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# Sales Interview Transcript: Steven Wright, CRO ## Unified Commerce Implementation in Retail --- ## Metadata | Field | Value | |-------|-------| | **Date** | January 8, 2025 | | **Duration** | 32 minutes, 14 seconds | | **Interviewer** | James Mitchell, Sales Director, Salesloft + Clari | | **Interviewee** | Steven Wright, Chief Revenue Officer | | **Company** | Nexus Retail Group | | **Company Size** | $220M ARR, 340+ retail locations | | **Industry** | Specialty retail (consumer electronics & home goods) | | **Purpose** | Evaluate unified commerce platform + revenue intelligence solution | --- ## Interview Transcript **JAMES:** Steven, thanks for taking the time today. I know you've got a packed schedule, especially coming out of the holidays. Before we dive into the specifics of what we do, I'd love to understand what's keeping you up at night as CRO. Walk me through the state of your business right now. **STEVEN:** Yeah, appreciate it. Honestly, the headline is we're under real margin pressure. Retail bankruptcies have decimated our customer acquisition channels. When competitors go belly-up, yes, there's some customer acquisition, but it's brutal on pricing. Everybody's hunting for the same remaining customers, and the majors—Amazon, Best Buy, Costco—they're hoovering up share. We've had to become much more disciplined about where we spend. It used to be we could open a location and if we got the fundamentals right, it would perform. Now? You need precision. **JAMES:** That makes complete sense. So the bankruptcies, is that more about lost customers, or is it more about channel disruption? **STEVEN:** Both. When a competitor closes 50 stores, you're looking at customers who are now orphaned, right? But they don't necessarily come to you. They're asking—why am I going to a physical store for electronics or home goods? Amazon's three-day shipping, no friction. So we've had to completely rethink our TAM. We're not competing on location density anymore. We're competing on experience and speed. **JAMES:** And that's driving new initiatives? New segments, new geographies? **STEVEN:** Absolutely. We're doubling down on higher-margin categories—smart home, connected home, that's where the service layer matters. We're moving into adjacent spaces where physical presence is actually a moat. And we're looking internationally—Canada, UK, potentially Europe. The domestic market is consolidating. We need growth vectors that aren't hand-to-hand combat in shrinking segments. **JAMES:** So as you're expanding internationally and into adjacencies, are you taking your current commerce technology with you, or is that forcing a re-architecture? **STEVEN:** Great question. That's actually one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you. Our current stack—point of sale, inventory, a couple of legacy systems—they're tied to a very US-centric operating model. Even thinking about Canada requires us to rethink tax, compliance, inventory synchronization. And if we're serious about adjacencies—we're looking at omnichannel services, in-home installation, rental models—our current backend can't support that. We're looking at a unified commerce platform. Something that can handle inventory across channels, fulfillment from multiple nodes, real-time pricing, that kind of thing. **JAMES:** And unified commerce to you—when you say that—is that unified inventory, unified customer view, unified fulfillment? **STEVEN:** All of it. But I want to be really clear—for us, unified commerce is table stakes now. It's not a differentiator. Every player in this space either has it or is building it. The real value is in the next-gen capabilities on top of that foundation. Real-time demand sensing, predictive inventory, automated replenishment that can handle multi-location complexity, dynamic pricing based on local demand signals. That's where we win. **JAMES:** Can you unpack that a bit? Give me a concrete example of how that would work for you? **STEVEN:** Sure. Right now, if we have a snow event in Chicago, our store managers are making educated guesses about what to stock and reorder. That manager has intuition, but they don't have real-time data on what's selling in adjacent geographies, what's coming out of your distribution centers, what your supply chain partner can deliver in the next 48 hours. With real-time demand sensing and automated replenishment, we're telling that manager, "Hey, based on weather patterns, local search trends, and inventory position, here's what you should be merchandising this week." That cuts our stockouts by probably 40%, and we're not overstocking cold inventory. **JAMES:** And that feeds directly to your revenue. More sell-through, less markdown pressure. **STEVEN:** Exactly. In specialty retail, markdown is a killer. If I'm holding smart speakers that I should have sold in October, and I'm