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RAMIN EIVAZ: We did have to rethink everything.
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Just because it worked before COVID, didn't mean that it's going to work.
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And, oh, by the way, just because it works in Houston,
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doesn't mean it's going to work in New York, and vice versa.
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ALLAN THYGESEN: In this episode of The Update, I talk with Ramin Eivaz,
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CMO, Mattress Firm, a national mattress retailer,
0:25
about how the pandemic accelerated his company's digital transformation.
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Why don't we start by talking about how the COVID-19 crisis impacted your business?
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RAMIN EIVAZ: When you think about the depth of challenge we were dealing with,
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when you think about the length of challenge that we potentially have to deal with,
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all of those unanswered questions were creating pain and challenges for our businesses.
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But, then equally important, we had to focus on the health and wellness
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of our families, our employees, our customers, and associates.
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The good news is that we had somewhat started our transformation journey prior to COVID,
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as we had become a much more data-driven organisation.
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And what COVID did, it helped us to accelerate that transformation.
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ALLAN THYGESEN: So, faced with that crisis,
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how did your executive team and the larger organisation respond to it?
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RAMIN EIVAZ: We had to rethink everything,
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because the entire marketplace was different. What worked in e-comm maybe a few weeks earlier,
1:31
wouldn't necessarily work there. And if you're trying to quadruple, or even
1:35
further grow your business, you can't just take marginal steps.
1:42
So, to that extent, I truly want to credit the corporate culture of entrepreneurship.
1:48
It was a problem-solving team, trying to figure things out at the speed of light.
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So, as you think about it, coming together as a total organisation across functions,
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and in a spirit to which you are being extremely dynamic,
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the speed and agility became the new currency,
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where we had to solve for those challenges, for those problems.
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ALLAN THYGESEN: What were some of the biggest learnings from the crisis,
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and what results were you able to generate?
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RAMIN EIVAZ: Historically, we used to think that we were an omnichannel retailer,
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but as we got to COVID, you realize you really were still siloed, pretending to be omni.
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This truly helped us start seeing the performance, and the numbers,
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and the shift from one channel to the next, how our digital media on search
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helped e-comm, as opposed to foot traffic, in a specific geography.
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And, that the beauty of it was, not only were we able to substantially grow our e-commerce,
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the brick and mortar equally grew. We worked with our Google team.
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And, being able to leverage many of your data signals to be able to create
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what we will call our “industry-demand index,”
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and actually establish a very high correlation of that index to our sales performance.
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It's been a key component of our planning. We achieved 2- to 3-year goals in 2 to 3 months.
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We are not giving that ground back.
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ALLAN THYGESEN: How are you taking those lessons and applying them to the future?
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RAMIN EIVAZ: We are not going to apply national standards or practices to every market,
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but, instead, recognise the personalisation that is needed,
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the targeting that is needed to engage with our customers
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in different locations and markets differently.
3:47
To be relevant and top of mind is a learning that we're going to take with us going forward.
3:52
And, we are not backing down. I mean, we are doubling down,
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because we think the ground we have been able to sort of take is …
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we need to build on it and accelerate our momentum even further.
