Born into retailing, Martin is a true hybrid. Part retailer, part marketer, he uses this unique combination to inform his clients and audiences, sharing his views in articles and editorials. Martin now enjoys travelling the world researching and writing on retail, lecturing on leadership, innovation & marketing, running interactive workshops on his books and speaking at international conferences and business schools.During a thirty year career Martin has worked in many top international advertising agencies including the DMBB, Grey and Saatchi networks. He started his career working for clients as diverse as Nestle, News International and Playtex but within a few years became one of London’s youngest advertising agency owners by launching his own company.
Through almost twenty mergers and acquisitions Martin eventually built his own business into one of the largest privately owned advertising and marketing networks in the UK. He sold his businesses several years ago but throughout an entrepreneurial career gained a reputation as a retail specialist having worked in every market sector. From fashion to fragrance and from finance to food, his company boasted many high profile clients including Harrods, Burberry, Swarovski and Habitat. His network advised countless major brands on retail positioning including Barclays, Mitsubishi and the Royal Mail. Martin also worked with a host of international brands advising on strategic development including, Giorgio Beverly Hills, Austin Reed, Global Refund and Dunkin’ Donuts.
In 2005 Martin wrote the internationally acclaimed book on best practice retail branding, ‘People don’t buy what you sell, they buy what you stand for’ and often uses this provocative assertion as the basis for his interactive sessions on world-class marketing.
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| I love being 'in' the audience! |
In 2008, Martin was invited to become a member of the expert judging panel at the World Retail Congress, an honour he was delighted to accept.
Married with four daughters, Martin lives in London and Cape Town, loves shopping, yachting, Bordeaux wine and admits to an unstable relationship with a delinquent golf ball.
NEWS RELEASE
The Art of Being Chosen
Secrets of Success from the Giants of Retail
By Martin Butler
ISBN13: 978-1852526634
Publication Date: October 2010
Published by Management Books 2000
326 pages
Price £14.99
Intimately affecting the lives of everyone on the planet, retail is the world's largest business. But what does it take to be truly successful in this highly competitive and cut-throat arena? Face-to-face, Martin Butler interviewed nearly 100 of the world's most successful retail bosses and now takes you behind the scenes as he shares their secrets for success.
From New Zealand to New York, China to Cape Town, this ground-breaking new book delivers extraordinary access to some of the biggest thinking from the biggest retailers including: Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Tesco, Macy’s, M&S and Starbucks.
This robust and exhaustive two year research programme has led Martin to identify six guiding principles for retailing success – no matter how large or small a retail business may be. From Aldo to Zara, this revolutionary book includes 55 easily digestible case studies, packed full of insight and innovation.
Acknowledging Sam Walton, author Martin Butler remarked, "Retail is simple, but it’s not easy, and most would agree. Often the difficulty is perceived as delivering the right merchandise at the right price. But I’ve found the retailers who enjoy the most success tend to concentrate their efforts on the softer issues, the issues that require careful stewardship of others’ emotions. Though not mutually exclusive, I decided to call my observations: ‘The six secrets of success.’ Being chosen is the first and for me, the very essence of all commercial success……. And ideally, to be chosen you need something unique- if that can’t be what you sell, it needs to be how you do it.” Continued…
The foreword has been written by Ian Mcgarrigle, Congress Director, World Retail Congress. He said: “We are happy to endorse this publication. At its heart, retailing is a simple business and is, as this book is called, about learning “the art of being chosen”. There could be no better way of learning that than from many of the proven masters included in this book.”
Participating Retailers from across the globe include:
• Jack Shewmaker – Founding President, Wal-Mart – (biggest retailer)
• Daniel Bernard – Former CEO, Carrefour – (2nd biggest retailer)
• Jesus EchevarrÃa – CCO, Inditex Group (Zara) – (biggest fashion retailer)
• Robert Willet – International CEO, Best Buy – ( biggest electrical retailer)
• Terry Lundgren – Chairman and CEO – Macys Inc – (biggest dept store retailer)
The global retail gurus featured in The Art of Being Chosen unleash some of their biggest secrets of success. Ian Cheshire, CEO of Kingfisher Worldwide remarked, “This book is like getting the world’s leading retailers to help you run your shop.”
To thrive, retailers must look to establish a competitive edge. In his latest book, Martin Butler will show them how.