marking them down 30% in November, that's margin I'm never getting back. So real-time demand sensing isn't just operational—it's directly tied to gross margin improvement. **JAMES:** I appreciate that. So then the question becomes—how do you actually implement something like that across 340 locations? **STEVEN:** [laughs] That's the million-dollar question. And honestly, that's where we're hitting a wall. Our IT organization is focused on stability, compliance, security—all important things. But they're not aligned with what store operations needs. When we rolled out our last system, we did a big bang implementation. Went live across 100 locations at the same time. We had store managers calling the hotline saying the system was down, they couldn't ring up sales, customers were getting frustrated. That was a nightmare. **JAMES:** So you're thinking more phased now? **STEVEN:** We have to. We've learned the hard way. But here's the tension—and this is where I need your help—IT wants to do a carefully staged rollout. They want to do 5 locations, validate, do 10 more, validate. Store operations is saying, "We need this now. We can't wait two years for this to roll out." And they're right. Competitors are moving faster. We're losing ground. **JAMES:** What does a more realistic timeline look like for you? **STEVEN:** I think we can do it in 12-15 months if we're smart about methodology. But that requires a few things. It requires IT and store ops to agree on what success looks like. It requires really good change management and training. And it requires us to pick the right pilot locations—ones that have good operational discipline, store managers who are willing to adopt new processes. If you pilot in chaos locations, you're going to fail and IT will say, "See, we need to go slower." **JAMES:** So you're looking at phased rollouts. What's your phased approach? **STEVEN:** We're thinking maybe four tranches. Tranche one would be 20 locations—our strongest stores, highest-volume locations, ones where we know the management team is solid. We run for maybe 6-8 weeks, we gather data, we iterate on the implementation. Tranche two is maybe 50 locations, expanding to different geographies and store sizes. At that point we're validating that the learnings from tranche one apply across different contexts. Tranche three and four scale out, and by the time we're at tranche four, the system should be stable enough that even a lower-maturity location can absorb it. **JAMES:** And what are you defining as success in tranche one? What metrics matter to you? **STEVEN:** Great question. For us, the leading indicators are adoption metrics—are store associates actually using the system? Are store managers logging in to the dashboard we're building? Are they making decisions based on the data, or is it just more noise? Lagging indicators are operational—do we see inventory accuracy improve? Are stockouts going down? Are we moving faster on replenishment? And then obviously revenue and margin in those pilot locations. **JAMES:** You mentioned IT and store ops being misaligned. Tell me more about that tension. What does that look like day-to-day? **STEVEN:** [sighs] It's a classic conflict. IT is saying, "We need to ensure the system is secure. We need to ensure it's compliant. We need documentation, change control, testing." All of which is true and important. Store ops is saying, "I need to be able to tweak the business rules on the fly. I need to be able to respond to market dynamics in days, not weeks." They're both right, but they're not speaking the same language. IT is thinking about risk mitigation. Store ops is thinking about revenue opportunity. And they're not accountable to the same metrics. **JAMES:** So how do you bridge that gap? **STEVEN:** That's where I think a vendor like you can actually help. We need a rollout methodology that both sides can believe in. We need to present the case in the way each side thinks about the world. For IT, it's about risk, staged validation, documentation, hand-offs. For store ops, it's about speed, capability, competitive positioning. We need a story that says, "Here's how we move fast and maintain control." And then we need the vendor to help us operationalize that—training store ops on the system, but also training IT on the business context they're protecting. **JAMES:** So you're talking about custom engagement models for IT versus store ops. **STEVEN:** 100%. Our IT VP—smart guy, Chris, good leader—he cares about success, but he's never managed a retail transformation. He doesn't understand how critical holiday season is. He doesn't understand that you can't test a new checkout system on Black Friday; you need it bulletproof before the holidays. So the messaging has to be different. IT needs to understand the timeline is driven by retail calendar, not IT calendar. Store ops needs to understand that when they ask for a change, there's