Short & Sweet Movers & Shakers Q&A with Alan White of N.Brown

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Alan White, CEO of N. Brown Group

1. What is the greatest opportunity for your business?

There is still a great opportunity to improve our online conversion by trading the web more effectively.

2. What is the biggest challenge to your business?

Undoubtedly it is the lack of growth in the economy, which then causes discounting

3. With the benefit of hindsight what would you have done differently so far?

Bought the exact quantity of stock to meet the customer demand

4. What is the future of the physical store?

Over 80% of clothing and footwear is bought on the high street so they will be around for a long time to come. However the major shopping locations will thrive and poor town centres will continue to suffer. Customer will get more used to multi-channel shopping and geo-locational marketing.

5. Will mobile devices be the primary sales channel in the future?

Not the primary channel but a very, very important one, so it is essential to adapt to the device.

6. What other retail business do you admire?

All those posting strong sales growth!

6. If you hadn't been a retailer what would you have liked to do?

I love business and retail so I could have been a retail analyst or in my dreams a professional sportsman.

8. What marks out of 10 do you give yourself so far for achievement?

Ten out of ten for effort - others can decide whether the effort was effective.