A retail maverick's path to success by asking ‘why not?'

Asking ‘why not’ has been a career mantra of  Terry O’Connor, CEO of Courts Asia. Vanessa Ching catches up with O’Connor on what keeps him driven, his leadership perspectives and the values he has instilled in Courts Asia’s company culture.

From humble beginnings in Liverpool, England, Terry O’Connor started his career as a shipping clerk, which made him yearn for something more challenging. “I realised I wanted to do something more interesting, more commercial. I was quite social and wanted something that involves stronger interaction with people,” says O’Connor.

He saw an advertisement for a trainee buyer at Colorvision, an electricals chain, and applied for it. That started off his career in retail, which eventually led him to Courts.

Courts, a British family-run furniture store was founded in 1850 in Canterbury, England, expanding into the Caribbean in the 1950s and ’60s. It was a hit, introducing quality products at low prices and at very affordable payment plans.

Courts then took that model to Australia, branching out into Fiji and Papua New Guinea. Courts arrived in Singapore in 1974, during the country’s new growth trajectory when HDB flats (Singapore’s public housing) were being built.

Change agent

O’Connor joined Courts in 1993 as its buying director in Singapore. At 25 years of age, he instituted several major changes to the staid family-run business, shaking up processes in Courts Singapore — and pushing for Courts Singapore to expand into selling eye-catching electrical appliances.

He also lobbied hard to change the store layout, arranging products by category, rather than by brand.

These initiatives were successful in boosting Courts Singapore’s bottom line.

In those days when Asia was just starting to see a surge of expatriate talent coming into the region, O’Connor also eliminated silos. After one of his local Singaporean senior management team member shared feedback that local staff’s voices and authority were sidelined in favour of expatriate staff’s, O’Connor took it upon himself to lead a change in the corporate culture, making sure that everyone’s voices and views were heard.

What was the biggest ‘why not’ challenge faced?

O’Connor says that when Courts’ UK parent went into liquidation in 2001, Court’s international business, including Asia, at that time was doing very well. This presented a challenge — how to assuage the fears of Singapore consumers and the media  that Courts Asia was a viable and vibrant company. He lobbied for Courts Asia to be run as an independent company, making Singapore as the new Courts’ HQ and the various South-east Asia offices align themselves under the Courts Asia brand entity.

Other major initiatives implemented included the installation of Touchpoints kiosk, the relaunch of eCourts (Courts’ website), the launch of ‘Cash on Delivery’ and ‘Click & Collect’, as well as innovative credit services that enable foreign workers and employment pass-holders in Singapore a convenient way to make their purchases without a credit card.

Work and play

For O’Connor, family, work and play are aspects of his life blended into one. He describes that he is a “serial committee member”, and charity work is a huge part of his life.
How did his involvement in charity get started?

O’Connor credits his uncle who steered him away from bad influences in his neighbourhood and suggested that young O’Connor help out at his summer camp for underprivileged kids, run by his uncle’s charity, the Northwest Handicapped Children’s Society.

“The summers that I spent volunteering at the camp for handicapped and underprivileged kids — from age 13 until I left the UK at 24 — showed me first-hand what a difference we can make in the lives of others when we make the effort to help, whether this is through donating money, volunteering our time or providing support through other means.”

He carried on this passion and vigour with him in his work and personal life. In Singapore, he participated in various organisations, becoming the president of the British Club, and subsequently, the president of the British Chamber of Commerce.

O’Connor received an O.B.E. from the Queen of England in 2010.

The University of Stirling honoured him with an honorary degree in recognition of his outstanding contributions to retailing and British business in Singapore. It not only reflected O’Connor’s success as a businessman, but also as a highly respected member of the Singaporean community and his achievements in activating the British Chamber of Commerce during his tenure as president.

Currently, O’Connor is an active member of the Young Presidents Organisation, where he holds the post of chair for South-east Asia.

O’Connor and his wife also run an annual fund-raising event, which started as a small house garden party in 2001 with some friends to raise funds for a cancer charity after a close friend died of cancer. The gathering raised $25,000, and has morphed into an annual event hosting over 400-500 guests, raising about $250,000 for a different charity every year.

Courts, the company and staff, eventually got involved in the charity event, and in 2014, for its 40th anniversary, Courts + O’Connors & Friends raised S$458,500 (US$327,357) for three charities — Jamiyah Home for the Aged, Centre for Fathering and Heartware Network. The three charities received double the contribution due to the dollar-to-dollar matching by the Singapore government under the Care & Share @ SG50 Movement.

Other components of Courts 2014 CSR programme were a contribution of S$52,000 worth of household necessities and appliances to 40 needy homes; a year-long corporate volunteering session with Dignity Kitchen; blood donation drive; and fulfilling the dreams of 40 Singaporeans. In recognition of its spirit of giving, Courts + O’Connors & Friends was recently awarded the President’s Volunteerism & Philanthropy Awards (PVPA) by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC).

Courts Family Culture

O’Connor and his team work hard to ensure that Courts has a strong corporate culture, one that he is very proud of. One can see how Courts staff take to their approachable CEO who has no qualms in participating in performances at the company’s annual dinner and dance.

“We place importance in employer branding. Obviously, we are out there, we are highly visible. We are engaged with the media and active on social media,” says O’Connor.

“One thing talented people do when considering whom to work for is to check out the leaders. I encourage my team leaders to find opportunities to share and communicate as transparency and visibility are what the new generation of employees are looking for.”

When the Courts management congregated to develop the company culture and what it stands for, it decided to lead with ‘Employee First’, instead of ‘Customers First’.

“The reason for that is, to be truly effective, employees will care about the business if you care about them. If employees care, customers will come and innovation will happen. Inspiration happens when employees feel you are listening. They want to give feedback to help the innovation cycle,” O’Connor elaborates.

