Movers & Shakers in Retail 2021 report launched
Retail Insider is delighted to launch the 2021 edition of the Movers & Shakers in retail Top 80 report, sponsored by WonderLane, which champions the most digitally progressive people in the retail industry who are bringing real change to the landscape of retail.
This year’s report continues with the objective of all our other editions in the preceding decade and tries to identify those retailers who are really delivering on digital strategies for their companies and also those developing completely new business models. Everyone in this list richly deserves their place.
An advisory panel, made up of 10 senior retailers and HR professionals, carefully selected this list of 80 names, which this year places the serial entrepreneur Alex Chesterman at number one for his new online car selling venture Cazoo, closely followed by the CEO of Depop Maria Raga, and Jose Neves of Farfetch.
The panel also placed executives from Gymshark, Bloom & Wild, Asos and Gousto in the Top 10 and there are for the first time four women in the Top 20 including Clodagh Moriarty from Sainsbury’s and Evie CEO Tania Boler.
Trends to note this year include Covid-19-led hero sectors such as pets (Peter Pritchard from Pets At Home, the Butternut Box founders and the CEO and COO of Tails.com), home cooking (Timo Boldt from Gousto, the Mindful Chef leaders and Emilie Vanpoperinghe, the founder of Oddbox) and home decorating (Lick Home CEO Lucas London is a newcomer to the list alongside Freddie Blackett of Patch Plants, while bricks and mortar retail is represented by Screwfix’s John Mewett) as cycling companies also feature with Rapha and Ribble execs in the mix. And in another year when official forms of entertainment were strictly curtailed LoveHoney CTO Debbie Bond finds her place in the report.
The Top 20 entries are ranked in order based on criteria such as their achievements in the last 12 months, future potential, and innovative capabilities while the 60 other individuals are alphabetically ordered.
Special thanks go to the Advisory Panel, which this year comprised (in alphabetical order): Susan Aubrey Cound (non-exec, JML Group), Simon Calver (chairman, Fenwick), Aaron Chatterley (founder, FeelUnique), Anthony Fletcher (founder, Believe in Science), Hannah Joyce (partner, Calibre One), Ajay Kavan (senior advisor, KKR), Alex Murray (founder, Thistle Digital), Sarah McVittie (co-founder, Dressipi), Melissa Reed (partner, HI Executive Consulting) and Nick Thomas (chief digital officer, Missguided).
Retail Insider would very much like to thank WonderLane for its sponsorship and also its gratitude to Creative Oates and Privacy Cookies for the design and printing of the report.
The full report can be read by clicking on the link below:
Glynn Davis, editor, Retail Insider