This episode, Jay is joined by Karen Beebe, CTO at Bealls, Inc., where they discuss some key strategies for thriving in retail tech leadership.
In this episode, Jay sits down with Karen Beebe, CTO at Bealls, Inc. They talk about Karen’s vast experience in retail, the power of learning something new every day, and how relationships are vital no matter your role or years of experience.
Karen:
“ Relationships are key. You need to establish trust and you need to be trustworthy and you need to build those relationships at all different levels and throughout your career…So being around people that can help you make things happen, and being inspired by those around you, and exposing yourself to new things that you may be fearful of, but just going out there again and taking that risk. And, if you can do those things, I think that it rises you up to a method of leadership that you really start to appreciate.”
Top(pers) Take:
1. Speed-to-market: In a connected commerce world, thinking of how to go faster is critical.
2. The right foundation: Get your basics right before adding new technology.
3. Configuration over customization: Give power to your end users.
Links & Resources:
[00:00:00] Jay Topper: The world of commerce is undergoing a revolution. Today's consumer expects a buying experience that is nothing short of perfection. Your company's digital IQ has quickly become a new standard that drives growth and loyalty. Welcome to Chiefly Digital: The Digital Leader's Guide to Modern Commerce.
Welcome to this edition of Chiefly Digital. I'm super pleased to have with me today, Karen Beebe, the Chief Technology Officer for Bealls, Inc. Welcome, Karen, to Chiefly Digital.
[00:00:36] Karen Beebe: Well, thank you, Jay. And thanks for having me here today. I appreciate it.
[00:00:40] Jay Topper: I'm super excited, and I shop your stores, and we'll talk about that a little bit later. But first, what do you do at Bealls? What is your purview? And how long have you been there?
[00:00:51] Karen Beebe: Yes. So I am the Chief Technology Officer and I leave the technology organization for Bealls, Inc. and we are a family owned and operated brand and it is pronounced Bealls, Inc. Sometimes people pronounce it Bealls, you know, because of the A and we have over 650 stores with the banners of Bealls, Bealls, Florida and Home Centric. And of course, we have our website.
[00:01:19] Jay Topper: That's cool. And, and I know I, living in Florida, we only live a few hours apart actually, uh, that our home is coastal themed. So there's often things that at Bealls Inc. that fit our decor. And I always remember how to pronounce it when I lived in Florida before I would go back and forth.
Is it Bealls? Is it Beals? But I just remember it's the bell and just call it Beall’s, Inc. So we're going to go back in time a little bit, because there's a couple of places that you've had tours of duty and brands that interests me. You spent a really large portion or a big part of your career at the Limited Brands. Tell me a little bit about the Limited Brands, what you did there, and you must have just learned an incredible amount in your, you know, 19 or so years there.
[00:02:03] Karen Beebe: I did. At the time it was called the Limited, then it was, it became Limited Brands. Then it became L Brands. And since then, it's even changed. But over that time, I grew up there.
I grew up in retail there. It was either you were over at the Gap, right? Or you were in Columbus, and you were at the Limited. And I had the opportunity to start in technology. But while I was in technology, Working at one brand, Victoria's Secret, then it started to become larger and we worked across all the brands and we would decentralize and then centralize and then decentralize again.
But I then got the opportunity to go into internal audit and spent time there, which was great experience because I worked across all the different brands and got to understand each one of their cultures and their business. And at the time we had Victoria's Secrets, we had Bath and Body Works, and it was Abercrombie Fitch, Henry Vandell, Lerner New York that then became New York Company, Lane Bryant, you know, the list goes on.
There were about 12 or more brands there. And then another time I had the opportunity to become the Director of Planning and Allocation for the Center. and spent time there, but ultimately ended back up in technology and working with the business. And my last role was chief technology officer at Bath and Body Works.
[00:03:35] Jay Topper: That's really cool. And, and why do you, so you grew up in retail there and I have my own background in retail, as you know, what do you like about retail?
