RetailCraft 28 – ”Unlearning, to relearn” – Greg Duce of Reckitt

Available via Apple Podcast – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/retailcraft-28-unlearning-to-relearn-greg-duce-of-reckitt/id1418542382?i=1000546507890

Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC is a British multinational consumer goods company. Formed some 200 years ago it is a stalwart of the FTSE100 and turns over some £14bn (2020). It owns some global powerhouse brands in the health/hygiene/nutrition space, many of which are part of the fabric of UK society – Durex, Dettol, Airwick, Clearasil, Nurofen…

In this episode we spend time with Greg Duce, General Manager,  Ecommerce, Europe at Reckitt and it’s a privileged look behind the brands at the realities of moving direct to consumer, embracing digital and maintaining values.

We were struck in chatting with Greg at the focus upon people and skills development, the need to move rapidly yet without losing track of the brand values. Greg articulated with great clarity that the transition to digital-first (without leaving behind the successful, multi-billion legacy) requires the ability to see multiple things at the same time – and to act for now and the future at the same time. Greg talks about the need to “win today and win tomorrow’, and how this requires the simultaneous adoption of two competing maxims: the first is the mantra of “fewer, bigger, better” investments (using Reckitt’s scale), while at the same time placing “bets everywhere to see what sticks” (because you have to recognise that new competitors are not limited to the legacy competitors). This ‘duality’ is at the heart of the digital approach – a flexibility of mind and approach that is worthy of a chapter or two by Von Clauswitz or Sun Tzu! 

The full transcript is available via https://internetretailing.net/retailcraft-retail-podcasts/retailcraft-retail-podcasts

Run time: 47 minutes

INFORMATION:

Greg Duce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-duce-1888897/ 

Jamie Merrick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiemerrick/ 

Ian Jindal: www.linkedin.com/in/ianjindal/  and www.twitter.com/ianjindal 

Recorded and engineered at Spiritland Studios, UK.

Episode photo credit: Ian Jindal (https://www.instagram.com/ianjindal )