EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
Changing the culture has been a big
part of that success and Phil has been
transmitting his vision to the rest of the
company. “Culture is an absolutely
critical component and how to instill it
within your employees is just as
important. It comes from everything we
do and everything we say. I guess it’s
the old cliché of ‘walking the talk’. We
conduct employee attitude surveys to
understand what it is like to work
around here and determine what things
need to be tweaked and adjusted.”With the team aligned, the current
focus now is on the consumer and the
marketplace. “The main area of focus is
always the customer,” Phil explains.
“And moving the business to a customer
centric, customer-first culture, wherewe measure — through research —
what our customer’s needs are is
crucial. We will strive to consistently
meet those needs. Our future will be
determined not by government or
regulatory bodies, but by the customer.”As well as developing a national brand
beyond the strongholds of New South
Wales and Queensland, Phil is driving
Blooms The Chemist to further
differentiate itself from its competitors.
This was recognised by its recent
back-to-back win of the Canstarawards; a market research-based
organisation that focuses on consumer
feedback. Phil wants more though:
“It’s nice to win that back to back, but
frankly the gap is not quite big enough
for us at the moment,” he quips. “We
need to broaden that gap.”The two main ways he believes the
company can grow that differentiation
is through its nimbleness in the
marketplace, and its analysis of product
ranges. “I honestly think it is the focus
on the marketplace and consumer that
will differentiate us. To be nimble
means not just looking at our
competitors, but tracking all the trends
across other retail sectors too. We also
want to focus on our merchandise
range to ensure we know exactly what it
is costing us. I don’t think there are too
many of our competitors that can track
every square metre and every SKU
across all of their stores, but we
certainly do all of that.”Furthermore, developing relationships
with suppliers has been crucial to
recent successes. Performance
agreements have been put in place
and partners are able to grow with
Blooms The Chemist. “It’s about an
honest and open approach, and our
suppliers understanding we’re here
for the long haul. We expect our
partners to be as pleased as we are
with our recent growth over the
past two years and I think it’s fair
to say they are.”Phil loves the challenges that come
with change and he is helping his
people to adopt new mindsets and
skills. “It’s a big challenge to get folk to
believe and understand that our future
will be determined by the customer.
We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re
on our way. Quite frankly, I love it.“Everyone likes to be on a winning
team, and we’re winning.”“Our future will be determined
not by government or regulatory
bodies, but by the customer.”- Phil Smith