[Voiceover]: This episode of the Checkout is brought to you by E Suite. Whether you're a retailer looking to grow your team or you're an E Commerce gun looking for your next role, E Suite are here to help. At E Suite we connect fast growing retailers with the best Australian E commerce talent. We're working with some of the best in the business including Accent Group, Incoo, Aus, Hair and Beauty and Black Milk. So if you are in the market or interested in where the E commerce market is at, reach out. Visit esweettalent.com for all the latest job list or contact me directly on Nathan sweettalent.com au now let's get into today's checkout. 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
Tennealle O'Shannessy: and leave you with a little extra
[Voiceover]: inspiration to get you through your Friday. Today's checkout features Tenelo Shanassy, CEO of Adore Beauty from from starting out in Kate Morris's garage with a $12,000 loan from her boyfriend's parents to listing on the ASX in 2021 at a valuation of over $650 million, it's been a wild ride so far. Adore Beauty now partner with over 150 cosmetics brands, stock 10,000 SKUs, sell over $180 million worth of product every year and have over 800,000 active customers. Tenille has been with Adore Beauty since August 2020 as the CEO and has previously held a number of leadership positions at Seek, most recently Managing Director of the Americas. As you'll hear today, Tenille is relentlessly focused on the customer and it shows in everything that Adore Beauty is doing all right. Tenille, welcome to the Checkout. We have five quick questions to get to know a little bit more about yourself. We'll start with number one. What is the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?
Tennealle O'Shannessy: Oh, that is a great question. I'm just trying to think through. I've got three small kids so I see many weird orders coming through online. Look, probably the weirdest one because it's front of mind. I bought for my 5 year old toddler a Michael Jordan singlet set and it's arrived. I didn't read the fine print on Amazon and it's actually Michael Jordan size so it's fits him to the floor. He's still wearing it around all day every day but really wasn't quite what I expected when I ordered it.
[Voiceover]: It's so funny with kids. Is that the more something doesn't fit the more they want to wear it.
Tennealle O'Shannessy: Exactly.
[Voiceover]: Yeah. Love it. All right, number two, who is your favorite retailer?
Tennealle O'Shannessy: There can only be one answer for me, can't they? I'm sure you're not allowed to answer your own company, so let me have a think about that.
[Voiceover]: Well, Adore Beauty has come up so many times asking this exact question. Adore Beauty has been the answer so many times. So I think it's great to hear from you.
Tennealle O'Shannessy: That is. That is. Look, that is fantastic feedback. I'm very grateful for that. Maybe I'll go to. Let me call out some global examples that I really look to as doing some incredible things on the customer front. So I think that there's a couple of businesses in the US so Glossier and Netaporta both do amazing things with their community and their content that I think that I think is really pointing to where E commerce will go in the future.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, nice. All right, number three, which retail fad do you wish was history?
Tennealle O'Shannessy: Which retail fad? Oh, gosh. Look, can I talk to. I mean, just generally, I look back, when I look back and maybe it's because I've got kids that are coming into teenage years. The idea of I look back at hanging out at shopping malls and kids spending their afternoon scouting the malls. My children are looking forward to doing that. I'm struggling to get my head around what that looks like in a post Covid world. So I'm hoping we see some innovation of what that looks like in terms of the shopping mall experience.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, it's a really good point. What that will turn into. I mean, we're lucky because we're in Brazil, Brisbane, so we're less affected than Melbourne and Sydney. But we even took the kids into shopping centre and they've got a big Lego experience store. But you take the kids into a Lego experience store and you have more Lego team there wiping down Lego and cleaning things rather than playing and interacting with the kids. It's not the same experience, right?
Tennealle O'Shannessy: Not the same, no.
[Voiceover]: All right, number four, can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?
Tennealle O'Shannessy: Oh, gosh. These are questions without notice. These ones I'm trying to think, what have I been reading that I have really enjoyed? Come back to me on that one.
[Voiceover]: All right, I'll plug a podcast for you. Beauty IQ is a good one for people to get into.
Tennealle O'Shannessy: You told me offline. I couldn't say my own brand, so I was stumped if I could. Actually, you know what? I'm going to go with bite sized beauty iq. So this is a podcast we've just launched and the reason I call it out is one of the segments. We're looking at our founder, Kate Morris, interviewing founders of beauty brands and understanding about their journeys. So a couple of the first episodes are incredible. Just hearing the founders stories, it's really inspiring.
[Voiceover]: If you've got the time, that's a great idea. Love it. All right, last one, finish this sentence. The future of retail is the future
Tennealle O'Shannessy: of retail is
[Voiceover]: these really? Well, without notice.
Tennealle O'Shannessy: Yeah, these really are without notice. So the future of retail is something that is exciting and for us to shape.
[Voiceover]: Love it. And you're definitely shaping it. You and the team at Adore Beauty are shaping what retail, especially E commerce, looks like in Australia. So congratulations and we can't see wait to see what comes next. Tenille, thanks for joining us on Add to Cart.
Tennealle O'Shannessy: Thanks a lot, Nathan.
[Voiceover]: To hear more from Tenille, jump back into episode 126 where Tenille shares how Adore Beauty uses content to drive repeat purchases, why headless commerce is so important to their future plans, and how they are leading the way in female leadership. And of course, I couldn't let the chat go without mentioning Tim Tams. Oh yes, the Tim Tams. Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep adding to cartoon.