a formal process because we're not rebooting systems manually in 340 locations. **JAMES:** How many times have you had that conversation? That alignment conversation? **STEVEN:** [laughs] Probably 15, 20 times. Every time we hit an issue, the old fault lines open up. "We should have tested more." "We're moving too slow." And I'm in the middle trying to keep both sides moving forward. **JAMES:** So when you're evaluating a solution—unified commerce platform, demand sensing, whatever—what signals are you looking for that a vendor understands this challenge? **STEVEN:** First, do they have a playbook for multi-location rollouts? Have they done this before? Because I don't want to be a learning experience. Second, do they understand the two audiences? If someone pitches me only on the tech, they don't understand my world. If someone pitches me only on change management, they're not giving me the capability we need. Third, do they have a way to measure success that both sides believe in? Not just IT metrics, not just store ops metrics. **JAMES:** And what's the realistic risk if you get this wrong? **STEVEN:** The risk is we either move too slowly and we continue to lose share to Amazon and DTC players, or we move too fast, we have a botched implementation, store associates lose trust in the system, and then it takes years to re-build that trust. And in the interim, we're making business decisions with bad data. That's actually worse than moving slow. **JAMES:** Let's talk about the multi-location scaling piece. You mentioned 340 locations. How many geographies are those across? **STEVEN:** We're in 42 states currently, plus we're moving into Canada. High concentration in the Midwest and Southeast. So we've got regional distribution centers, we've got regional merchant teams, we've got regional operations. The unified commerce platform needs to honor that structure while also enforcing certain system-level standards. **JAMES:** And when you do that kind of multi-location rollout, what's the hidden complexity? **STEVEN:** Oh, man. [laughs] There's so much. Localization—not just languages, but business rules. A location in Manhattan operates totally differently than a location in rural Iowa. They have different staffing, different customer density, different shrink patterns. So you can't one-size-fits-all your implementation. You need flexibility in the platform, but you also need guardrails so that someone doesn't break the entire system because they wanted to modify something in their region. And then there's the people side. Store managers turnover. You train someone on the new system, they get promoted or move to another role, and now you've got a new manager who doesn't understand the process. So you need really good documentation, easy-to-use training, and probably some kind of ongoing support model. **JAMES:** Do you have a dedicated rollout team, or is this happening inside the existing operations structure? **STEVEN:** That's part of what we're trying to figure out. We could stand up a dedicated tiger team—maybe 8-10 people—who own the rollout end-to-end. Pros: clear accountability, full focus. Cons: expense, and then when the rollout is done, what happens to those people? Do they join store ops? Do they join IT? That's awkward. Alternatively, we embed rollout responsibilities into the existing store operations team. Pro: sustainable model. Con: they're already stretched, managing existing stores. **JAMES:** What's your instinct? **STEVEN:** I think we need a hybrid. A smaller core team—maybe 4 people, really strong project managers and change management experts—who own the methodology and the rollout cadence. But the change process is owned by the regional operations directors. They have skin in the game, they're accountable to the results in their region, they're managing the store managers, they're doing the training. The core team is coaching and enforcing the methodology. **JAMES:** And how do you define the success metrics for those regional directors? **STEVEN:** That's a great question, and honestly, we're still sorting that out. I don't want to penalize a region because their stores are slower to adopt—could be low-maturity locations, could be a difficult geography. But I also need accountability. I think we're looking at something like: 90% of store managers completing training, 80% of stores passing a go-live checklist before cutover, and then within 30 days post-go-live, you're at 90% utilization of the new system. Metrics that are achievable but rigorous. **JAMES:** Those sound achievable. And then what's the communication cadence like during a rollout? How often are you talking to store managers? **STEVEN:** During training, we're probably weekly or twice-weekly. There's an orientation session where we walk through the new processes, then there's hands-on training, then there's practice scenarios. All of that's compressed into