“We spent time thinking about this. Obviously, employees first, customers second does not mean you are downplaying customers or you are going soft on employees and targets.
“It is actually the driving force to make life much better for customers, working on the mantra: A happy place to work is a happy place to shop.”

O’Connor is pleased that Courts Asia has a high retention rate, with a third of its workforce recognised for their very long service. Many staff who left the company have asked to return to Courts. “It is a good testament for us. We must be doing something right,” he declares.

On Courts’ employee induction programmes and talent development, O’Connor says: “It’s about training them early, before they put on wrong attitude. Training programmes are more than just imparting knowledge; it’s about culture and attitude.”

He believes in “over-communication” and makes sure that his team spends time with staff at different levels. “We want people to really feel valued. We don’t believe in just popping values out and producing activities. We try to get senior leaders to talk to all levels of employees and be visible,” he says.

“We believe in high integrity and high engagement. Try to create that tribal culture if you like, with a strong desire to win.”

A voice in the industry

O’Connor thinks retail, as an industry, needs to come together and have a stronger voice on strategic and structural issues. “There are too many smaller retail associations that focus on one aspect or another. Retail is diverse — and it can serve to have a stronger regional voice rather than just for niche, domestic markets. For example, the property associations are currently better self-organised than the retailers,” he says.

“Retailers need to have a voice and be consulted by industry players, as well as government authorities on how the property space and parcel of land can be best utilised and allocated for better returns on both sides, and also to regulate high property rents which are hurting businesses.”

“Rentals in Singapore are too high. That’s why you get a high retail churn because the business opportunity and the cost of doing business don’t match. But you can’t blame the property developer … The job of the industry in Singapore is to really understand best practices in international markets.”

O’Connor adds: “The Singapore Retailers Association seems to focus mainly on the entrepreneurial tourism aspect. As an industry, we need more diverse representation and help retailers to get fair rates. We shouldn’t be just complaining about the rent in the industry; we should be doing something about it — and that requires strong institution, transparency of information, lease negotiation skills, tools and statistics made accessible to retailers.

“Structural changes are needed to create a fair market. I do think Singapore has a structural problem. And nobody is talking about it.”

Supply chain a game changer

O’Connor is excited about Courts’ supply chain reinvigoration. “We’ve hired a new supply chain team late last year. We have very talented people on board. We are rolling out a slew of initiatives designed to make real changes. It will make us ever sharper and faster.”

“Supply chain management is going to be an absolute Courts skillset … but it won’t be a question of ‘can a pure-play retailer compete with a pure-play e-commerce player?’ Both are going to move towards each other. What’s going to be important is, ‘can I run an efficient supply chain at the lowest possible cost?’

“The supply chain dialogue with retailers has to be more intense. There is no one-size-fits-all. We are all challenged with overhauling and re-engineering our supply chain to cater to customers who want faster delivery every time, more technical support and better call centre features.”

Digital leads

Courts has clinched many wins in its e-commerce strategies — it has 50% of its business coming through ‘Click & Collect’. A UBS Report cites Courts’ website as the ninth most visited site in the market, and No.1 in the physical stores category.

eCourts, which was re-launched in 2012, is well placed with 14,000 product offerings online this year, as opposed to 7,000 products a year ago. The online range has a wider selection than its Megastore range. It has garnered year-on-year sales growth of 34% from 2014-2015.

Courts uses SEO (search engine optimisation) marketing strategies effectively to promote ranges not traditionally associated with Courts, including health and wellness equipment such as for yoga and pilates. “These are products and categories available only online that we don’t sell in our stores, but because of Internet search, people can find them and buy them from us,” says O’Connor.

“Our e-commerce team is at a reasonable size of 14 people. It is a young, progressive team. We just launched our new site and will support marketplace activity in the future,” he adds.

“We are just exploring some potential collaboration with other e-commerce players as well. We try our best possible to shape our thinking as a multi-channel player, not just a pure physical retailer.”

Looking ahead

On the importance of digital, O’Connor says: “Obviously, digital is a huge platform to disseminate what ultimately gets stocked in the stores. Because it shows customers behaviour, what products they like. We can see what they are searching for, what they spend more time on. So, it’s pure. It’s without the influence of salespeople, promoters and product placements.”

“It’s huge for us for customer segmentation. Stores in particular areas have particular demographics and income levels. We can see how a customer behaves on a group basis online, for store segmentation strategies,” he continues.

“The challenge for CEOs in particular is how to blend the talent, and how to manage the team for this initiative, where we are increasingly merging both artists and scientists. So, data is going to play a bigger part but how to use that data in the best way is most vital as well.”

In this age of digital disruption, will the retail landscape maintain itself? Or will it be revolutionised?

“They say that every 10 years retail is going to die; it is ridiculous. Back in the late 1990s you have many brands opening their own stores, bypassing their own appointed retailer. Actually, 10 years later, the biggest companies in the world are retailers. Additionally, I think that the ‘sharing economy’ is available for everybody,” says O’Connor.

“As long as retailers are nimble enough to embrace the sharing economy to embrace, utilise labour where it is available, only keeping stores that are relevant, it will work well.

“The relevancy can be around the store experience and it can be around a very focused category. Or it might be less stores … but essentially, I do believe that retailers with digital skills will thrive. And digital companies with physical brand presence will thrive. I think e-commerce will become, once again, commerce.“

Parting thoughts for retailers?

“You still need to work hard, you still need to do the right things, but you can actually dare to be different, you can challenge the norm. You can be a little bit of a maverick while taking controlled, intelligent risks.

“And your greatest personal asset is your attitude,” concludes O’Connor.