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[Voiceover]: Welcome to the checkout. We catch up with previous add to cut guests and ask them five quick questions to get to know them better and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get through your Friday. Here's your host, Bushy.
[Ad]: Today's checkout features Alexandra McNabb, the chief operating officer of Baird Footwear. Founded in 2008, Baird has grown into one of Australia's most respected and successful
Nathan Bush: retail brands with a focus on quality
[Ad]: products, sustainable practices and a new level of customer delight.
Nathan Bush: Alex, welcome to the checkout. Thank you for joining us. We had a great chat with yourself and Jordi from Shopify all around what you doing it bad including international expansion and some great products. Your sustainable journey and your journey into Soho in New York which is very exciting. But we're here to learn a little bit more about you. So I've got five quick questions.
Alexandra McNab: Go for it.
Nathan Bush: Number one, what is the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?
Alexandra McNab: It was when I was pregnant and I bought a cheese toasty maker and a 24 pack of Kraft Singles for express delivery at 9pm at night because I really, really needed a Kraft cheese toastie and I haven't eaten one since. It was a one night thing.
Nathan Bush: Did it hit the spot at the time?
Alexandra McNab: Oh, did it ever. But haven't touched them since.
Nathan Bush: That's great. What a craving. All right, number two, who is your favorite retailer?
Alexandra McNab: Look, someone I think who's doing it really well and they're a little, a little Melbourne based brand. They make laundry detergent. They're called the Dirt company and I just, I like their story. I like what they're about. I like their, the way they message what they do. The product is great. Like I don't need five laundry detergents but somehow I have all five because you know, the product's good and the packaging's nice and it looks nice. So I just think they've got a good little. A good little thing going there.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. And you mentioned your international expansion into the U.S. are there any other retailers that you look up to on the global scale that you go, oh, if we got to this, you know, I'd be really happy.
Alexandra McNab: The ones that I like in Australia, I think Mecca does a really good job. I think their branding and their. I mean, I'm sure everyone says it, but I do think their branding and their store experience and the way they blend the online and the in store is pretty phenomenal. And, you know, there's so many people who ride or die by their beauty loop. They've got to be doing something right. Internationally. I don't actually. I try not to shop internationally as much, but, yeah, I'd say Mecca.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. Great, Great example. All right, number three, which E commerce practice do you wish was history?
Alexandra McNab: Oh, the. You have left something in your cart literally the second you leave the website. I'm okay with it 24, 48 hours later, but not the second I leave. That's so annoying.
Nathan Bush: Is that how you set it up a bed? Do you have the abandoned checkout?
Alexandra McNab: Definitely not. The minute we leave,
Nathan Bush: I guess, too, because your product's so different. Right. You probably need a little bit of thinking time and.
Alexandra McNab: Yeah.
Nathan Bush: All right, number four, can you recommend a book or a PODC that our listeners should immediately get into?
Alexandra McNab: I'm a big book reader. Big one. The thing that I most recently read and really loved was Radical Candor by Kim Stott. That was a really. That's a fantastic leadership book. And it's. It's leadership for people who like people. I think it's worth a read.
Nathan Bush: What did you take out of it?
Alexandra McNab: Well, just the value of being upfront and honest with people and. And, you know, I think a lot of leadership books are about, you know, don't get too close, be professional. Whereas this is almost the opposite. It's like the more, you know, and the more you care about your people, the better your work relationship can be with them, which is something that I definitely, definitely think.
Nathan Bush: And is there then the balance of, yes, get close and get personal, but also deliver honest feedback when needed in good faith?
Alexandra McNab: Yeah, that's exactly it. If they. If they feel close to you and they feel like you have their best interests at heart, any potentially negative feedback or blunt feedback is received with a. This person has my best interests at heart. It's not that they're out to get me. It's a. I trust them, what they're saying. I will trust that, too.
Nathan Bush: Beautiful. And I know there's a lot of people that do struggle with that because they are real people people. And they've been put in places, you know, where they're now managers, where they weren't managers before, and go, oh, now I'm managing a team that were friends and now I've got to manage them. How do I do that? So that sounds like a great suggestion.
Alexandra McNab: Yeah, no, it's a great book.
Nathan Bush: All right, last question I have for you, Alex, finish this sentence. The future of retail is international expansion for us.
Alexandra McNab: I'll say that. Look, I think the future of retail is experience. What's always set it apart, and it will continue set it apart. Experience.
Nathan Bush: And like we said in the main episode, I think Baird is really leading the way with experience.
[Ad]: And, you know, we heard about how
Nathan Bush: you bring together online and offline customer experience. And what I especially love is the faith and the trust that you put in both your team members. You know, we talked about, you know, giving them discretion to give discounts when needed. And, you know, there's no formal training. It's be yourself, look after people, but also customers. Where you talked about there's the ability for them to keep an item that might not fit, but also will send you out a new pair to try before you send back the old one. So I feel like what you're saying there is, you know, have that faith and look after people 100%. Yeah. Great. Alex, thank you for joining us on the checkout.
Alexandra McNab: Thank you for having me.
[Ad]: Pleasure to hear more from Alex. Jump back into episode 393, where Alex is joined by Jordy Heiss, senior retail product consultant for Shopify in Australia and New Zealand, and they discuss all things Shopify.
Nathan Bush: Pause.
[Ad]: Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep adding to cartoon.
