What's in store for the retail sector?

RMS was formed in 2005 and it works with 30 major retail chains including John Lewis, Boots, Tesco, Asda, Co-op, and B&Q.

Business Argus: What does RMS do?

Peter O’Toole: Our team are retail experts, and fully understand consumer needs, therefore we deliver an excellent turn-key solution to our clients. This includes everything from design and build, recruitment, training, merchandising, technology, and distribution and distribution of point of sale and our RMS clothing division.

BA: How many people do you employ?

PO: Since our establishment in 2005, we have grown our team from 50 up to 800 staff nationally – both full and part-time - and we still maintain an 85 per cent staff retention rate. The recent growth has been fantastic especially through the recession, growing sales of 237 per cent last year and we are continuing to grow this year.

I believe this is because we have gained a reputation in the industry for top quality people delivering a top quality service, and this has resulted in sales and brands continuing to grow with RMS.

This ensures continual work, which is a major reason for staff retention, as well as the investment we make to develop our staff in our, by offering them responsibility and development opportunities from the first day they pull on an RMS uniform.

BA: How did you end up in this type of business?

PO: I left school in Barry with no qualifications but a determination to work hard to succeed in life, and found the retail sector a great opportunity to achieve my aspiration. I have worked in the sector for the vast majority of my adult life. I began at Kwik Save, which became Somerfield after the merger in 1998, and I worked my way up from store manager to head of format development. Directly reporting to the managing director, I was responsible for developing the strategy and formats for the brand. My portfolio consisted of 520 stores nationwide, with an annual sales turnover of £1.5bn and an £80m budget. I spearheaded a team of five format managers and 30 project implementation managers.

While in this role, I an MBA at the age of 40 at Newport University, proving it is never too late in life to achieve an academic qualification.

After 23 years, I eventually moved on to become a development director for Musgrave Group, which is the largest European wholesaler based in Ireland. I was on the London-based board responsible for the development of 3,000 independent retailers in both the Budgens and Londis brands, offered independent retailers expertise in the market ensuring they grew sales and profit through innovation, and best practice, to challenge and survive major retail brands, we supported them on sourcing product range, developing sales, marketing and supply chain expertise. My team developed the latest and best supermarkets in the world.

I set up RMS as retail is my passion, and I wanted to help retailers of all sizes and sectors improve the consumer experience.

BA: What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?

PO: I can't imagine doing anything other than this. With the rise of online shopping, there has never been a more exciting time to be in retail and there are many opportunities arising from new technology, which I found In Canada this year. I continue to search for best practice in retail and share this globally. I believe with the knowledge I have, I could support companies worldwide. I recently reviewed the Brazilian marketplace, and believe there are plenty of great opportunities to deliver best retail sector practice there, in a growing economy.

When I am not at work, I enjoy playing golf and I am very proud to say that I am Captain of the Premier Golf Club in Llanwern, Newport.

As you can imagine I have looked at this as a business and have supported them through the year by building relationships with both the Dragons and County to build awareness of the club. My goal is to ensure that this gem of a golf club is no longer hidden; and sales are growing against the national trend, which is very positive.

BA: There is a lot of talk about the future of retail – what are your thoughts on it?

PO: Technology has and will continue to develop to make shopping simpler and faster for consumers.

The key development over the coming year will be within the smartphone industry. Time-pressed shoppers want to be able to pay for items using their smartphone, to avoid the waiting time associated with queuing and paying in the traditional way. They are becoming increasingly used to being able to order everything from train tickets to holidays at the click of a few buttons on their smartphone, so the natural expectation is that this convenience will become available in the retail environment.

Retailers are also learning how best to use smartphone technology to make shopping easier for consumers. For example, some clothing retailers are producing virtual changing room apps to allow shoppers to ‘try on’ clothes, without having to physically get changed. Retailers then benefit by being able to track and record the types of items shoppers view - and purchase - allowing them to tailor future marketing campaigns to suit their consumers. Clothing is a great example of an area of retail where the majority of consumers still like to touch and feel the product before making a purchasing decision, so this type of innovation ensures customers can enjoy all the benefits of 'bricks' - or a physical retail location – while capitalising on the convenience that 'clicks' - or digital technology – can offer. I expect to see much more of this innovation in 2014.

