Customer Obsession & Retail Excellence

In his role as Global Retail Operations Director, Fernando Nadal is behind the coordination and standardization of the way in which Dufry operates each of its 2,400 stores. With a clear customer obsession, the focus is to deliver retail excellence while ensuring operational consistency across the group. In the last few months however, Fernando and his team – in very close coordination with the country General Managers - have had to face the unprecedented challenge of adapting our operations to the new environment and planning for recovery, while also prioritizing employee and consumer health and safety above everything else.

Let´s start from the beginning. What is the role of Retail Operations?

Retail Operations essentially covers the activities that keep our operations working in a standardized manner, ensuring that we are delivering on our sales targets and that our processes and procedures are implemented as prescribed. This covers a wide scope across our operations including; people, supply chain, merchandising, promotional execution, physical inventories and of course pricing which also falls under my responsibility. Essentially, our job is about coordinating all functions to ensure that our execution on the shop floor gives each customer the best impression of our company and a positive place to shop.

Retail Operations encompasses:

• Modus – This is the setting of the standard process and procedures for all operations. This helps us to ensure the company works in a consistent manner. I think it’s important to note; that the processes are not static and that we are continually looking to evolve them to deliver an efficient and effective retail model.
  
  
• Operational Performance – this is where we set operational KPIs and monitor the performance, as well as the implementation of follow-up and action plans. Together, we must ensure that we are focused on operational execution and the delivery of retail excellence for our customers.

How do you balance Global and Local?

We have a wealth of knowledge that has been accumulated over the years across the business and it is important that we leverage this. We always try to ensure we are extracting best practice to incorporate into our ways of working. This know-how mixed with the local flavor our teams provide in each shop is what ensures our customers enjoy the “Dufry Shopping Experience” regardless of the country or location they are shopping in.

We obviously have adaptations to suit local requirements and ways of doing business in each country. Part of what we have to do, is to understand these nuances and make the appropriate adaptations to manage each business in the most effective manner. This is what makes our business exciting and keeps us constantly striving to do better.

So, if I understand correctly, an important part of the job includes a continuous assessment of what we do…

Of course, we need to keep evolving in the same way as our customers evolve their shopping habits. Retail and Duty Free is a fast-paced industry with many challenges and opportunities that require us to be constantly looking at how we can improve.

And what do you and your team do to stay ahead of the curve?

The key to success in our role is to stay close to where the sale happens – the store. And the only way we can achieve that is by ensuring close coordination and alignment with country general managers. There are many people involved in the operation of a store, and the way they behave changes from one operation to another – even in the same country! For this reason, first-hand understanding of the store operation is key for us, and the role of general managers in transmitting this information to our team is critical for the success of our job. Their input helps us understand what is working, what´s not and what needs to be improved. They are a great source of knowledge, bold ideas and solutions, which we have in some cases successfully extended to other country locations.

What has been the biggest challenge when it comes to implementing the new protocol in the stores?

At this time, the main priority is to make shopping safe, both for our staff and for customers (you can see more details of the protocol in issue 35 of Dufry World), ensuring that it remains an enjoyable experience.

There are obvious challenges with social distancing, change of flight schedules etc. that we need to manage together. The pandemic is forcing all of us to do things differently. However, what we can still try to maintain is the connection with our customers. Our shop floor staff can really make the difference and give customers a positive experience, even in this challenging time.

How has Covid-19 changed the Retail Operations job?

As previously mentioned, adaptation to a changing environment is key to Retail Operations. However, this is unprecedented; we must stretch ourselves further, and look at - for example - how we efficiently match resources to the reduced operation of the stores, while maximizing sales. As we gradually re-open, adapting opening times and employees to each store’s reality on an airport-by-airport bases is critical to the recovery. For us, going from planning to execution however is the most challenging part as things evolve quickly, but this is being made possible thanks to our great colleagues in the operations and their flexibility to adapt to the new circumstances.

This flexibility and close collaboration has allowed us to improve the decision making process and react faster to change. This approach will also support the newly implemented organization structure and enable Dufry to navigate through what is a challenging period for all of us, and to come out of it stronger.