When Kira Macleod-Finke stepped into her role as Head of Direct-to-Consumer at The Body Shop Australia, she walked straight into a storm. Two global buyouts, a decentralising head office, and a tech stack that needed rebuilding. Oh, and she was looking after 130 stores across Australia and New Zealand.
With experience at T2, Country Road, Trenery, and Jeanswest, Kira brought decades of retail know-how to the challenge, but it was her calm leadership, curiosity, and people-first approach that drove her success. In just 18 months, Kira restructured the DTC team, pulled off a three-month Shopify replatform, and created one of the most innovative CX roles we’ve heard about on this podcast. In this episode of Add To Cart, Kira joins Nathan to talk about what it really takes to rebuild a legacy brand’s direct-to-consumer experience, from the shop floor to the checkout button.
Calm Is a Strategy
When Kira stepped into her role, The Body Shop was undergoing seismic shifts globally. In 2024, The Body Shop became the first global beauty brand to achieve 100% vegan product formulations, a major milestone recognised by The Vegan Society. Meanwhile, its UK business was thrown into crisis and then salvaged through a rescue deal, even as The Body Shop Australia faced its own cashflow crunch.
Kira was dealing with two global buyouts, a complete decentralisation, and a shift in operational control—all while managing a large ANZ retail footprint. Rather than looking years ahead, she brought the focus in tight.
In my role, I need to be looking at five-year plans. But when you’re in a world of ambiguity, you have to bring the pathway closer to you.
Instead of projecting confidence through big-picture plans, she brought the team together around short-term priorities and built trust by staying transparent—with boundaries.
“Sometimes oversharing is okay, but you have to have a reason why you’re giving them that information. You’re not out the front trying to lead. You’re in the boat, paddling with them.”
That shift in mindset didn’t just keep the team moving, it gave them something to move towards.
CX Starts on the Floor
While most digital leaders focus on tech stacks and site journeys, Kira built her direct-to-consumer team around a different anchor: the store experience. With 90% of The Body Shop’s DTC revenue still coming through bricks-and-mortar, she made a bold move, merging digital and retail into one unified team, complete with shared operations, CRM and leadership.
“You can joke that my channel is better than your channel, but it’s not about that. It’s about what the customer needs from us.”
The standout hire? Their Customer & Learning Development Manager, Sammy, who bridges the gap between retail floor insights and ecommerce execution.
“She’s as close to the customer as you can get without being on the shop floor. And she’s helping us feed that back to every other department—customer service, digital, marketing. It’s real-time CX.”
This approach means ecommerce decisions are no longer based solely on analytics, they’re enriched by human context. As Kira puts it, “If you’re still treating customer insight as a post-purchase report, this is a wake-up call.”
No Tech Background, No Problem
Replatforming is one of the most daunting projects an ecommerce leader can face. Now imagine doing it in just three months, with 1,000 SKUs, 1,500+ pages, and no deep tech experience. That’s exactly what Kira signed up for.
“For a hot minute, we had 14 days to get off the platform. Thankfully, we got three months. But even that’s wild when you consider the scale.”
Rather than panic or pretend to have all the answers, Kira leaned into simplicity. She stripped out the jargon, asked the so-called “dumb” questions, and focused on what would move the needle.
The pain is in the resistance. You’ve got to decide what you have to get done, and what you’re willing to let go of. That’s how you move fast.
Kira brought in someone who had successfully replatformed to Shopify before,, partnered with agency Overdose, and resisted the all-too-common urge to overbuild.
“We stood up the MVP and said, now we play. And when we did the cutover—it was 13 minutes. We had it managed within an inch of its life.”
But for Kira, it was never just about launching a new site. It was about proving that digital transformation doesn’t require deep technical skills, just clear priorities, solid partnerships, and the confidence to lead through uncertainty.
Rebuilding with Purpose
In the face of uncertainty, Kira didn’t chase shiny tech or build for complexity. She asked the right questions, built the right team, and focused on what mattered: creating a seamless customer experience across every touchpoint. By rebuilding the DTC function from the ground up, she proved that agility isn’t about speed alone. It’s about clarity, courage, and the willingness to let go of what no longer serves. And perhaps most importantly, she reminded us that you don’t need to speak code to lead digital change. You just need to lead well.
Want to hear more about how Kira led a three-month Shopify replatform, broke down silos between digital and retail, and created one of the most unique CX roles in retail? Listen to the full episode here.
