Retail Innovators | Global Operations Director Craig Campbell On The Biggest Challenge For Retailers in 2021

Craig Campbell is a seasoned retail executive with extensive experience in operations, marketing, e-commerce, and systems. Serving as the Executive Vice President of Operations for two national e-commerce digital solutions companies, Craig also spent 15 years at Neiman Marcus as Vice President of Marketing Global Operations and held executive level positions at May Company and Macy’s Department Stores.

In the latest edition of Looklet’s Retail Innovator series, we spoke to Craig about the biggest challenge for retailers in 2021, and how he sees the industry changing in a post-pandemic era.

How do you best describe “a day in the life of Craig”? 

Starts at 4AM every day. Eat a healthy breakfast & exercise. Catch up on email and news. Start working on my “Daily To Do” list.

What were your most important learnings from 2020? 

Importance of staying safe and healthy and maintaining a positive and encouraging mindset for myself, my family, co-workers and friends.

What is your mission for the next 12 months? 

Continue to help retailers identify process improvements, reduce expense and expand their digital footprint.

How do you define ‘innovation’ within corporate operations?

Corporate Operations is uniquely positioned to understand store challenges. Be the first to identify/surface issues and solutions. Develop strong partnership w/Senior Management and IT Division to prioritize solutions & assign resources.

Few sectors in the fashion industry are developing as fast as e-commerce, what do you see as 2021 biggest challenges & opportunities? 

Most brick and mortar retailers are fighting for survival and struggling to expand their online presence while tightly controlling expenses. The traditional way of shooting “On Model” photography is slow, overly complicated, inconsistent and too expensive. The vast majority of online imagery needed fast is for “sale shots” so you can beat your competition to market, increase sales, reduce markdowns and improve margins. I apologize for this plug, but honestly that is exactly why I am such a big advocate for the Looklet method. Looklet is the most efficient and cost-effective way to shoot high-quality imagery consistently across all merchandise categories.

What will be the biggest change for the retail industry in the post-pandemic era?  

The relentless migration of customer sales transactions from physical stores to the web, as well as the growing worldwide competition.

What advice would you give to corporate leaders and operations specialists navigating Covid-19? 

At this point, focus on preparing for the post pandemic opening & transforming your business to the new world. If you haven’t already, find ways to migrate more of your annual marketing budget from Print to Digital. Expand your web presence. Find opportunities to streamline and speed up processes and reduce expenses. Speed, efficiency & expense control are critical to survival.

What does it take for a retailer to be successful in 2021? What are the core planks of strategy that we can expect to see? 

• Having the right product, at the right price, at the right time and in the right place.
• Better/tighter inventory management and improved logistics.
• Leverage more store/vendor partnerships to share expenses and attract more customers.
• Expand your digital presence.
• Bigger investments in cyber security and infrastructure.
• Increased focus on PMO, process improvements and expense control.
• More productive and cost effective remote and freelance FT/PT employment opportunities.
• Reduction in store footprint and corporate office space.

How do you think e-commerce innovation teams will differentiate themselves in the next five to 10 years? 

Speed, price and efficiency will be the most competitive differentiators: Best price, fastest Delivery and immediate availability. Website ease of use and navigation. Increased importance of getting merchandise represented on the web quickly and cost effectively.

What’s your innovation mantra(s)? 

I have 3: “The Need for Speed”, “All Change is Good”, “Perfection is the Enemy of Good”

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