CMO Superstores where DWS Partner is the director of trading for this ecommerce online business.

Director of Trading. (Operational Board) - CMO Stores group. www.cmogroup.com
APR 2022 – Present Hybrid (Darlington, Ipswich & Plymouth) UK’s largest online-only retailer of building materials..

Achievements/Tasks

Appointed by the CEO having previously worked with Dean at FLY53 whereby he was chairman.
Led strategy from board meetings to store for consumer-facing websites (Tiles, Flooring, Plumbing, Bathrooms).
Successfully integrated three acquired businesses into the CMO platform, ensuring brand equity retention while realizing immediate group synergies.
Drove significant Margin Optimisation, increasing net margins by 3% in the Tiles division and 2.5% in Plumbing through strategic commercial trading decisions.
Championed and delivered Customer Experience (CX) innovations, including the new cut-sample journey and brand enhancements, driving better funnel performance.
Consolidated 5 consumer websites into 3 core platforms, directly leading the Plumbing Superstore migration which achieved a market-leading conversion rate of 2.9% (the highest within the group).
Maintained consistently high team engagement scores, recognized internally as an excellent leadership role model.

PGL Travel Group – Retail Brand Consultant reporting to the CEO & Marketing Director

May 2021 – Apr 2022 (initial 6-month contract extended to 12)

Achievements/Tasks

Consultative role advising the CEO, Marketing Director and Head of Product Development.
Generated exceptional commercial results, increasing retail sales by +33% and bar revenues by +112% (vs 2019 baseline). This success was driven by leading a completely uniform overhaul and developing new family-focused Customer Experience (CX) strategies

HEAD OF RETAIL – STORES AND CONCESSIONS, 70 LOCATIONS WITHIN THE U.K. & IRELAND
GANT CLOTHING – A GLOBAL PREMIUM LIFESTYLE BRAND

Senior Leadership Role with full accountability for annual Gross Sales in excess of £70m across 70 UK/Ireland locations, including key concessions (Selfridges, Harrods, John Lewis).
Delivered three successive years of record profit, including growth of +153%, +30%, and +18%.
Maintained strict P&L Responsibility (managing a £3.5m payroll budget), delivering a saving against budget for all controllable operational costs annually.
Achieved the company's highest leadership engagement score (85%) and significantly outperformed the market in Net Promoter Score (NPS) (+67% vs UK average +32%).
Achieved the company's highest leadership engagement score (85%) and significantly outperformed the market in Net Promoter Score (NPS) (+67% vs UK average +32%).
Excellent project management and collaborative working with the GANT Global and U.K. Teams, in addition to external contractors to ensure the smooth relocation of the Global Flagship Store at Regent Street London.
High customer engagement and training resulted in 4 successive years of increments for conversion, ATV & UPT.
Partnered closely with HR and L&D to successfully devise, launch, and embed a 6-module L&D programme for management, formalizing the annual GANT Academy graduation.
Executed effective Succession Planning, resulting in the promotion of two Store Managers to Regional Manager roles within the brand (Regent Street and Edinburgh).
Chair of the weekly trade meetings with key depts, B&M, Marketing, Ecom, Visual and OPS all present, strong commercial acumen & decision making displayed with the ability to listen and influence at a high level

HEAD OF SALES - E-COMMERCE, RETAIL & WHOLESALE. (BOARD LEVEL)
RAGING BULL CLOTHING - Ex England Rugby Captain, Phil Vickery's Premium Menswear Clothing Brand

