Over the past year, there has been a seismic shift in the way we do business, which has led to massive changes for retailers and consumers. Today I'm joined by two fantastic guests, Carmen Ip from Lush and Rachel Meyers from Retail Zipline our sponsor for this episode. We have an informative discussion on how retail communications have evolved over the past year and how Retail Zipline has enabled Lush to adapt to unexpected changes with a moment's notice and push communications as fast as possible to everyone who needed it.
Welcome to the The Voice of Retail , I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
Over the past year, there has been a seismic shift in the way we do business, which has led to massive changes for retailers and consumers. Today I'm joined by two fantastic guests, Carmen Ip from Lush and Rachel Meyers from Retail Zipline our sponsor for this episode. We have an informative discussion on how retail communications have evolved over the past year and how Retail Zipline has enabled Lush to adapt to unexpected changes with a moment's notice and push communications as fast as possible to everyone who needed it.
"I look back and I reflect on how zip line has elevated everything. You know, we used to print off checklists, we used to send multiple emails, you know, we had action sheets, but you know, Zipline just makes everything so easy."
We get an inside look at how a massive brand coordinated its managerial and marketing communications during the pandemic and get some insight into how their experience will guide strategy in the future.
Sign up for the RCC Retail Zipline/Lush webinar here.
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I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co!
Until next time, stay safe and have a great week!
Michael LeBlanc
Carmen. Rachel, welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. How are you both doing this morning?
Rachel Meyers
I'm well, thank you. Thanks for having us.
Carmen Ip
We’re excited about this conversation.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah. Well, it's certainly my pleasure live from, from the great city of Vancouver. Talking with both Retail Zipline or Zipline and Lush and stores and store operations. And, you know, having spent many years connected, I’m keen to learn all about what the two of you do.
Carmen, why don't we jump in? Why don't we jump right in Carmen, tell us a little about yourself, your journey and what you do at Lush?
Carmen Ip
Yeah, happily. So long story short, I've worked in the retail industry for over 15 years in leadership positions at some pretty iconic Canadian companies. And I've had the honor of supporting a lot of exponential growth across North America, and globally. Really passionate about growing in Canada, especially. I'm based in Vancouver, British Columbia. And it feels like a full circle ending up here at Lush, where our headquarters, manufacturing and distribution all operate within a few kilometers of each other actually.
So, as the Retail Ops and Communications Manager at Lush, our team works behind the scenes with business partners across the organization to ensure the messages that we push out to shops are informative, accurate, of course, engaging, digestible, and of course, most importantly, are executed upon. And I think there are just so many incredible aspects about being the communicator in your organization. I think that the importance of this role was especially apparent over this past unique year. Yeah, and I think, you know, as we continue this conversation today, the pace and complexity of the retail world has evolved so much over the past year. And certainly our roles as communicators has also evolved very much as we, you know, adapt and evolve with everything that happened over the past year.
And what I can say is that, you know, we've stayed committed to these common denominators as communicators at Lush. Again, you know, the ability to adapt really, really quickly to fulfill what felt like everything was urgent last year. Yeah, requests, you know, constantly evolving messages, as we remember when we were first talking about the pandemic back last March, gosh, almost a year ago. Crazy to believe,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, crazy.
Carmen Ip
And then,
Michael LeBlanc
Craziest thing, you know, we all, we always all talk about pivoting. It's like we've pivoted 360 degrees. in some ways, we are back to where we started. In fact, today, we're recording in, in mid-February, they just Ontario just announced they're going, they're gonna open stores again, but they'll be red zones and gray zones. And who knew we'd have to deal with that kind of complexity on top of the regular day to day complexity? Oh,
Carmen Ip
Absolutely, and I think that, you know, communication played such a big part when we first closed our stores, and then, you know, shifting from curbside pickup and then reopening, and then closing and then reopening. Watching the news. Keeping close to what's happening. So, definitely, I think throughout this conversation, we're going to talk a lot about pivoting and being able to flex between messages.
