The fortitude of M and M Direct’s staff was part of the attraction for ex-Tesco man Steve Robinson. He talks Lisa Berwin through his plans to propel the multichannel retailer’s sales to £200 million

A week after Steve Robinson’s first meeting with M and M Direct last July, the catalogue and online retailer’s Herefordshire head office and warehouse was hit by some of the worst flooding in recent history. With the offices under a foot of water, the staff were called and told not to come in; but they did anyway.

Wellies in hand, they helped in whatever way they could, putting computer servers up on bricks and disinfecting furniture. Thanks to the efforts of those who volunteered, the business was back up and running in just three days.

“This Dunkirk spirit is what really attracted me to the business and, when I heard that story, I knew I wanted to be a part of it,” says Robinson, who after liking what he found took the helm as chief executive of M and M in October.

Robinson came from Tesco, where he helped set up and run Tesco Direct. He had recruited 300 people for the project, opened two distribution centres, put 10,000 products online and launched a 1,000-page catalogue. He was one of a series of senior executives to depart from Tesco last year, including Julia Reynolds, buying director for the grocer’s Central European clothing business and operations director John Browett, who left to run DSGi.

Robinson maintains he is still a big fan of Tesco, but admits he is enjoying the slightly slower pace of life that living in Leominster – pronounced Lemster, as staff won’t fail to remind you – has afforded.

That is not to say there isn’t plenty to do in the business. M and M is in the process of moving stock to a 210,000 sq ft site close to its head office. The e-tailer – which sells end-of-line products from brands including Ben Sherman, Fred Perry and Nike – will also relaunch its web site by November, in time for its Christmas peak. Robinson says: “We are becoming far more e-commerce-focused and the experience on the web is not great, so we need to work on that; make it look nicer and be more customer friendly.”

Robinson has beefed up the board to aid growth, bringing in Graham Benson from Play.com as IT director. “This is an important addition for us, because it was not a board-level position before,” he explains. Alex Defries, a long-time TK Maxx buyer, is also set to join the buying team.

“I would also like to get more brands in,” says Robinson. “We are a neat solution to other people’s overstock problem. We are also away from the high street: selling the brands on the web is a bit more forgiving.”

He is hopeful that, particularly in a tougher economic climate, people will look to M and M to buy cheaper items.

The bigger warehouse will lend itself to testing larger items, Robinson says. “We have done sports equipment before, which was limited in terms of space, but now we can try more things, including bedding and textiles.” He adds that Europe is also a market he would like to tap.

Although catalogue sales are not what they once were, the book is still important in triggering sales. “The issue we face as a brand is that our demographic is pretty split. How do you sell Playboy slippers and Rockport in the same place? The more specified marketing is a lot easier to do with the internet,” says Robinson.

In the year to February 28, M and M turned over£74 million – an increase of almost 20 per cent year on year. TA Associations bought the business in October last year for a reported£90 million from ECI Partners. Before that, ECI had bought the business for£40 million in 2004. “In two years, they got from the business what they had expected to get over around four years,” says Robinson.

And he has set himself ambitious targets for the business. “You have to have a big goal in this market. I would love to get it to£200 million. I can’t put a time limit on that, but we are putting the infrastructure in place to achieve that growth,” he says.

“I have no doubt we will hit that. It won’t be easy, but it is a nice number to have. My confidence comes from having a great brand with great people and a great heritage.”

Despite this confidence, he is keen not to do too much too soon. “This year is about laying foundations. I don’t want to push into too many things too quickly and screw it up. I am also hoping that there will be no more floods this year,” he adds hopefully.

Direct hit

Age: 38

Hobbies: entertaining, karaoke, travel

CAREER HISTORY
2007-present:
chief executive, M and M Direct
2005: chief executive, Tesco Direct
2001: finance director, Argos
1998: senior analyst, Kingfisher
1995: qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst junior analyst, Superdrug