Delivered record sales and profit across two successive years, achieving Exceptional LFL Growth (Year 1: +32%; Year 2: +29%).
Secured £2m in New Business Acquisition through establishing key strategic retail partnerships with major platforms including Zalando, NEXT LABELS, Stitch Fix, and Myers Department Stores (Australia), alongside launching 30 new wholesale accounts.
Drove significant E-commerce Growth with LFL online sales increasing +38% and +32%, directly attributed to improved digital marketing execution and streamlined site operations.
Achieved robust improvement in key commercial metrics: Conversion (+0.5%), Average Order Value (AOV) (+£8), and Units Per Transaction (UPT) (+0.2).
Led a strategic model transition of House of Fraser concessions to a Wholesale Model, expanding the brand's physical footprint from 28 to 51 locations and delivering an additional £0.5m in profit.
Improved business processes, commercial reporting, visual guidelines, brand launches and trading calendars.
Managed and influenced Key Stakeholders including the Founder (Phil Vickery) and three high-profile investors (including the Ex-CEO of House of Fraser and Ex-CEO of ASOS), effectively navigating the Board environment

RETAIL DIRECTOR - E-COMMERCE, RETAIL & WHOLESALE. (BOARD LEVEL)
FLY53 CLOTHING – A MENSWEAR APPAREL BRAND.

Implemented Board-approved growth strategies across all three core channels: E-commerce, Retail, and Wholesale.
Drove extraordinary top-line commercial results, achieving Year 1 growth of +110% (+59% LFL) and Year 2 growth of +52% (+28% LFL).
Led the E-commerce team significantly improving commercial and operational practices to deliver +88% LFL growth in Year 1 and +60% in Year 2.
Introduced an eBay store to optimize terminal stock management and enhance full-price sales performance on the main E-commerce site.
Leveraged strong partner relationships at House of Fraser to secure a key concession agreement, committing to a minimum rollout of 7 new concessions per year.
Collaborated closely with the Founder/Creative Director to select a concept agency, resulting in a 75% reduction in capital investment for new stores and a 25% increase in product density
Improved operational, commercial and visual delivery through the introduction of guidelines to support concession managers, to educate, coach and to be able to measure ‘what right looks like’ for the brand.

FAT FACE Clothing where DWS Partners was the area manager for the North of England

AREA MANAGER – NORTH OF ENGLAND/WALES AND FOR ALL OUTLETS NATIONWIDE.
FAT FACE CLOTHING – A LIFESTYLE CLOTHING BRAND.

Managed a large, high-value area (£32m+ Turnover, 380 Employees, £2.8m payroll budget) encompassing 25 full-price stores and the entire 8-store national Outlet division.
Consistently delivered market-leading performance over a 3-year period: achieving the Highest LFL Performance and the Highest Mystery Shop Score (83%) in the business, alongside annual savings on all controllable costs
Drove High-Performing Team creation by collaborating with L&D to introduce established leadership and development frameworks, including Myers Briggs, Belbin, Tuckman’s Model, and the Nine Box Grid.
Achieved exceptionally High Team Engagement, evidenced by an area Net Promoter Score (NPS) +18% above the company average.
Selected by leadership to lead two business-critical, company-wide projects: Stock Loss Prevention and the National Outlet Strategy for better management of terminal stock and operational consistency.
The Outlet Strategy project delivered a +16% YTD commercial improvement and was +29% above the company average performance.

AREA MANAGER
LEVI’S, TIMBERLAND & CATERPILLAR - (FRANCHISE & OWN STORES)

Accountable for the P&L and operations of 12 stores, delivering a combined turnover of £16m..
Executed a decisive commercial turnaround, reversing a -2% sales trend to level within six months, and driving +18% LFL growth in the second year.
Achieved the highest conversion rates in the U.K. for both Timberland (14%) and LEVI’s (17%) franchises.
Maintained stringent operational controls resulting in best-in-class Stock Loss figures for Timberland (–0.34%) and LEVI's (–0.67%)
4 development workshops delivered to all 60 store and assistant managers, Time Mgt & Leadership, Effective Communication & Presentation skills, SMART objective setting and Coaching & managing great customer service.
Trusted to Project Lead the implementation of the Timberland franchise, including Range Planning and Buying Strategy, resulting in the successful launch of two new stores within one year.

Expertise. Intuition. Ingenuity.

DWS' ACHIEVEMENTS