The new chief of Achica.com brings experience from some of the industry’s biggest names after making the jump from accountancy.

Steve Robinson

If the lure of business hadn’t gripped Steve Robinson early in his career, retail’s loss may have been Hollywood’s gain. The incoming chief operating officer of upmarket homewares etailer Achica.com would love to have been an actor and comedy writer, and says his style has been likened to Ricky Gervais. But sadly for his acting aspirations, jokes Robinson, his looks are more akin to Barry from EastEnders.

Happily for retail, Robinson’s father steered him towards a career in accountancy. After working on a series of retail assignments, he realised he had a flair for the commercial side of finance and loved helping businesses to grow. “I think I am a frustrated entrepreneur,” admits Robinson, currently customer director at B&Q.

That enterprising streak made Robinson jump at the chance to work at Achica, which he joins on July 22, as the homewares and furniture etailer seeks to progress to the next phase of its development. “I wasn’t looking to move but I just really enjoy that entrepreneurial spirit,” says Robinson. “I knew I would always go back to that kind of business at some point.”

While Robinson’s career has taken him a long way from his finance roots, he believes that grounding stood him in good stead for the wide variety of roles he has held over the years. His initial move into retail came as an analyst for Superdrug but he moved on quickly, becoming finance director at Argos at the age of 30.

“I do feel sorry for any financial director that works for me,” he adds. “I am fortunate to know the financial side of the business, it has really helped me to understand the numbers. It can take a while for others to pick that up.”

A youthful interest in computers and programming combined with his grounding in analytics spurred his move into etail but also helped him develop an eye for anticipating trends.

The combination of these skills led to his first chief executive’s role at Tesco Direct, a position he won in 2005 despite initially applying for the UK finance director job.

On discovering Robinson’s online experience gained Argos, the supermarket giant offered him the role of building its multichannel business from scratch. “I really enjoy helping an organisation to change,” he explains. “It is a very challenging place to work but that is a good thing, it is why Tesco is so good.”

After two years, the attraction of a more entrepreneurial business environment led Robinson to join etailer M&M Direct, where he was chief executive for four years. “I used to think I was the bee’s knees when it came to IT, I thought I was always ahead but the younger generation coming up now has shown me that I am not, they are so sharp.

“When I joined M&M, I realised how little I knew,” he admits. “At Tesco, I had a big team and they were involved in all of the detail. At M&M, it was a smaller team so then I had to be involved in the detail. I feel like I have moved from challenge to challenge and learned a lot about how resilient I am and I am constantly reminded that I don’t know it all.”

After a stint working freelance over 2011 and setting up his consultancy Omnicommerce, Robinson joined B&Q at the beginning of 2012 to help transform its online offer. He believes he has set in motion some “great stuff” that will come to fruition over the next two years.

While Robinson is amazed by how quickly youngsters, including his 15-month-old daughter, are adapting to new technology, he is concerned about the lack of talent coming into omnichannel. “It’s the biggest challenge at the moment,” he adds.

But with his third child due any day and a new job to get to grips with, Robinson will have his hands full with his own challenges over the next few months.