Retail Insider event with Sean Ghouse, retail director, Fortnum & Mason

Retail Insider held its latest event with guest speaker Sean Ghouse, retail director of Fortnum & Mason, at Hedonism Wines in London’s Mayfair followed by a tutored tasting of wines.

The event sponsored by Talkdesk involved senior executives from Tesco, John Lewis & Partners, Rank Group, Carnival Group and Amazon hearing how F&M had focused on its people during Covid-19 as it looked at both the wellbeing of its employees and also delivering a great experience for its customers.

Sean detailed how the company had also recognised the importance of the physical store experience as London has sought to highlight its attractive attributes in a period when people have not been travelling into the city centre to work or shop since the pandemic hit.

F&M has however benefited from the shift to online and he outlined how the company had handled the uplift in digital sales and how it has been working on integrating the company’s various channels. Work is being undertaken to tempt the new online shoppers into also visiting the group’s physical stores as Sean says this ensures they can enjoy the full F&M experience.

The evening also included a tutored wine tasting hosted by one of the expert Hedonism sommeliers involving seven wines around the theme of the Old World versus the New World.

Retail Insider would like to thank Sean Ghouse for giving up his time and providing some great insights on the night and also to Talkdesk for making the event possible.

Glynn Davis, editor, Retail Insider