Kate Bolland is RX's very own little (literally) curious mind. As we celebrate the reawakening of retail through RX Group, Kate thought it would be fitting to explore the history of what has come before. Kate has been asking questions, probing and exploring and her is what she has uncovered.....in only a way a Gen Z can!
Long story short, RX Group started with 3 amazing people – Juanita Neville-Te Rito, Lisa Donaldson and Gina Brugh.
Juanita – our fearless leader.
Full of energy, enthusiasm and great ideas.
Always cup half full/ basically overflowing.
And is the person that makes everyone strive harder to raise the bar in retail.
Lisa – Creative genius.
Loves pictures (don't show her a presentation without them).
And drives the retail experience side of things.
Extremely talented at bringing brands to life.
And Gina, the master of merchandise, process and systems design.
She asks the tough questions that no one else dares.
Gina ensures ideas fit into the operational construct of a business and provides data-backed insights for high impact outcomes.
These three started working together almost 20 years ago and have stuck together ever since (when you know, you know)!
They met in what is described as "corporate retail" when the chicks all worked together at Noel Leeming Group. After a harrowing GFC the team knew there was a bigger and better impact that they could make and that started with the creation of Hotfoot, a company backed by ICG. Then a few years down the line, Juanita made the plunge and decided to ‘be a big girl’ and do it on her own – enter The Retail Collective. This morphed into RetailX and finally RX Group (as of May 2023).
Along the way, the business has pivoted to meet the changing needs of the retail-sphere, but one thing has stayed the same. The team's immense passion to help retailers and be the first to pull their boots up and be the confidants, experts and advisors that they are.
I sat down with founder, Juanita Neville-Te Rito to learn more about the defining moments and her favourite memories.
Where and why did it all start?
Back in 2008 around the Global Financial Crisis I was sitting in corporate retail seeing behaviour I didn’t like. This was a listed company and just like many before, you see again and again short-term behaviours to ensure the profitability, so the company looks okay. But there are always intended and unintended consequences and this was having a huge impact on people both physically and emotionally.
At that point I looked around and thought “WTF! Why am I giving everything for a retailer to whom everyone is really just a number. We aren’t saving lives, just protecting someone’s bonus or next new boat.” And with that I made a decision to leave.
But I could also see there was a gap in the market, and I did want to remain in retail and make an impact for more retailers to deliver best-in-class, whatever class they were in. There existed a big gap between the thinking and the doing.
There were consultants that came in with big theoretical global thinking, yet the application required to “right size” for the reality of a specific business, was often ill-considered nor practical to the machinations of real-world retail.
Consultants were often very good at doing the report but not how to get there. Creative agencies and design thinkers have wonderful BIG ideas but often not realistic about application and workability. Add to that the universal truth that retailers are always sprinting a marathon and trying to deliver more with less, their internal teams were often siloed, stretched too thin or lacked experience. The concept which is RX Group today is a strategic retail practice that delivers the solution - we are consultants that do things.
Can you share the meaning behind the name RX?
It really start with RetailX which was all about bring the X-factor back into retail. We did things that were Xceptional and Xtraordinaroy. Transforming retail businesses beyond normal range. That hasn’t changed except that we added some new business units including Xfactory, POP, Orbitvu Pacific and RetailO2. To help explain that sum of the parts, we transformed to RX Group.
Who were the initial team members? And how did they contribute to the success of RX
There was a challenge of restraints of trade at the start of the concept. What was being built was unique but did overlap into what we had previously built at Hotfoot…… so started with just little old me……until…….. all the best of the talent I had ever worked with could transition across to RetailX. The key team members to start were Lisa Donaldson (who I have worked with for over 20 years), Gina Brugh (again we will hit the 20 year mark soon of working together) then Liz Langdon (who was the first ever Hottie – which is what was the nickname for Hotfoot) and from there we grew.
After that every other team member has been hand-picked for what specific retail gift they bring to our team.
What are you most proud of?
The people. The people who make up our team, the people we have met along the way, the people we work with and the people we are just getting to know. The reality is there are many businesses in the world that do what we do. Some might even do it better. But what makes me proud is how we impact people’s lives whether that is helping them do their job better, ensuring they have the tools to grow their business or even just making their day a little lighter. The one consistent attribute of our RX team is that we are here to improve the retail landscape. And that requires people working with people and leaving them with a smile on their face and a positivity that “this can be done.”
What makes RX unique compared to other consultancies or agencies?
Everyday retailers have been challenged with the options they have to grow beyond normal range. They have had to choose between consultants that tell you what to do and agencies who want to be creative. Architects who want to build a beautiful store and store fitout specialists who want to solve a problem with bespoke fixtures. Designers who want to develop an elegant piece of communications and media agencies who want to shout your brand from the top of every roof top. RX is a retail practise which brings all of those needs together under one-roof and we work with businesses to truly understand what makes their retail business tick, but also what captures customers hearts, minds and wallets. This adaptive approach means retail business don’t compromise and we can bring together experts in field in an ecosystem driven to prioritise and deliver with the changing needs of the business.
What do your clients say make you different?
Our clients value the insights we extract that are used to help reshape their business. We need to start with a truth, a problem or a factual situation to evolve. They also love that we are experienced in maintaining BAU while we work alongside clients to fill the gaps in their capability and move the business forward with their people, embedding the change along the way. In retail you just can’t stop or you are moving backwards – you need to run innovation or change in parallel to BAU. The other thing our clients appreciate is that our approach is multi-disciplinary and holistic across every touchpoint that needs to be considered. Even if they haven’t considered it, we know what to look for an consider.
Thanks for sharing, Juanita! It’s a pleasure to work alongside such a talented and passionate team.
If you need a hand with uncovering solutions to your problems, revealing opportunities to differentiate and spark reactions to drive engagement, raving advocates and lasting loyalty get in touch here!
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