But yeah, that's me in a nutshell, I think the last thing I would say is, you know, our partnership with Zipline has been incredible through the past year. Of course, you know, not only ensuring that we are closing the loop on communication, but all the tools and technologies available that we haven't been able to leverage throughout the past year. So, I think that's it in a nutshell.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, that's a great segue over to Rachel. Rachel, tell us about yourself and what you do. And then tell us about Zipline. Retail Zipline, your URL is Retail Zipline, but it's clearly embedded, deep embed into retail. So, tell us all about yourself and the company.
Rachel Meyers
Like Carmen, I'm also based in Vancouver, Canada. I've held various roles in retail all with Canadian companies. I worked on the floor of Aritzia and worked at Kit and Ace during its hyper growth period under Retail Ops, working directly for the Head of Retail. And, I was also at a company called Roden Gray, where I focused on both retail and ecom operations. But my current role is as an Account Manager at Retail Zipline. I had been wanting to move into technology for a little while. But I really loved retail. And luckily this married them both for me. So, I feel like I really lucked out in that sense.
And so, a little bit about Zipline. We're a communication and task management solution for retailers. I've been here for the past three years. And my focus really is around helping customers implement Zipline and drive success through store communications.
Michael LeBlanc
It's great. Now tell us a little bit about to the company. Where is it based? I see a great slide of logo, of logos, with customers, looks like from across North America. So, give me a sense of scale and scope for the company.
Rachel Meyers
Yeah, so we are, I guess we're based out of San Francisco. That's where one of our co-founders lives. And then at the time that I got brought on, our other co-founder lived in Vancouver. But we're a fully remote company. So, we have people in Europe. We've got people, we've got someone in Australia, we have Americans, Canadian, so kind of spread out.
Michael LeBlanc
Right, so you get a nice breadth of experience for, at the organizational level. Right so, both global and, and deep into the technology. It's fantastic.
Carmen, tell us a little bit, you know, the name Lush would be very, very familiar to all the listeners. But they may not all know, the scope and the scale, and then the number of stores and that kind of stuff. So just give us a bit of 411 on Lush, the brand itself as a retailer.
Carmen Ip
Yeah, absolutely. We'd love to talk about the name Lush and everything that goes behind making the product. So, we currently have 269 shops in North America. Pre and post COVID, I think when you walk into a Lush shop, and if you haven't been into a Lush shop, every product that you see on our shelves, has been lovingly handcrafted. So, we have folks who slice, squeeze, mix fresh batches every day of the week, to create the freshest product possible. Yeah. And, we believe that doing so means that every product will contain the maximum dose of beneficial nutrients that work best for your skin and hair. And, if you do have any Lush product, you may even notice a face sticker on every pot with the date, the product was lovingly made by our staff. The other piece about handmade is our shops actually have this gorgeous, reclaimed wood furniture. And that's actually handmade right in our very own woodshop here in Vancouver. So, you'll learn that handmade is really so much more than part of our name. It's truly who we are. You know, everything we do is made for us by us. And we know the exact conditions under which it was produced, and
Michael LeBlanc
Who’s making it? What's going into it? All that stuff, right?
Carmen Ip
Yeah, absolutely. And so, as part of the shop experience at Lush, you know, we can be absolutely sure that our products and shops are ethically sourced from beginning to end.
And when you look around a Lush shop, I think you'll be dazzled by all the hundreds of colorful products and fragrance inside. I know, it might be a little masked now with the mandatory masks. But you can visually still see all the colorful stacks of soap, bubble bars, bath bombs, you know, they're still, pre and post COVID, still displayed in the same way for customers to experience.
So yeah, and last but not least, I will say a lot of you know, there's so much that's evolved in the retail world with the customer experience. I'm sure we'll talk a little bit more about that later. But a lot of Lush’s store experience still does remain the same. You know, we may not be able to do product demos and samples the same way we used to. But we certainly got creative through the pandemic, which I'm sure we'll dive into a little bit later.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, yeah. One question. You mentioned at the beginning that you were working close by where the product was made. Is all the product made in Vancouver for North America? Or there are several plants? Just give us a bit of background on that.
Carmen Ip
Everything is made in Canada. We have a manufacturing facility here in Vancouver as well as in Toronto. So, we also try to lessen the footprint in which we, you know, ship our products. So, the Toronto manufacturing's team services the east coast.
Michael LeBlanc
And when you say North America, you have stores in Canada and the US under your purview?