[00:03:45] Karen Beebe: The fast pace the it is But it's a different day every day jay. I can literally tell you I have not done the same thing So why I mean right and it make me tell that's you are doing something new and different every single day and i'm I learn every day, and still, even right now, I am learning every day at Bealls, and it's, that's the beauty of retail, and it's so fast, and it's so quick, and it's, even though sometimes they say retail isn't on the bleeding edge of technology, we're, we are there at times when it's, you're using the latest technology. And you're coming up with those great ideas for the guest.
[00:04:27] Jay Topper: It does move incredibly fast and it amazes me. And no matter how long I'm at a company or what I traverse, it does seem like every day and every week it's something new. And the prevalence of AI now just in a few short years, I looked at the NRF list of keynotes and it just You know, 25 of them are focused around AI and then five of them aren't.
And, you know, and it's just, I do think that one's going to stick, but it's, it's amazing. And you have to stay super focused, right? Because there's a lot of noise out there, you know, trying to pull you in, tug you in different directions. You got an appreciation for merchandising when you were at limited brands.
And we've talked about allocation planning and allocation. Tell me a little bit about that because I picked that up later on in my career. You pick it up early in your career.
[00:05:14] Karen Beebe: I did and I actually had the opportunity to work in merchandising. That's the area when I first started in technology. They put me in merchandising to support that team and I learned about planning, allocation, replenishment, forecasting and just the whole product life cycle, which gave me an appreciation to understand that end to end picture of retail.
I had an awesome career of just from just really working with the merchant team, working with the planners and the allocators and truly understanding the amount of work and depth and breadth of decision making that they're doing every single day. And it was fascinating to watch. And I had to have those systems up and running each time, right?
So that they can have their plans in on time with pencils down and making sure that they're buying the right products.
[00:06:13] Jay Topper: Yeah. And that PLC, it permeates into marketing and e commerce and stores. And I was also amazed. When I see how much work goes in months and months before anything actually shows up on a shelf, and there's a lot of advancements in the systems around that now, because some of the places I've been massive Excel spreadsheets that only a few human beings know and loose integration between systems.
And I think that's a whole nother area that's starting to really rise to the top of innovation right now.
[00:06:43] Karen Beebe: It is. You recently had Prashant on that. You spoke from impact analytics. I mean, that's a area where and back in when I was at limited brands, we were using Excel and then we moved to different, you know, planning solutions.
But it really the planning and allocation space. Has just started to take off again, just within the last few years, especially with A. I.
[00:07:08] Jay Topper: Yeah, it's perfect. It's a perfect candidate for A. I. And then and what's near and dear to my heart is you left the limited and you went to work for Chico's. You were there before I was.
I also had some tenure at Chico's and we've talked about that. Tell me what you did at Chico's and how that experience was.
[00:07:25] Karen Beebe: So Chico's was going through a transformation. They had been on their older solutions. And I was transforming them onto SAP and some other different new planning and allocation solutions, new workforce management, new, new product lifecycle management solution as well.
So we did many implementations across all those brands at that time.
[00:07:51] Jay Topper: Yeah, it's amazing to me. And it's also amazing to me how things change when you go into a company. And I've done this many times. I'm sure you have where you put something in new and all of a sudden, five years later, it's not new anymore.
And there's other things out there and you really have to keep pace with it. Which is fascinating to me and we went through a lot of changes when I was at Chico's too. I'm not sure that change just isn't part of who we are right now in, in this digital leadership space within retail. When you went to Vineyard Vines, that's the first time, you had mentioned when we were in our prep call, that's the first time.
it for the entire brands that you had the end to end tech, you know, manage the end to end technology and you were a sea level of an entire company. Tell me how that came about because that's amazing. I always like to hear how first people first got that, that, you know, that sea title in the across the entire enterprise. How did that come about?
