how do we get all of our colleagues across the business thinking in a more agile mindset? If I have this idea, how can I test it really quickly to check that it’s a good idea? And then how do I implement it at scale?
“It’s all about getting our colleagues to approach innovation in a less fearful way. How can we make our processes really quick so that our colleagues all across the business can innovate and we create an innovation culture?”
How does that work culturally and practically?
“I think it all has to come from the environment with which we create for our colleagues. So the permission to innovate has to come from the top-down. We have to have our senior management all across the business say, we will allow you to fail. And if you do fail, then we approach it as, what can we learn from this?.
“We’re not keeping our knowledge and our experience in silos. We’re sharing them all across the business. And I think that permission empowers colleagues from the bottom up to innovate. I think the mark of a successful innovation programme is that you get the permission from the top-down and the power and the change from the bottom-up.”
Looking to the future
“I think that the future of metaverse and retail, isn’t the gaming reality that everybody is talking about. I think that metaverse means for retail a mixed reality. So getting customers, not only looking at the omnichannel journey, but the mixed reality journey.”
To find out more, listen to the full podcast on Apple Music or Spotify now.
For a full transcript of episode 30, complete with glossary definitions, fact packs and useful links, click here.