BA: We recently heard that Newport City Council is set to borrow £90m to loan to developers Queensberry so they can crack on with the Friars Walk development – what are your thoughts on that and do you think this sort of retail centre is the way forward for the city?

PO: Even against the backdrop of the growth of online shopping, physical stores will always be important to consumers.

Shopping is a social experience for consumers and provides an opportunity to see and feel products in a way that internet shopping never can. Visiting a store also allows consumers to purchase products there and then, without the delay of waiting for delivery or the hassle of filling in long forms before checking out.

With that in mind, I am always supportive of new retail developments where demand and potential footfall exists. Friars Walk represents an exciting new era for retail in Newport, and will create much-needed jobs.

Newport is the gateway to Wales. The city at present is in a very poor condition, through a lack of investment for many years. I feel sorry for the retailers trying to survive in such a poor environment. The investment and design needs to be different to Cardiff and Bristol. The buildings have so much character and history, this needs to be maintained but revitalised. I will always support innovative local Welsh businesses offering new and fresh ideas.

BA: With the internet taking more and more retails sales from shops, what should shops (both large and small) be doing to attract more people in through their doors?

PO: Being flexible to both innovation and change and delivering excellent customer service is key for the success of independent retailers.

For stores that maintain both physical outlets and online shopping modes, offering services such as allowing consumers to trial products or collect in store is a great way to entice those that usually shop online to visit the store, and vice versa. I recently visited a small independent beauty store born from an online store, and while the retail experience was first class, it offered customers a computer at the back of the store where they could order any products not in stock into the store. This was a great example of a physical store combining its environment with the convenience of online, with the focus on getting customers back into store. We will see much more of this joined up thinking on a larger scale over coming years.

BA: And what about Christmas?

PO: This recovery started in the summer, and has continued to grow momentum. The shops are full and are ready for a great year, shoppers are already taking to the stores. To try and park in Spytty Retail Park on any day is tough and these are all good signs. This year has seen consumers just begin to get their confidence back, and earlier this month, online retailers in the UK saw their busiest ever days in ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Cyber Monday’ as shoppers sought to spend their end-of-month paychecks with early Christmas deals on the web.

We are also already seeing a number of retailers driving up their online offering in the run-up to Christmas. Click and collect, next-day delivery and even one-hour delivery slots are just a few of the options on offer to attract the lucrative festive shopper at this highly competitive time of year.

BA: What are the future plans for RMS?

PO: Our goal is to press forward with our current growth strategy. We would like to continue to grow our customer base, while continuing to build long-term relationships with our present clients.

We would like to continue to drive our design and build division, delivering increasing numbers of shop fits to independent retailers, and Universities, as every store we deliver increases their sales by a minimum 20 per cent.

We are also developing our own retail brand, so watch this space!

We will be opening a retail clothing shop in Llanwern High School in January to continue to drive RMS clothing brand.

We will be the first in the history of retail to deliver a mobile payment application called Mini Checkout, targeting 39,000 independent retailers. This will ensure RMS continues to build its reputation of innovation and market-leading products and services, as well as building a strong IT division.

From the success of winning Wales Entrepreneur of the Year for Wales, and our company winning the Best Retail Service Company of the Year in the Fast Growth 50 awards, I have been invited to a reception in Westminster, and in Paris, with other top Welsh business owners. This will allow us to share our success and possibly drive the RMS model into Europe as a Welsh export opportunity.

BA: What is the RMS Academy?

PO: Our dedicated training programme is called the Merchandising Standards Academy, which is the first of its kind in the industry. Staff will be able to achieve bronze, silver and gold awards, in areas including grocery, pharmaceutical, fashion and DIY alongside visual merchandising, project management, supervisory and team leadership competencies, with assessments available to achieve an NVQ in retail and management.

As there is no other training facility, which specialises solely in the retail sector, the MSA will be endorsed by universities to become a recognised retail qualification in the UK.

BA: Would you ever consider moving your business away from Newport?

PO: We are very proud of our roots in Newport. We have easy links to the M4 and other useful transport links, as well as access to a skilled, dedicated local workforce and super fast broadband. We certainly plan to be here for a long time to come.