BHS may have disappeared from the high street but it lives on online - and its managers are running it in a very different way in a bid to ensure a happier future.
BHS.com managing director Kevan Mallinder has said that he runs the business as a start-up in an effort to “make it strong, sustainable and dynamic”.
“We are a start-up business,” Mallinder told Retail Week. “That is how we think of ourselves.
“It’s very rare to be a brand that people have an awareness of and to run it like a start-up business. A big challenge with start-ups is awareness but our job is to improve on the image that many customers have of us.
“You don’t do it overnight, you keep chipping away at it. We can’t control the past and the news around that, what we can control is how customers see us now. The old behaviours are not where we see our future.”
‘Dynamic business’
“This is our opportunity to reinvent ourselves as dynamic, thriving business,” he added. “We have a new lease of life. We are online in the UK so it means we can try things more quickly, we are trying new things every week.”
BHS.com was launched last September, after the Qatari conglomerate Al Mana purchased the rights to the BHS name out of administration. The business collapsed under the watch of Retail Acquisitions, led by the now notorious Dominic Chappell.
Al Mana also owns BHS International Ltd, which operates stores via a franchise model, led by managing director David Anderson.
For a full analysis of BHS.com, read Retail-week.com on Thursday April 20.
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