Watch: How The Edit LDN is hiring top talent to disrupt in challenging times

Speaking exclusively on Retail Week’s live virtual discussion ‘Disrupt or be disrupted’, in partnership with Juniper Networks, The Edit LDN’s chief operating officer Millie Pearson revealed that investing in talent has paid dividends for the online luxury trainer and streetwear marketplace.  

In just three years since its launch, the London-based retailer has grown from a pure ecommerce platform into a multi-pronged business with annual revenue of $12m (£9.72m) in 2022, a boutique store in Harrods and rapid global expansion in the US and Middle East/North Africa (MENA) after it secured a $4.8m (£3.9m) seed round led by Regah Ventures.   

“What we’ve done at The Edit LDN is looked for roles and opportunities that we can grow in our business – [ones] that we didn’t have last year and that are ROI, money-driving roles,” Pearson says.  

“That’s probably what we’ve done differently to quite a lot of brands that are saying, ‘Where can we make cuts?’, and we’re saying, ‘Who can we bring in to drive that forward?’’

Pearson gave an example of a new director of fashion who is responsible for “looking at partnerships on a global level and spearheading the personal shopping unit”.

In 2022 the personal shopping unit drove around 15% of the businesses’ revenue, compared with “this year already delivering 37% of our revenue”.  

“Just by bringing those key hires in we can drive more revenues from those areas,” Pearson added. 

Joining her on the panel was Halfords chief information officer Neil Holden and Juniper Networks retail practice lead Jarek Matschey, who both spoke candidly about how retailers can reject the status quo and innovate at speed to thrive during extended periods of instability.