Katie Bickerstaffe: the woman mixing things up at Dixons

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/04/katie-bickerstaffe-woman-mixing-up-dixons

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Posing with a food mixer and other kitchen appliances is probably not how most high-flying female executives would like to be photographed, having had to battle stereotypes about "a woman's place" to win their seat in the boardroom. But Katie Bickerstaffe, chief executive of Dixons's retail business in Britain and Ireland, is gamely hugging a red KitchenAid that matches her frock because such products are a key part of her plan to put women at the heart of the technology retailer's turnaround.

In this revamped Currys/PC World store in Thurrock, gone are the grey product line-ups reminiscent of communist-era military parades; instead multicoloured kitchen bling is arranged in displays that borrow from the fashion world. From a trendy Bodum coffee pot to a bright green Smeg fridge or a £1,900 Elica cooker hood that looks like a disco ball, the interior is more department store chic than retail park slog.

Bickerstaffe, formerly boss of Kwik Save, has even borrowed the idea of a digital sales fixture from a similar set-up used by Burberry to sell bespoke raincoats.

"The historical idea was that it was a boys' world; but women and men are equally tech-savvy and want to buy technology," says Bickerstaffe, a mother of two young children who works a four-day week to see more of them.

But the new-look store is not the only potential makeover at the owner of Currys and PC World. In the next few weeks we should learn whether Dixons will merge with Carphone Warehouse in a £4bn deal that will turn it into a FTSE 100 powerhouse with close to 3,000 outlets and £12bn in sales.

A successful merger will propel Bickerstaffe even further into the limelight – although she is already one of only a handful of female board directors at Britain's top retailers. Women may make up about 60% of the retail industry's employees and 80% of its customers but they still struggle to make it into the upper echelons.

Bickerstaffe concedes Dixons has assisted her and other women to balance motherhood and career by allowing people to work more flexibly. But she says: "It's not about men and women: it's about being a decent employer. I don't believe sitting at a desk from seven to seven gets results.

"This is a hard-nosed, low-margin retail business in which we have got to get more growth. It is incredibly competitive. But there are different ways to crack the nut," she adds.

An extra day off, Bickerstaffe says, gives her time to think about the big picture. "What that day gives me is choice… These are very small things, but to take my kids to school gives me balance. That time lets me think about the big strategic things we do."

Dixons's new strategy to pull in more women shoppers arises partly from a management overhaul. Three of the eight people on the UK management board and four of the six members of the commercial team are female.

Having survived the electricals-market shakeout that saw the demise of long-term rival Comet and the retreat of US invader Best Buy in the last few years, Dixons is now using those women's insights to take on the likes of John Lewis and online upstart AO.com by giving shoppers a better experience.

The strategy is helping to draw in upmarket brands that would once have given the stores the cold shoulder. They are helping to pay for demonstrators that encourage people to browse more, or evening events where customers are invited into kitchen departments to brush up their knife skills or pick up tips on Sunday roasting.

Bickerstaffe is game for the task of dragging Dixons into the future, describing herself as "relentless" in pursuing further improvements.

Dixons's problems partly stemmed from underinvestment during a tough period, as it fought to survive a bitter price war amid the emergence of sophisticated online competition.

But the company also lost sight of the first law of retail: listen to your customers. Bickerstaffe recalls going in search of the customer research department when she arrived, only to find a solitary and dispirited chap. "Five or seven years ago, people didn't talk about the customer in this organisation," she says.

"I hope today the business understands that every decision we make is about doing the right thing for customers so they will come back and spend more." To ensure the message gets through at all levels, store bonuses will not pay out if the team does not meet targets on customer service, even if they have achieved all their other targets.

Bickerstaffe – who did a geography degree and an MBA before becoming a management trainee at Unilever and moving up through PepsiCo, Dyson, Somerfield and Kwik Save – compares retailing to the catering trade. "A restaurant can have great food, can look lovely, but, if the waiter is rude, you will say 'I don't want to go back there'," she says.

But there is clearly plenty more work to do with AO.com on the attack. Bickerstaffe says a certain amount of insecurity about Dixons's position in the market is a "tremendous asset" as it drives a desire to do things better – "and I am definitely talking about myself as well as the business on that".

Next item on the agenda is improving the shopping experience for consumer electronics such as laptops in the same way as kitchenware has been revamped. And then there are phones.

At present, phones are sold via concessions run by Phones4U. It is not known whether that operator will remain a partner if the merger with Carphone Warehouse goes ahead, but Dixons is trying to improve its phone-sales service at a time when Vodafone and other networks are expanding their own store chains rapidly.

Bickerstaffe explains the thinking behind the potential deal: "So much happens through the phone. With the 'internet of things', your whole life is centred around your phone. In the future all the appliances we sell will be smart-enabled."

"It's too early to comment on how [the deal] will play out. But the customer has got to be able to choose all their technology in one place," she says.