Eva Barrett is Kathmandu's first chief customer officer.
Alongside her appointment to the role, Barrett launched a partnership with ride-share app Uber.
To delve deeper into the Uber partnership and find out what else is in the pipeline, Ragtrader asked Barrett these eight burning questions.
What are the three key things you’d like to execute/introduce and/or improve on in your role?
I’m undertaking a review of our complete customer experience, how our customers engage with our brand online, instore, through customer service and identifying what some of those potential pain points could be and focusing on how we can provide the best experience.
I’m also prioritising the evolution of our Kathmandu loyalty programme so we can continue to add benefit and value to our customers.
Finally, Kathmandu is a B-Corp, we’re the largest Australasian retailer to receive this certification, and we’re doing incredible work within the sustainability sector, I want to continue building upon this, very much moving towards a circular point of view.
What key pieces of knowledge are you bringing from your previous roles at Adidas and Philips into this new one?
I’ve spent the last 15 years leading global brand and marketing teams, building global brands, leading brand strategy, developing customer experience teams.
Leading talented teams to greatness is what I’m passionate about.
You are only as good as the people you surround yourself with, and I’m very excited to lead the marketing and customer teams at Kathmandu.
How are the Melbourne stores trading while the state is in Stage 3 for a second time?
There is no denying that it’s a difficult time for all businesses in Melbourne, and Kathmandu is operating in accordance with Government guidelines to protect the health of our employees and customers.
We began work on same-day delivery via Uber during the first lockdown when the rush to online shopping triggered by the pandemic overwhelmed traditional logistics providers.
We pushed hard to get it up-and-running on a short timeframe, and we’re really happy to be able to offer this service from our stores during this lockdown.
How did you choose which stores would be partnered with Uber in the beginning?
We did an analysis of how many of our customers lived within a 10km radius of our key stores and therefore would benefit from a service where we could deliver to them in a couple of hours.
We choose Melbourne as it’s always cold in winter, our Melbourne customers are so passionate about the brand, everyone is wearing our Epiq jackets at the beach, parks and the footy so we thought it’s the perfect city to trial before we roll out nationally.
What uptake do you expect for the Uber service?
We are seeing more people than ever shopping online.
Partnering with Uber is a proactive, customer-centric decision, but we are still early in the trial period.
What I can say is the results in Melbourne have been very promising, and we are planning on rolling it out nationally shortly.
What further digital initiatives are in the pipeline?
So much! We’re very much focused on our customer and how digital can enable better experiences.
There was a clear insight that our customers want fast, easy, simple delivery which is we partnered with Uber.
We’re currently reviewing our total customer experience in order to constantly improve the way we engage with our customers.
What about in-store initiatives?
In-store is going to be all about the experience.
People shop online for convenience, in-store is still a wonderful way to engage customers, they can try on and feel the product, and we can provide a wonderful brand experience.
More to come on this!
What are some long-term goals you’d like to achieve with the business?
Marketing is a growth driver, so I’m very much focused on growth and performance, but that can only be achieved with a strong brand that consumers love and are passionate about.
Our focus is to build Kathmandu into a global brand, provide incredible customer experience and to continue to be a great place to work for all of our employees.