For any Chief Technology Officer (CTO) stepping into a new role in ecommerce, one of the first challenges isn’t just the technology itself, but the people behind it. Understanding the history, personalities, and existing relationships is crucial before making sweeping changes.
At the Retail Technology Show this week, some of the best CTO’s in the business shared their insights into how they were leading change through technology. We heard fantastic insights from Ben Hardy of Astrid & Miyu, Carole Kingsbury of C&C Group and our very own client, Richard Voyce of The Conran Shop!
As Carole so brilliantly put it;
“You never walk in the door expecting perfection in this line of work otherwise, your role wouldn’t exist. There are a lot of ‘oh shit’ moments! Your job is to find the value in the tech, bring things to life, and show the real impact of problems.”
So, how are today’s retail tech leaders approaching inherited tech stacks, ERP decisions, and digital transformation?
Evaluating what tech you have in your ecommerce business
Before making any moves, new CTOs need to assess their team, existing infrastructure, and vendors. Voyce uses a straightforward method:
“I keep a spreadsheet of agencies, vendors and suppliers with agreement deadlines. When a contract flashes red, it’s time to measure how many fires we’re having with that vendor. It’s brutal, but I recommend it - serve them notice if they’re not delivering value.”
Richard also concluded that beyond managing external relationships and third party tech, the key to success is simplifying the tech stack, reducing costs, and ensuring architecture aligns with the company’s growth strategy. It’s not just about technology - it’s about changing the culture of the team.
Carole agrees, and spends a lot of time talking with her team as the top priority. She thinks it’s important to undertsand the history of the brand, the context behind the technology decisions as well as the various personalities in the team and how they work together it’s crucial. She also made an excellent point that the tech stack is to improve the team first and foremost, so working out if people are up for a challenge and a change is also important.
The agency conundrum: Stick or switch?
One of the trickiest questions for a new CTO is whether to continue working with existing agencies. While teams may have strong opinions, Voyce takes a balanced approach:
“Are the agencies coasting, or are they genuinely up for innovating? If I’m growing a business, I want the agency to grow with us. We should be working towards mutual benefits and goals.”
At Unified, we’ve had the privilege of working closely with Richard Voyce and The Conran Shop for 10 years, helping them navigate their evolving digital landscape. As they celebrated their 50th anniversary, our collaboration led to a major shift - transitioning from Magento to Shopify to create a more agile and scalable ecommerce strategy. This move reduced their total cost of ownership by 50%, increased conversion rates by 54%, and boosted email marketing revenue by 23%.
Voyce highlights the impact of our partnership:
“Unified takes the time to learn the inner workings of a retailer, and they have a sound knowledge of ecommerce roadmaps, transformation plans, and growth tactics.”
Winning over teams: The change management challenge
A significant part of tech transformation isn’t just technical - it’s psychological. And the ecommerce team at any online brand play a big part in whether introducing change and new technology will help or hinder the business. Carole Kingsbury, CTO at C&C Group, notes:
“Some people just want to be the hero without doing the actual fixing. This is especially true when it comes to updating old legacy systems, often there’s defensiveness surrounding these older systems, even when there are clear improvements to be made.” She went on to explain that often, the team members most resistant to change are people who have been with the company a long time and perhaps made some of the these previous decisions around the current tech stack.
Her approach to change management with these conundrums is clear:
“It’s a sales pitch. You need to communicate what’s in it for them. Stop using the word ‘transformation’ too, talk about it as small steps and break it down for them. Change shouldn’t feel too big or scary.”
Richard agrees that understanding your team is crucial to understanding your customer and therefore making some of the best decisions around implemeting new technology:
“Put the tech aside for a moment and understand the real challenges. Some of the best people I’ve spoken to are those on the shop floor - they understand the customer best.”
The ERP debate: When is the right time?
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems can be both a blessing and a curse for CTO’s in ecommerce businesses! Which is something that Ben Hardy, Chief Operating Officer at Astrid & Miyu, talked about facing head-on is his role:
“At £9 million turnover, ERP kept coming up. But we chose an inventory management system instead. The cost and complexity of ERP would have slowed us down when we needed agility.”
This decision paid off - Astrid & Miyu were able to quickly pivot, test new product ideas, and capitalise on trends like welded bracelets going viral on TikTok. Ben advises:
“Think about what technology matches the size you’re at today, not where you want to get to. Constantly trim, review, and cut back; don’t wait for a crisis to make a move.”
The Path Forward
In a fast-changing retail landscape, agility is everything. Whether it’s deciding on an ERP, re-evaluating agencies, migrating ecommerce platforms, or managing complex tech stacks; the best CTOs balance immediate fixes with long-term strategy.
Ben sums it up poetically by quoting;
“Make hay while the sun shines. Keeping tech light and flexible allows you to seize opportunities.”
And for the retail brands winning in ecommerce today, that certainly seems to be the difference between surviving and thriving.
If you’re in a CTO or web management role at an ecommerce business and feel like you’re constantly treading water and fighting fires, contact us for a no obligation chat as to how we can help.