Carmen Ip
Yes, yeah
Michael LeBlanc
Right, and what would be the relative split? It's kind of a numbers. I'm just kind of interested in the numbers that helps listeners understand that kind of scope and scale is about 50/50? Or is it proportionate to the population kind of thing? Just rough number, what does it look like on both sides of the border?
Carmen Ip
Yeah, we have a larger footprint in the United States. So, we have 217 shops in the US. And then 269 minus 217. Sorry,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, sorry, I’m making you do math on the podcast, sorry. The rest, of the rest okay.
Carmen Ip
So definitely a larger footprint in the US. Yeah,
Michael LeBlanc
Well, all right. Well, let's, you've mentioned it a couple of times. Let's paint a picture for the nature of communications in the, in this what let's call it the COVID era. I mean, many of the listeners would understand the nature communications to the stores. I was just interviewing Ron Thurston. He's got a great book on Retail Pride. And he's been a store operator his entire life and he says, “Listen, the number and amount of communications and asks heading into the store is massive”. And you know, his perspective is, you know, “Saturday, clear it all out, you're focused on making a great experience for the customer”. But give us a sense of how you manage that ongoing flow of communication. I mean, there's so much going on all at the same time. Even more so during the COVID era. Just walk me through your day-to-day process and the process flow. I guess where we'll go with this is where Zipline has been so helpful.
Carmen Ip
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, first of all, you know, if we reflect back to last year, huge kudos to the Retail Council of Canada. I remember the webinars that they put on in February, and beginning of March. I think this was when COVID-19 awareness was just starting to grow in Canada. So, there was just so much unknown. And as communicators, we wanted to make sure we communicated the right thing as we evolved through the situation. So, we took a lot of the guidance and practices from those webinars that were put on and included them right in our initial COVID-19 messages. You know, I think through February, it was, quote, unquote, business as usual. We still did start updating a core COVID-19 message fairly regularly as we continue to, like adapt around the situation. I think back then, you know, with, along with the rest of the retailers, that are probably listening here, that health and safety of our staff and customers where our core priority. Still is. So as the situation continued to evolve, we quickly created a COVID-19 Task Force monitoring local conditions with shops all across North America, you can imagine there's probably a
Michael LeBlanc
So complex. I mean, it's complex enough to think about just at the country level, but you probably had to get down almost to the municipal level, right? Just because it was so dynamic, from block to block practically, right?
Carmen Ip
Very much so. With mask guidelines back then to, you know, even capacity. Every state or county has different capacity regulations. So, you know, operationalizing all those factors and being proactive, from cleaning to interacted, in interacting with customers was a huge part of our roles as communicators. And I'm not sure if you, anybody remembers, but we were actually one of the first retailers in North America to close our doors on March 16. And that was a big day for us, we had to really, quickly not only mean,
Michael LeBlanc
Big decision, right? Big decision, and then it has a lot of implications, right?
Carmen Ip
Yeah, big decision communicating externally to our customers that, you know, we're closing 269 of our doors in North America for we thought, at that time, we thought it was two weeks.
Michael LeBlanc
I didn't think it was gonna be two weeks, but I did think it was gonna be what it turned out to be. That's for sure.
Carmen Ip
Yeah, so we, you know, I think the biggest part too, was keeping in touch with our shops, while we were at keeping in touch with our shops, our managers, keeping them engaged during the closure period. As well as keeping our customers engaged, as we all sort of, were figuring out what to do.
Michael LeBlanc
Now, let me let me ask you this question. So, in the before time, pre COVID, you know, you would have a regular flow of communication. What would you, what if I'm a store manager at Lush, what do I get? a once a week binder? Or once a week, something that tells me here's the tasks, here's the initiative, here's the promos? Good. Just sketch that out, for me briefly, what the kind of baseline looks like, in other words, like pre COVID, pre, you know, COVID, or crisis kind of communication? What does that look like in your world?
Carmen Ip
Yeah, I mean, we wish we had a regular cadence where we published messages on a regular basis about campaigns, product launches, staff meetings, inventory counts, and you know, Zipline has certainly helped us be able to communicate that within a calendar, within a dashboard, as well as make sure that shops check off the tasks to ensure it's executed.
