A special interview with Justin Opie, Managing Director of the IMRG ( Thanks to Digital & Wise and Stephanie Clark)
We were particularly interested in his take on “Which brands have stood out and excited you so far in 2014?”
With over 20 years’ experience launching and developing IT, digital marketing, retail and ecommerce media, including brands such as Adtech and ECommerce Expo, Justin has developed a deep understanding of these communities, and offers a broad perspective of what makes these fast moving markets tick.
Now Justin is exclusively focussed on leading IMRG’s next phase of development, ensuring @imrgupdate is well positioned to serve the e-retail community by collecting and analysing valuable market data from the membership, supporting retailers through policy work and facilitating professional development across the industry through events, reports and other media. It’s an exciting time for Justin and the team at IMRG, and D&W recently had the opportunity to find out more…
1. What’s your role at IMRG and what does your typical day look like?
MD. In essence, managing and developing IMRG’s membership proposition and the value it delivers the retail sector. My working day starts at 7.28am….the train to Waterloo where I enjoy just under an hour of “me” time to address emails and focus on the day ahead. Once at Covent Garden HQ, typically a mixture of internal development meetings, external retail meetings, conference calls with our international partners…that sort of thing. I often have to speak at or chair an event too…..this helps me keep my finger on the pulse of the sector.
Collecting and analysing valuable market data / Interview Justin Opie, IMRG http://t.co/LEdCnkVHu1 … pic.twitter.com/D8yMg0QHHN
— Will Corry (@slievemore) June 7, 2014
2. How did you get into the world of retail, digital and ecommerce?
My business partners and I spent over 20 years launching and developing IT, digital marketing, retail and e commerce media, including brands such as Adtech and E Commerce Expo. This helped me develop a deep understanding of these communities, and what makes these fast moving markets tick. During this period we worked very closely with, and gained huge respect for IMRG.
3. For anyone who is not yet familiar with IMRG, what’s your elevator pitch?
IMRG is a membership organisation which serves the e-retail community by collecting and analysing valuable market data from the membership thus enabling performance benchmarking by sector, supporting retailers through policy work and facilitating professional development across the industry through events, reports and other media. We are renowned for the thought leadership and insight we offer retailers.
4. Which brands have stood out and excited you so far in 2014?
- Argos….a multi-channel case study if ever there was one.
- Next/ASOS….cross-border champions and pioneers of Russia/China.
- Shop Direct .innovative thinking for customer centric retail.
- What’s just as exciting however are the plethora of new start-ups and emerging brands (both retail and solution provider) that are helping define how the industry evolves, and the pace at which it does so.
- And then there’s IMRG itself!
