CEO Q&A: Sadie Chowen, The Burren Perfumery

Q. What are your main priorities and goals in your role?

Quality of product, quality of customer experience, presentation of the brand. Today, everything a company does and says is visible to everyone everywhere. Everything you do, from the packaging to the paint on the door to the way your staff greet customers is an expression of your brand. The bar is very high for success for a small company competing against huge incumbents. I try to ensure that everything we do, we do to the best of our ability. Focus is important because when you’re small with limited resources, you need to apply them where they will make the most difference.

Q. What are your biggest challenges as CEO?

Being understood; specifically: having our business model understood. With many of the more established institutions, agencies and service firms we deal with there can be quite a fixed idea of how businesses should operate, should grow, etc. because the senior figures are experienced with traditional models. The retail world is changing very fast now, but when one questions the validity of traditional approaches that may have become out-moded, it’s like you’re preaching heresy.

Q. How do you keep your team/staff motivated?

Creating products that people seem to really enjoy and having that direct contact with our customers provides a lot of positive feedback that goes a long way towards motivating all of us here. I try to ensure that staffing levels allow everyone enough time to do their job well and not be under pressure. Giving people responsibility to make decisions and allowing them to make mistakes is important. Trust is better than rules.

Q. What are the challenges facing your industry going forward?

Retailing is undergoing major changes due to the impact of e-commerce. We’re a little behind the trend in Ireland/Europe but the impacts are already very visible in the US. In order to survive in markets dominated by behemoths like Amazon, small companies are going to have to be innovative in how they engage with their customers, how they present their brands and tell their stories. Seismic changes like this are challenging but also create new opportunities. At the same time as Amazon is moving to dominate ‘commodity’-type consumer goods, customers are looking for brands that have a personal story, that aren’t globalised and anonymous. When every capital city has the same stores with the same brands throughout the world, there is an opportunity to be unique by eschewing conventional growth strategies.

Q. What new trends are emerging in your industry?

There has been a substantial increase in consumer awareness of ingredients and formulations in the beauty sector in the last decade. Not all of it is well-informed and there is a certain amount of hype and misinformation, but people are reading labels and thinking about what they put on their skin. When we first made certified organic skincare products ten years ago, only a very few customers appreciated and understood the difference in quality. People are much more informed today and that’s great for the industry, though the large, global brands are moving to muddy the waters and co-opt the standards.

Q. Are there any major changes you would like to see in your sector?

Part of our revenues are coupled to the state of the tourism market in Ireland. I think there is a danger of too much focus on volume and not enough focus on revenue/quality. Ireland has fantastic resources (and great potential for development of new assets like greenways, walking trails, etc.) but there is a limit to the volume of tourists the country can support without compromising the quality of the experience. A shift of attention towards higher-end experiences and higher spending tourists would strengthen the sector and make it more sustainable.

Q. As an employer are you finding any skills gaps in the market?

It’s not so much that there are skills gaps; the challenge for us is more our rural location. The Irish countryside is being depopulated (because of a lack of jobs and career opportunities)