So, we do have a communications calendar that went down the drain last year, after everything unfolded. Because as you can imagine, you know, staff meetings are no longer, no longer happen. We weren't able to have in person meetings. So, we really, really quickly had to pivot the tone of the messages we published as well as the cadence of the messages we published. So yes, you're right. you know, I think pre COVID we did, you know, we really managed the communications calendar to ensure we weren't bombarding managers and people in the field because the focus was definitely to service customers and be in the shop and engage your staff. But I think last year, we really saw that, you know, communication could happen at any time. It could, things can change within the hour within the minute and so, you know, I think the habit of checking Zip Line and checking messages once a day shifted to, you know, maybe checking a few times a day because change so quickly.
Michael LeBlanc
Refresh, refresh.
Rachel, okay, let's unpack or should I say unzip. Unpack Zipline, so, what is it? and break down for me it’s kinda 1-2-3 top things that it enables that are different, or that are better in terms of being able to communicate out to, you know, 400 or 200, 269 stores.
Rachel Meyers
As I mentioned earlier, Zipline is a SaaS product that combines store communication and task management to drive flawless execution. We surface an ops calendar have a repository for evergreen material, a messenger tool, a survey and an audit tool, making it a one stop shop for everything a store needs to run their business. Our product is for retail by retail. So our co-founder came, our co-founder and CEO came from the Gap brands family where she was, you know, working with various tools and, and you know, after 10 years running store Communications at Old Navy, she realized, you know, the tool that she was looking for didn't exist. So, she started to find,
Michael LeBlanc
and go, I'm gonna go create it, doesn't, I can't find it, I'm gonna go create it. So, you know what one of the things that Carmen said was got my interest, particularly, the difference between sending communications out and having Store Manager, Associate acknowledging that they've got them, that kind of, that kind of two-way communication. Is that a big part of Zipline?
Rachel Meyers
I would say, in certain aspects. So, we do have the groups which provides, like the groups which is their messenger tool, which provides that two-way communication ability. But most of the communications and best practices that we advise on with Zipline is, you know, giving them all the information they need, so they don't have to ask. So, explaining the why. Giving them all the tools that they need to execute whatever initiative you're asking them to do, before having to have them come back and ask for all these like XYZ pieces, I guess.
Michael LeBlanc
So, it gives, it gives Carmen basically the chance to just, particularly in fast moving environments like we're in, just constantly communicating without having to reissue yet another document and another form and another, whatever, PowerPoint or whatever, right? Is that, is that a good summary?
Rachel Meyers
Totally. And I think also shifting her thinking, to be more so thinking about the receiving end of it, instead of like, what does this message convey everything that that user needs to receive in order to complete what I'm asking them to do?
Michael LeBlanc
Right, on. A follow up question. You know, again, I mentioned that you had a nice, yet an impressive group of retailers that you did business with, in addition to Lush, but and so the question is, what are you hearing from them? It's very similar things are, you know, that organization like yourself is dealing with the C level executives at the store Ops, everyday. So, must be hearing some interesting lessons about what COVID has done to transform organizations to adapt, and probably some things that will continue post COVID. What are you, as a company, what are you hearing?
Rachel Meyers
Yeah, I mean, our range of customer includes everything from specialty outlet, department, grocery and convenience stores. And I think across the board, the conversations are very much the same. So, employee engagement is top of mind for retailers. With the Zipline employees understand more of the why behind initiatives and feel more bought into the business. They don't feel like HQ is so far away. And in addition, at a time like this, the pandemic has been unlike anything we've ever experienced before. And in talking with my accounts, morale has been top of mind for everyone. So, it's important more now than ever, that your employees feel engaged, supported and close to headquarters.
Michael LeBlanc
Right on, right on.
Carmen, I’m going to create a scenario for you, I'm going to take Retail Zipline away tomorrow. What would you do?
Carmen Ip
Oh my gosh, to somebody you're going to take their cell phone away, almost.
Michael LeBlanc
How would you adapt? Like, what would be your first thing? I mean, it's an artificial scenario, but I think it helps illustrate its role yeah.
