[Voiceover]: Welcome to the checkout. We catch up with previous add to cart guests and ask them five quick questions to get to know them better and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get you through your Friday.
[Voiceover]: Today's checkout features Heather McIlvaine, features and premium editor at Inside Retail. We had a chat with Heather just after the winners of the top 50 people in E commerce were announced this year. She takes us behind the scenes on the winners and what was involved in
Nathan Bush: pulling this fabulous list together. Heather, welcome to the checkout.
Heather McIlvaine: Hi, Nathan. Thanks for having me.
Nathan Bush: No worries. We're gonna learn a little bit more about you. We heard all about the top 50 people in E commerce and what's happening at Inside Retail, but time to learn a little bit about the person behind it all. All right, number one, what's the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?
Heather McIlvaine: Well, this is something I have to confess. I didn't buy it myself. My mom bought it for me during COVID We both got into the sourdough baking trend and she found a flour mill in Melbourne and ended up shipping me about 20 kilos of flour. I'm not sure what shipping fee she paid on that or if she really understood how much flour was arriving at my house, but let's just say I still haven't gotten to the bottom of it.
Nathan Bush: Oh, and how much is left over and where do you put it?
Heather McIlvaine: Well, luckily I did just move, so I have a slightly bigger kitchen. It's just kind of in a corner somewhere. And yeah, my poor sourdough starter has seen better days, but I'm still hopeful that I'll get through it.
Nathan Bush: See, most people just saw it as a fad. You just like, I'm opening a bakery. I'm all in.
Heather McIlvaine: Yeah, I will have to at this point.
Nathan Bush: All right, number two, who is your favorite retailer? That's a tricky question for you.
Heather McIlvaine: Actually, it's incredibly tricky and, oh, God, I really thought about this then. But look, I'm just going to be play it safe. Like a lot of writers, I love bookstores and stationery stories. So I think one of my favorite. It's just my happy place, my happy retail place is the Melbourne bookstore chain Readings. I think they just do a great job at making it feel fun and like an independent bookstore with staff recommendations and it's always a good vibe in there.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, nice recommendation. All right, number three, which e commerce practice do you wish was history?
Heather McIlvaine: Okay, you guys might hate me for this, but I hate SMS marketing. And I think, I think because it's so effective. I just. My bank account would prefer it if you stopped texting me whenever you have a sale on.
Nathan Bush: So stop making it work.
Heather McIlvaine: Yeah, exactly.
Nathan Bush: All right, number four, can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into, or like a magazine or a subscription or something along those lines?
Heather McIlvaine: Oh, you mean like Inside Retail? That would be a very good recommendation, yes. There's always something fascinating to find in our weekly print mag or quarterly print mag. The last one had the founder of Deus Ex Machina on the COVID and it's a really fabulous cover of, like a motorcycle garage. It just looks awesome. So definitely do that.
Nathan Bush: There we go. Any where do you get your inspiration from if you're reading or researching or just trying to stay inspired outside of Inside Retail?
Heather McIlvaine: Oh, I feel like this is probably not that unique, but I think social media probably, you know, that's actually how we get a lot of our stories. Just seeing the marketing that brands put out there. It's actually one of the benefits of being a retail journalist is that the businesses you're covering are very open about what they're working on because they're communicating it to customers. So I love scrolling through Instagram and just seeing the different interesting initiatives. Like, I don't know if you saw Adidas, they did their breast mural.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, that was cool.
Heather McIlvaine: Yeah, that was really cool. And that's. I saw it on Instagram and I thought I better write about that.
Nathan Bush: When you do have some spare time, do you actually read about retail or E commerce or do you kind of just cut off and then need some like, brain zoning out time?
Heather McIlvaine: Yeah, it's hard because I think what I find with my reading is that I'm obviously from the US Originally. So a lot of times in my just like reading podcast listening, I'm catching up on stuff like pop culture in the U.S. tV shows and movies that maybe I am not fully aware of over here. So I will say it's a bit of a mix. I love to read about new businesses, but then I also love to read about cool movies that I need to go see. Yeah, yeah.
Nathan Bush: Last one I've got for you, Heather, finish this sentence. The future of retail is circular, I hope. Ah, beautiful. Lovely. Heather, thank you so much for joining
[Voiceover]: us on the checkout.
Nathan Bush: We look forward to next year's top 50.
Heather McIlvaine: Yeah, me too. Can't wait
[Voiceover]: to hear more from Heather. Jump back into episode 169 where Heather shares the process for putting together a list that is as competitive and comprehensive as the top 50 people in Australian E commerce bad news bribes. They do not make the cut. We also chat about why it is so important to be generous in your e commerce career and how to get the attention of trade journalists. If you have a message that you want to get out. If you see yourself as a future top 50 star and why shouldn't you? This is definitely a conversation you want
Nathan Bush: to tune in for.
[Voiceover]: Thanks for listening and until next time, keep adding to car.
