Two New Directors, One new Customer, One Big Re-Brand – and 21 Years of Trading!

Some people choose to throw a party, whilst others might want to celebrate with their families. However, for us, turning 21 has been met with a lockdown and a few new changes, including an exciting new re-brand and two new additions to our Board of Directors. And, as if all this wasn’t change enough, we also welcome a new customer to our OMIO PIM solution.

We’re excited to announce womenswear and childrenswear retailer, Mint Velvet, as OMIO PIM’s latest customer. OMIO PIM is a product information management solution, helping brands to manage their product data and enter new digital marketplaces with ease. Launched in May, it increases speed to market and streamlines the workflow of head office teams.

Laura Boyd, Mint Velvet’s Trading Director, said: “We are delighted to have assessed the market and selected OMIO PIM as being a complete and functionally-rich solution that will enable Mint Velvet to continue to accelerate its digital growth.”

Alex Broxson has been appointed as Chief Marketing Officer, with Kieran Bowden appointed as Chief Commercial Officer. As two experienced colleagues with 40 combined years of experience working within both the retail and hospitality sectors, and their respective fields, they both bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our board.

Previously Head of Marketing, Alex started at Retail Assist 10 years ago as Marketing Manager. She swiftly moved to Head of Marketing, overseeing our successful marketing team who were recently listed as a finalist for ‘Marketing Team of the Year’ at the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Marketing Excellence Awards 2020.

Alex said: “I’m really pleased to be joining the board and being part of the overall strategic direction of the company After 10 years here, it’s a great progression for me and to have marketing representation at board level. I will be continuing to drive forward the communications, but also supporting our direction of travel, vision, market insight and continuing to develop key relationships.”

Kieran Bowden joined us in 2017 as Head of Business Development, leading the sales team for our managed IT services offering. Bringing with him a wealth of commercial experience from previous roles at IBM, Fujitsu and Oracle, he’s helped our business to solidify its position as a flexible solutions provider. Kieran has now grown both the Account and New Business teams to further underpin our company’s growth aspirations and increasing client base.

Kieran said: “Our Marketing and Sales teams have never been so in sync and we are excited with the recently launched extensions to our product offering, underpinned by a fresh reflection of our skills with a modern approach to sales engagement. We have worked hard to ensure we have hugely relevant solutions and services ready to help retailers and hospitality vendors, across all sectors, grow their businesses.”

As the company moves into its third decade, we’ve also taken the opportunity to refresh our look.

Alex added: “It was time for us to freshen up our look at Retail Assist. As a company, we are continually moving forward with our provision to the market. We needed a look and feel that kept up with that, which also represented the dynamic and proactive company that we are. We have created a logo which is mainly about the ‘Assist’ element of our name, but you can also see a reflective ‘R’, as a nod to our retail heritage, alongside the forward slash element to reflect the software development and our technical background. The colour palette is a strong move forward from our traditional green and brings forward our bright, fresh approach to business.”

Reflecting on the re-brand and the additions to the board, our Chief Executive Officer, Dan Smith, said: “Arriving at Retail Assist’s 21st anniversary is a real opportunity for the team to celebrate the success of the business, and whilst many things in retail and hospitality have changed in those 21 years, the underlying success of Retail Assist has always been based on a clear culture of having expertise in our chosen field, understanding the future needs of our clients to meet the fast developing market we thrive in, and valuing the commitment of all our hard working team members. We’re also excited to welcome Alex and Kieran to our Board of Directors and the expertise and experience they bring with them.

“Our first 21 years have seen us supplying services and solutions to multi-billion turnover businesses, delivering to 68 countries worldwide, with multi-lingual teams supporting stores, cinemas, cafes and airports, so whilst we do not know yet what the next 21 years shall bring, we look forward to the meeting the challenges with our clients and teams in the exciting international market we work in.”

Like our new look? Let us know what you think by dropping us a line here.