"I don’t really feel the need to relax,” says Adrian Marroneau, director of buying and merchandising at DM London. “Life is hectic and that’s the way I like it.”
Good job too. In an acquisitive 12 months, DM London has bought both The Watch Hut and The Watch Gallery. Both deals were inked inside the same week, which one can only imagine led to that usual emotional cocktail of frenetic excitement and trepidation.
In the thick of it was Adrian and he proved instrumental in the successful integration of the business’s various strands.
He has, by any measure, been successful, making him a shoo in for the WatchPro Hot 100. The business is 36% up on last year, a staggering figure against a backdrop that everyone acknowledges – almost euphemistically now – as tough. And given that a quarter of all these sales were online then the move must be considered very successful.
And Adrian reminds us of how big – and diverse – the DM London business is. “That’s the most exciting part. On any given day, you might be working on Selfridges and Asos, John Lewis and Rolex boutiques. We pride ourselves in being an independent retail company. We treat every single partner individually and always thrive on bringing each business a constantly enhanced level of attention to detail.”
And the secret to his success? For all our flagwaving of his abilities, Adrian is impressively humble on this point. “Practically speaking, the key is to employ great people and give them real autonomy to drive their business unit forward.”
That is something Adrian will no doubt continue to do, but he will also steer the whole thing in the face of what he calls “the rapidly changing face of retail in the UK”. As he says: “Online is now an absolutely integral part of the retail experience across the whole category both at the luxury as well as the designer end. We have to think about creating a complete multichannel environment for our customers and ensure we exceed their expectations through every avenue.”
Sounds hectic. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Retail Titans category was sponsored by Bremont.
To see the full digital version of the Hot 100, click here.
