An Evening with Sir Richard Bradbury
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 by Vicki Wray
I spent an interesting evening last night at a Q&A event with River Island’s CEO Sir Richard Bradbury, organised by Manchester Fashion Network in association with Business Link.
Having worked his way up from the shop floor of a small menswear retailer in Great Yarmouth to his current position as Chief Executive Officer at one of the UK’s leading fashion retailers, Sir Richard is certainly qualified to advise and educate on the retail industry.
Sir Richard talked very openly about his background at Burtons, his experience with the Chelsea Girl brand and his personal River Island story, before taking questions from the floor.
It was refreshing to hear, in the current climate, that it’s business as usual and the company is staying true to its customers and its own beliefs and strategy.
While the recession is undoubtedly affecting businesses, River Island isn’t cutting back on investment, just wisely investing its money where it is likely to achieve a greater return.
Cue less focus on traditional above-the-line advertising and more focus on attendance at events such as Graduate Fashion week; an event at which River Island has been the title sponsor for five consecutive years.
Sir Richard understands that encouraging and investing in young talent can reap both commercial and creative rewards, and last night suggested that Britain is a nation of creatives, not ‘makers’.
While strongly believing in nurturing Britain’s creative talent of tomorrow, online is also key for the future of River Island.
Its e-commerce site is a significant part of the business, with some of River Island’s best customers shopping online as well as in store, and the company is keen to evolve this with a new and improved site due to launch later this year.
I’ll be watching with interest to see how 2009 shapes up for River Island and despite the challenging market, expect them to continue serving up trends with the unique River Island style.
