COVER
In 2017 , iconic Australian brand Oroton fell into voluntary administration . Fast forward four years and it ’ s undergone a major turnaround with a fresh re-brand , a successful apparel offering and international growth on the horizon . We chat with Oroton CEO David Kesby and creative director Sophie Holt about what ’ s next for the business . Interview by Jo-Anne Hui-Miller
Inside Retail : How would you describe the journey you ' ve been on since you joined Oroton as CEO in 2018 ? David Kesby : It ' s been exhilarating , it ' s been highly transformational . It ’ s been about rebuilding a brand back to not only what it was , but better than before . Sophie and I have had both a macro and a micro focus on getting everything right for the future of this business . We basically have left no stone unturned in making sure that we ’ re setting the business up for a strong , bright international future . We ’ ve invested in so many areas already in the last two years . One of the big things that we did was diversify into apparel , which has now had two years in the business .
But there have been no sacred cows . Together , Sophie and I have looked at every possible way Oroton can become more accessible , available and relevant to both Australian and international consumers , which is a part of our near future growth strategy .
We ’ ve had Covid-19 amongst this , too . It ’ s been two and a half years since voluntary administration ( VA ) and we ’ ve had 12 months of Covid-19 . Leading up to it , we were already doing incredibly well . The turnaround was quite rapid .
The results of Sophie ’ s work has led to our key fashion stores in the business trading between 20 and 70 per cent like-for-like , mainly driven by making the product relevant , modern and appealing to a wider range of customers .
We have an owner who is very innovative and supportive of change and a really dynamic team to help drive the business forward . Our success to date has been wonderful . We ’ ve had landlords in the past who haven ’ t wanted Oroton in their centres because they weren ’ t trading that well , but now we have a range of landlords who want us back , because they ' re seeing what Oroton stands for again . It ’ s very exciting that we ’ re getting the industry and landlord credit and a lot of great feedback from our engaged customer base .
IR : What are some of those micro and macro focuses ? DK : Over the last two years , we ' ve been able to build a new executive team , a lot of whom are the best in their field in retail .
We ’ ve also changed so much technology . This business unfortunately was a little antiquated with a lot of its systems . In the last two years , we ’ ve built a whole new e-commerce platform , we ’ ve rebuilt the CRM database , we ’ ve built an internal IT team , and we ’ ve employed data scientists who are now using that information more proactively .
We ' ve modernised the product offering as well . When I started , we had a lot of loyal and dedicated customers who loved the brand , but the age range was moving further up and we weren ’ t getting enough of the new , independent , style-driven customers . ►
May 2021 www . insideretail . com . au | 13