This week we are catching up with Laura Smith as she joined the business just before lock-down and some of our internal teams haven’t even met her yet !  Laura has worked as a retail marketing professional in the consumer electronics industry for over 10 years, predominantly at Sonos and
then more recently at 100% group which has given her solid experience and perspective from both client and supplier facing roles.  Another main focus has been on processes and quality, spending much needed time concentrating on formal documentation and process moving forwards.  Here we spend 5 minutes getting to know Laura!

Describe yourself in 3 words. – positive, organised, outgoing

What’s the highlight of your career so far? – I’ve been lucky enough to travel and experience some amazing things throughout my career, so it’s hard to pin point a specific highlight. I would say a proud moment would be pioneering Sonos Global Technical Training.

Which brand would you choose to work with if you could and why? – Vivienne Westwood. British brand, I admire her activist voice, her quirky personality and of course the designs!

What does the future of retail look like? – Shopping can be such a social and visceral experience, especially poignant right now where it’s been restricted to see products, physically be with people, touch and smell things. This is something that we just can’t do online yet. As we’re all aware, shopping is changing and so is customer behaviour. I think we will be embracing new digital technologies to enhance the retail experience and efficiency needs to come with that especially from a speed perspective, no one wants to wait! I strongly believe in the future of physical shopping, but brands will likely use this space wisely to create more opportunities for people to connect with their products, less focus on sales, more focus on first-hand experience. Even as online delivery speeds continue to increase, you will still have appetite for some consumers to walk away with the item in their hand. Interactive POS looks likely to accelerate, but from a functionality perspective that needs to work, so it’s only a natural step for real time remote analytics to accelerate and become the normal criteria in planning new POS fixture designs.  Seamless payment looks to become the preferred way to pay in the future and effectively payments become invisible (one click physical purchases) or similar to an Uber ride, where you don’t even realise how much you’ve paid, as an automatic email receipt reaches your inbox.

Where is the best place you have visited in the world? – This is tough one… Sweden definitely had an impact on me as well as Australia.

Favourite restaurant? – Thai food is my favourite, a little independent one close to me called Maekong Tha

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself. – I’m in the Guinness book of world records

Favourite programme currently? – Killing Eve

What is your favourite brand and why? – Alicia Keys, not a band as such but as an artist she is inspirational within her lyrics and continues to be relevant. I admire the way she continues to reinvent herself, but remains authentic and relatable. I think she’s got a fantastic voice and her songs never get old for me.

If you didn’t work in retail design what would you be? – A full-time musician

Last 5 emojis used. – Sunshine, laughing face, sad face, finger crossed, ocean.

“We’ve got big ambitions for deployment as one of our four core services, as we move out of the global pandemic and beyond! We have a strong business offering to focus on selling into our existing and new clients, which is an exciting opportunity that I am proud to be a part of.”

Email hello@isiglobal.co.uk to learn more about our deployment services.