maybe 4-6 weeks. Once they go live, we probably have a support hotline and someone checking in. The regional ops directors are probably on a weekly call with me and with IT to talk through any issues. And we're probably doing a monthly all-hands with the store manager population to celebrate wins and talk through problems. **JAMES:** And those store managers—are they your champions or are they skeptical? **STEVEN:** [laughs] Both. Some of them are really excited. They understand that better data means better inventory decisions, better labor forecasting, better margin. But plenty are skeptical. They're thinking, "This is going to slow me down. I've got a way of doing things that works. This new system is going to bureaucratize my job." And they're not entirely wrong. There are some new processes they'll need to follow. The key is showing them that on the other side of that, their job gets easier and their results get better. **JAMES:** So how do you communicate that to them? **STEVEN:** We try to focus on outcomes, not processes. We don't say, "You'll need to do an inventory count every week." We say, "You'll have real-time inventory visibility, which means you'll never have a customer leave because something's out of stock, and you'll never have dead inventory sitting in your backroom." When you frame it that way, the process becomes a means to an end, not a burden. And we try to get the enthusiastic store managers to be testimonials. They pilot it first, they see the results, and then they're the ones saying, "Hey, this is actually great" to the skeptical stores. **JAMES:** That's smart. So peer influence is part of your strategy. **STEVEN:** It has to be. Store managers respect each other way more than they respect corporate. If I'm a store manager in Memphis and some guy in Chicago who runs a similar store is saying, "This system helped me," I'm going to listen. If corporate is saying, "This system is great," I'm rolling my eyes. **JAMES:** Fair point. Let's talk about the IT side of this more. You've got this tension between IT and store ops. When you're evaluating a unified commerce platform, what role does IT play in the buying decision? **STEVEN:** Chris, our IT VP, definitely needs to sign off. But I'm trying to make sure IT is evaluating this on the right criteria. IT tends to focus on technical debt, architectural soundness, long-term maintainability. All important. But if we're choosing between a system that's architecturally perfect and takes three years to implement versus a system that's 80% as elegant but can be live in 12 months, I might choose the faster system. The market isn't going to wait for technical perfection. **JAMES:** And how do you frame that to Chris? **STEVEN:** I'm saying, "Here's my thesis: we need to move fast. We need a platform that has proven success in retail, that has a playbook for multi-location rollouts, that has good change management support. I need IT to validate that it's secure, that it's maintainable, that we're not painting ourselves into a corner. But the primary decision criteria is strategic—does this move us forward relative to our competitors?" Chris gets it. We've talked about this openly. **JAMES:** That's good leadership on your part. So when you're making the buying decision, who's actually on the committee? Is it IT, store ops, finance? **STEVEN:** Yeah, it's a cross-functional group. Me, Chris from IT, my VP of store operations, Rebecca, our CFO, and probably the VP of merchandising. We're trying to make sure we're not just solving for one part of the business. Finance cares about ROI and implementation cost. Ops cares about capability and change management. Merchandising cares about whether this enables their strategies around pricing and promotions. IT cares about integration and long-term sustainability. **JAMES:** And those stakeholders have different priorities, I'm guessing. **STEVEN:** Totally. Finance wants the cheapest option. Store ops wants the most feature-rich option. IT wants the most maintainable option. My job is to synthesize all of that and make a decision that moves the company forward. It's not rocket science—I need to be clear about what's non-negotiable, what's nice-to-have, and what's a deal-breaker. **JAMES:** What's non-negotiable for you? **STEVEN:** Multi-channel order management—we need to be able to take orders from any channel and fulfill from any node. Real-time inventory synchronization—no more surprises. API-first architecture—we're going to integrate this with a dozen other systems, so it needs clean integrations. And proven playbook for retail transformations. I need a vendor who's done this 50 times before, not someone who's figuring it out with us. **JAMES:** And the phased rollout approach we talked about earlier—is that something you're going to require in the contract? **STEVEN:** Absolutely. We're going to write into the contract what success looks like