Navigating the Retail Maelstrom - A candid interview with Scott Lux - Adjunct Professor at Columbia and & FIT, VP Digital Marketing & Commerce at Theory and Helmut Lang Artwork

The Clienteling Podcast

Welcome to the Clienteling Podcast! On our show, we'll discuss a broad spectrum of customer engagement, clienteling and retail technology insights, and we’ll provide plenty of examples and case studies directly from some of the most successful customer-focused luminaries in our industry. We'll discuss why in most cases, innovation and transformation is not a technology issue as much as it's a people, process and methodology problem. Clientricity and in particular this podcast, is focused helping retailers think through those challenges and develop a repeatable process to ensure that their stores are delivering on customer expectations and that the organization can fully benefit from those technologies deployed. In this podcast you'll gain a deep understanding of what’s working, what isn’t and where you should consider making your customer-centric technology investments. We are hoping that after spending 20-30 minutes listening to each episode you will leave energized and ready to apply what you’ve learned in your own business. We look forward to bringing you this podcast several times a month and would welcome your thoughts, ideas and comments. If you are passionate about customer centricity, clienteling and retail and would like to be a guest on the show, please send me a personal message at bryan@theclientelingpodcast.com. If you want get more personalized help or if you are interested in advisory services, contact Clientricity at info@clientricity.net

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The Clienteling Podcast

Navigating the Retail Maelstrom - A candid interview with Scott Lux - Adjunct Professor at Columbia and & FIT, VP Digital Marketing & Commerce at Theory and Helmut Lang

August 30, 2020 • Bryan Amaral • Season 1 • Episode 7

Interview with Scott Lux

In this episode, Scott Lux joins the show and is interviewed by Bryan Amaral. Scott is a senior executive with experience in various aspects of ecommerce, digital strategy, marketing and analytics from both the brand side and agency perspective. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Columbia and FIT and is the VP/Head of Digital Marketing and Digital Commerce at Theory and Helmut Lang.

The show starts with Bryan and Scott discussing what it was like to join a new company just as retail shut down due to the pandemic. He discussed the need to lead and manage a team remotely and make a determination of what was the appropriate tone and voice to message their customers given the crisis... especially when ecommerce was the only channel open that "could keep the lights on".

He shared that as the realization that the crisis was not short term, inventory issues needed to be addressed through aggressive promotional strategies. Scott shares how clienteling outreach and associate communication with customers made a positive impact on the business and how customers welcomed hearing from associates.

Scott discussed how they were mindful of proven best practices and knew exactly what data measurements were important. The data was used to assess if their strategy was working and if were they meeting objectives and if not, how could they optimize. Scott shares examples of cost of acquisition and what LTV could be anticipated so they could determine if the customer acquisition spend was prudent. He explained how they set records on daily and monthly volume with rapid promotional programs designed to move inventory quickly in the early stages and how those same metrics were leveraged to help move audiences to full price product later.

Scott explained how chat was an example of a rapid customer experience design initiative to get customers back to full price selling. He talked about his optimism for the next generation of retail stores, and elevated experience (experience design) and the need to have a tactile experience with product.

Bryan asked Scott about how he prioritized activity and made it work remotely.
1. Need to instill trust that they will get their job done.
2. Leadership and mentorship - maintain culture to unify the team

Scott talked about how he thought about prioritizing new feature and capability platform enhancements and assessing if current solutions can meet future demand. He shared his perspective on how ISV's should do their homework prior to reaching out to busy leaders.

The show wrapped up with three nuggets that retailers should keep in mind for the journey ahead:
1. Customer First/Experience Design across all touch points
2. Foundational elements - ensure that you have solid practices in place
3. Maintain your culture and team

Resources:

Scott's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottlux/

Scott's Email: scottlux@mac.com

Bryan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanamaral/

Bryan's Email: Bryan@retailtechexec.com