Carmen Ip
Absolutely. I mean, when I look back when I was in, you know, in the field and managing a shop or managing several shops, you know, I look back and I reflect on how Zipline has elevated everything. You know, we used to print off checklists. We used to send multiple emails. You know, we had action sheets. But you know, Zipline just makes everything so easy. So, I can't imagine what it would be like. However, you know, we're lucky that we have the technology today to be able to, you know, send an email. And I think one of the biggest pieces, as I've sort of reflected on how retail has changed over the past, you know, 10 - 15 years is the technology piece. You know, we are so connected right now. The ability to be able to just, you know, message somebody right away and get a response right away is not like anything before. So, I would, I wouldn't want to have to revert back to email or another platform. But you know, I think it's, yeah, it's hard to imagine I can't answer that question.
Michael LeBlanc
Probably just, just a bunch of stuff, right, some Frankenstein stitch together 10 ways to communicate, none of which sounds as efficient as what, as what Zipline gives you.
Last question. I say last question, Carmen. Any thoughts as a retailer on how the consumer is going to change or has been changed because of COVID? I mean, you're in touch with the people who are the frontline, who talk every day to consumers. Are you getting any sense for that, just as you as you communicate with your peers?
Carmen Ip
Yeah, this is a, I'm really passionate about this topic. I think, you know, I can't remember the last time I certainly went to a mall. But, I think one of the new normals we're seeing is operating your shop at the entryway. You know, we need at Lush we still want our customers to feel as dazzled as they do when they come into a bright, shiny, colorful shop. Um, and I think what we do see is that lineups are somewhat of a normal now when you're shopping. So, I think, you know, we are really focused on ensuring our customers know all the different options they have for shopping with us. I think there's definitely customers who love the human interaction. But there certainly is, you know, the COVID era is certainly shifting how people shop. And so, you know, we're really exploring different ways we can have the Lush experience at the entryway. So, you know, again, looking at, we have bath menus, where customers when they're lining up, can engage with to see what products are inside the shop, you know, there's an option.
Michael LeBlanc
That’s a neat idea, like you're waiting for a table at a restaurant, just yeah. And the menu before you come in, Oh, that's interesting.
Carmen Ip
There's even, you know, the option of customers not even having to come into the shop, if they don't feel safe, we can interact with them, we have a mobile point of sale. We've got digital light boxes in our shop windows that flash, you know, the current campaign. And so, we have, we always have a Lush staff member at the door to make sure you know, does the customer feel safe coming in? Do they still want to interact with us? Or, if they're looking quickly to purchase one bath bomb, you know, can we help them really quickly at the door? And then they can go on their way. So, I think there's definitely a little bit of a shift in terms of finding out how customers want to shop today. Because you know, previously, you'd go to the mall and walk around and
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah and browse.
Carmen Ip
Yeah, I think now, it's shifted a little bit and you know, some customers want a quick and efficient experience.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah I suspect some of that's gonna remain post COVID. Whatever that looks like, whenever that happens. You know, hopefully by the end of this year, if not sooner, right, that things will be more normal. But I think some of the behaviors might have changed hard to say hard to say which ones will and which ones won't. So, I'd love to touch base with you later in the, later in the year. And we'll kind of go on that journey together.
Rachel, last question for you actually, where can I learn, where can I, where can the listeners learn more about Zipline? Is it Zipline or Retail Zipline?
Rachel Meyers
It’s Retail Zipline, but we probably say Zipline more than we should. It's just easier, you know?
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, yeah of course.
Rachel Meyers
You can learn more, actually, Carmen and I have an upcoming webinar on February 25, at 2pm EST that discusses how we help Lush navigate the ever changing retail landscape that was amplified by COVID-19.
Michael LeBlanc
Great
Rachel Meyers
And you can sign up on Retail Council of Canada's website at retailcouncil.org. And then definitely visit us through our website retailzipline.com.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, perfect, I’ll put a link in the show notes to both those destinations, make sure people can find their way. And I'm sure they'll get a lot of benefit from tuning into the webinar subsequent to listening to the listening to the podcast.
So, Carmen and Rachel, thanks so much for joining me on The Voice of Retail is was a great discussion, understanding the dynamic world that is retail and particularly store mall based retail. We could probably talk about that for several different episodes. So, hopefully you'll join me later in the year and we'll see how things evolve. So, for now, though, thanks for joining me and hope you both have a great afternoon.
Rachel Meyers
Thanks, you as well.
Carmen Ip
Thank you