for each tranche. If we don't hit the metrics in tranche one, we probably pause before going into tranche two. And the vendor needs to support that. Some vendors want to just install the thing and move on. We need a vendor who's in it with us for the 12-15 month journey. **JAMES:** That makes sense. And as you think about international expansion—Canada, potentially Europe—are you thinking about a single global instance or multiple regional instances? **STEVEN:** That's a great question and honestly it's above my pay grade in terms of the technical architecture. But from a business perspective, I want to be able to see the business as one unit. I want a single P&L for Nexus Retail Group, not separate P&Ls for US and Canada and Europe. That said, I understand there are compliance reasons for data residency, and different regions have different operational requirements. So maybe it's a federated model—global master data and visibility, but regional instances where needed? **JAMES:** Have you talked to your IT team about that? **STEVEN:** Briefly. Chris was making some noises about APIs and microservices and data synchronization. I don't pretend to understand all that. But I know it's possible because SaaS vendors are doing it. So if we're choosing a unified commerce platform, I want to make sure it can scale internationally without reinventing the wheel. **JAMES:** That's a great point. Let me shift gears a little. You mentioned that unified commerce is table stakes—it's not a differentiator. So where do you think the next-gen capabilities are going? What's going to differentiate you in five years? **STEVEN:** That's the question I think about constantly. I think it's going to be AI-driven everything. Demand forecasting that's trained on your specific business. Pricing that's dynamic based on a thousand different variables. Customer recommendations that are driving incremental basket size. Workforce optimization that's telling you not just how many people you need, but who should be where, when. And this all needs to be real-time and personalized to each location. **JAMES:** And can a unified commerce platform be the backbone for that? **STEVEN:** It has to be. Because all of that requires access to clean, real-time data. Unified commerce is the plumbing. AI is the intelligence that runs through the plumbing. So when I'm evaluating a platform, I'm asking, "Is this platform designed for AI?" Does it have clean APIs? Is the data modeled in a way that makes it easy to apply machine learning? Or is it a legacy system with all these data silos? **JAMES:** That's a great framing. So the buying decision today is partly about the present—what's the platform going to do for me next year—but also about the future. Can it support the capabilities I'm going to need in three, five years? **STEVEN:** Exactly. And that's where a playbook matters. If I talk to 10 other CROs who've implemented this platform, and they're all saying, "We were able to layer on AI, we were able to build custom analytics," then I have confidence. If no one's doing it yet, I'm skeptical. **JAMES:** That's fair. So let's talk about the technology stack that would support this. You've got the unified commerce platform. On top of that, you'd presumably want some kind of demand sensing or AI layer. You'd want business intelligence. You'd want a sales and operations planning tool maybe? **STEVEN:** Yeah, and that's where I think you guys come in, right? You're not just selling me a unified commerce platform. You're selling me a way to actually manage the business transformation and the revenue side of it. We need visibility into sales by location, by category, by channel. We need forecasting that's accurate. We need to be able to simulate what happens if we change pricing in a region. And we need all of that to inform our inventory decisions and our merchandising decisions. **JAMES:** So we're talking about a revenue intelligence layer on top of unified commerce. **STEVEN:** Exactly. That's the stuff I actually care about. The unified commerce platform is a hygiene factor. The revenue intelligence—the ability to actually understand and optimize my revenue—that's where I win. **JAMES:** And when you implement revenue intelligence across 340 stores with different regional structures, what's the biggest challenge? **STEVEN:** [pauses] Honestly, I think it's trust. You can build the most sophisticated forecasting model in the world, but if store managers don't trust it, if the forecast is way off their intuition, they're not going to use it. So you need to build credibility gradually. Show them that the forecasts are actually more accurate than their gut. Show them that when they follow the recommendations, their results improve. And you need to be transparent about the model. If a store manager asks, "Why is this forecast predicting 500 units?" they need to understand the logic, not just get a black box number. **JAMES:** So explainability is key. **STEVEN:** It has to be. And you need feedback loops so that when the forecast is wrong, you're learning why it was wrong and improving. That's not a one-time implementation. That's an ongoing process. **JAMES:** And who owns that on your side? Is that IT, is that store ops, is that a dedicated analytics team? **STEVEN:** That's another piece we need to figure out. We don't currently have a dedicated analytics or BI team. That's something we'd probably need to build or hire for. Someone who understands retail operations, who understands the technology stack, who can be the translator between the operational needs and the technical team. And that person would probably sit in my organization, reporting to me or to Rebecca, so they've got visibility across the company. **JAMES:** And what would you expect that person to spend their time on? **STEVEN:** Initially, implementation and adoption. Getting the system live, training people on how to use it, helping store managers understand how to apply the insights. But once it's mature, I'd expect them to be on the offensive—constantly identifying new use cases, testing hypotheses, recommending process changes. Basically, they're responsible for making sure we're actually using the technology to drive better outcomes. **JAMES:** And the budget for that role—is that coming out of IT budget or operations budget? **STEVEN:** [laughs] That's a conversation I need to have with Rebecca. I think it should be a shared cost. IT provides the platform and the infrastructure. But I think operations should fund the role because the benefit is in operations and revenue. Either way, it's not an enormous line item. I'd rather fund one smart analyst than try to do it all ourselves. **JAMES:** That's smart. So as we think about wrapping up here, let me ask you—you've got a problem set: unified commerce, demand sensing, revenue intelligence, a $220M business, 340 locations, expanding internationally, IT and ops misaligned. When you're talking to vendors, what are you hoping to hear? **STEVEN:** I want to hear that they've done this before. Not just the technology piece, but the transformation piece. I want to hear that they understand the people side, the change management side, the phased rollout side. I want to hear that they can work with both my IT team and my ops team and speak both languages. I want to hear realistic timelines. If someone's promising me a 6-month implementation across 340 locations, they're either lying or they don't understand the complexity. And I want to hear about outcomes. I don't want to hear about features. I want to hear, "Here's what similar retailers have achieved—they improved inventory accuracy by 35%, they reduced stockouts by 40%, they improved gross margin by 120 basis points." That's what actually matters. **JAMES:** And if you had to pick the single biggest risk for this project, what would it be? **STEVEN:** [long pause] Probably that we don't get IT and ops aligned and we end up with a Frankenstein system that neither side actually believes in. IT sees it as a compliance liability. Ops sees it as too rigid. And somewhere in the middle, the actual value gets lost. That would be a nightmare. So I need a vendor who can help me prevent that. Someone who's going to facilitate the alignment conversation, not just show up and implement a product. **JAMES:** That's really insightful. Well, Steven, I appreciate the time and the honesty. I think we have a good sense of what you're trying to achieve and the constraints you're working within. Let me go back to my team, we'll put together some specific thoughts about how we could support your transformation, and let's set up a follow-up with you and Chris and Rebecca. **STEVEN:** I appreciate it. Honestly, just the fact that you're asking these questions about the people side and the transformation side tells me you're thinking about this the right way. So I'm interested in what you come back with. **JAMES:** Thanks, Steven. We'll be in touch within a week. --- ## Key Takeaways ### Business Context - **Market Headwinds**: Retail bankruptcies have shrunk the addressable market. Customer acquisition is highly competitive, pricing pressure is intense. Domestic market consolidation is forcing new growth vectors. - **Growth Strategy**: Expansion into higher-margin categories (smart home, connected home), adjacent services (in-home installation, rental models), and international markets (Canada, UK, potentially Europe). - **Technology Imperative**: Current POS and legacy systems are not equipped to support omnichannel operations, multi-channel fulfillment, or internationalization. Unified commerce platform is table stakes, not differentiator. ### Platform Requirements - **Must-Haves**: Multi-channel order management, real-time inventory synchronization, API-first architecture, proven retail transformation playbook. - **Nice-to-Haves**: Global scale with regional flexibility, AI-ready architecture, embedded analytics and BI. - **Deal-Breakers**: Anything that locks them into legacy thinking or multi-year implementations without validation gates. ### Implementation Approach - **Phased Rollout**: 4-tranche approach over 12-15 months. Tranche 1: 20 locations (strongest stores, 6-8 weeks). Tranche 2: 50 locations. Tranche 3-4: Full rollout. - **Success Metrics**: Store manager adoption (90%), training completion (80%), go-live readiness checklist (80%), system utilization post-go-live (90% within 30 days), operational metrics (inventory accuracy, stockouts, replenishment speed), revenue and margin improvement. - **Governance**: Dedicated core rollout team (4 people) coaching regional operations directors (who own the execution). Weekly tactical calls, monthly all-hands with store managers. ### Stakeholder Dynamics - **The Tension**: IT prioritizes stability, compliance, security, methodical testing. Store ops prioritizes speed, capability, competitive responsiveness. CRO needs both. - **The Resolution**: Clear up-front alignment on non-negotiables. IT validates architecture/security/maintainability. Store ops owns adoption and change management. CRO owns the business case and ROI. - **Messaging Strategy**: IT audience—risk mitigation, staged validation, documentation, compliance. Store ops audience—revenue opportunity, competitive positioning, margin improvement, outcome-based. ### Change Management - **Training Approach**: Orientation (new processes), hands-on practice (4-6 weeks), go-live support, ongoing hotline. - **Adoption Strategy**: Use high-performing store managers as champions and testimonials. Frame capability changes as enablers of better outcomes, not bureaucratic burdens. - **Measurement**: Monthly calibration on adoption metrics. Be willing to pause if metrics aren't being hit. ### Organizational Gaps - **Analytics/BI capability**: Currently lacking. Need to hire or build an analytics role that understands retail operations and can translate between business and technology. - **Project management**: Considering a small dedicated tiger team to own the rollout methodology and cadence while embedding accountability into regional operations structure. - **International strategy**: Needs clarity on single vs. multi-instance architecture. Favors global visibility with regional compliance flexibility. ### Vendor Evaluation Criteria - **Demonstrated Experience**: 50+ retail transformations. Case studies with quantified outcomes (inventory accuracy, stockout reduction, margin improvement). - **Transformation Mindset**: Not just a product implementation. Change management support, stakeholder alignment facilitation, phased rollout methodology. - **Multi-Persona Engagement**: Ability to speak to IT, store ops, and finance in their respective languages. - **Future-Proofing**: AI-ready architecture, clean APIs, data modeling that supports advanced analytics and machine learning. ### Next Steps (From Vendor Perspective) 1. Schedule follow-up with CRO, IT VP (Chris), VP Store Operations (Rebecca), and CFO. 2. Develop transformation playbook specific to 340-location, phased rollout scenario. 3. Prepare case studies and financial outcomes from comparable retail transformations. 4. Draft initial approach to IT-ops alignment, including messaging and governance model. 5. Model out 12-15 month timeline with clear success criteria for each tranche. --- ## Interviewer's Notes **Strengths of this prospect:** - Intellectually honest about constraints and challenges - Clear-eyed about market dynamics and competitive pressure - Thoughtful about change management and people dynamics - Not looking for silver bullet; understands this is a multi-year journey - Has executive alignment (implied—CFO, IT, ops all in agreement that change is needed) **Risks:** - IT/ops misalignment is real. If not addressed immediately, could derail implementation. - Ambitious timeline (12-15 months) may be aggressive. Need to validate with IT and ops. - International expansion adds complexity and uncertainty. Could become a distraction or pivot the priorities. - Analytics capability gap could slow adoption. Need a hiring or staffing plan. **Competitive Intelligence:** - Currently in evaluation phase with competitors. Mentioned IT vendor relationships, but not locked in. - Budget appears approved (mentioned CFO). Likely $1-2M decision-making window for platform + implementation services. - Deal cycle: probably 6-8 weeks to POC, 90 days to decision, 12-15 months to implementation. **Next Conversation Should Cover:** - Detailed walkthrough of phased rollout methodology - Case studies from similar retailers (340+ locations, international expansion) - IT architecture review and security/compliance assessment - Change management playbook specific to this company - Financial modeling and ROI methodology