[00:08:44] Karen Beebe: So with the background of limited and with Chico's, as you all know, they're publicly held companies and I had an opportunity to work at Vineyard Vines and lead technology, but didn't really have that chief technology officer title yet, and it's a privately held company and it's owned by two brothers who are still running the company and, and it, it gave me the opportunity to really.
Own and drive with that leadership team of the strategy they wanted to put in place and then truly execute that strategy and that execution of putting in new solutions where we needed to or coming up with new processes. So a lot of new processes within vineyard vines as well. But really focused on the customer, focused on customer, focused on the product.
And as you're aware, Vineyard Vines is a, they, they design all of their products and they have very specific shirts and you know, the Shep shirt is very unique to them. And so it was very important to get that right product development and product design in place so that we could continue to scale and grow.
And it was when I went there, I started off of It was a small and lean team, and we were very scrappy. And the more that we continued to accelerate and put place, put solutions in place, the more that the confidence of technology within the company became prevalent. So then, you know, that's, I think, when you actually, you're starting to earn that, you know, that technology is playing a role at the table with the business team and the business leaders in, in conjunction together.
[00:10:38] Jay Topper: No, it makes sense. And here's a question I didn't ask you before and that I'll ask you now. And again, you'll have an opportunity to review this, but there's all this focus. And I think when I think of your merchandising experiences popped into my head, there's all this focus. And there has been forever on the PDP pages and the home pages and the customer experience.
But after you sell a customer, a product, and there's all this stuff that happens after with customer service with fulfillment, and you have to kind of wow your customer. Uh, so they come back around down through the channel and buy again. How much time have you spent on the on sort of the back end systems that support the customer that's already a customer versus the attempt to acquire one or to convert one?
[00:11:25] Karen Beebe: Yes. No, that was that's you're absolutely dead. On Regarding if you don't give a great experience with the message of the product section the products coming to you That you know when you're going to get the product that when you open the box It's a great experience of you know, looking at the product Did I get my sticker inside and you know my vineyard vine sticker and unopen it and the box isn't crushed and so it's it is a lot of energy was spent on that to ensure that The same type of packaging that a store may ship product to our guests, you know, that also our distribution center was shipping product to our guests and that the communication of how was the product and asking the guests, you know, what did you like about it?
Would you Please give us a product review so we can understand how did it go? Very important. And I think sometimes we lose sight of that.
[00:12:23] Jay Topper: Yeah, we do. I found the same thing. And when you have stores and websites, then you also have to pump all those orders and customer information into your customer service ecosystem because the amount of different channels people are now interacting with customer service has skyrocketed.
And there's been a lot of a I in that space for many years. So again, it's all about that, that order where the customer and the brand have created a permanent relationship and making sure that after that purchase has been made, that you still are white gloving the customer all the way through the experience.
[00:12:55] Karen Beebe: And it's all about data, right? It is all about all of all data. And I know that's something that you feel very passionate about that. If you don't have that data even collected or put together in a way that you can understand that. Yes, this guest received the package. This is a communication we gave to the guest.
What was the additional follow up communication that we gave? And how do you make sure that you're actually tracking that information so that you know when was the last time we contacted them? How did, you know, how did they think about, what was the sentiment about how they felt about the interaction?
[00:13:31] Jay Topper: Yeah, and you bring up data and I am passionate about data. I think sometimes with all the new technologies that have come in throughout my career that if you don't have a decent foundation of data and a decent, you know, rationalized footprint of your knowledge of your own architecture, Putting stuff on top of a mess just creates better, faster mess versus having that really good foundation underneath of data and platforms that you can access and be super flexible and super fast with things that are new because legacy technology can bog you down.
[00:14:09] Jay Topper: And you mentioned that you agreed with me. Data is important and having it in the right place. How important is data? It's at any of the different retailers that you've been at Chico's limited. And of course, now at Beall’s Inc, always the heart of everything it has been. It has been, but I don't think data truly got the recognition until the whole conversation around it.
[00:14:23] Karen Beebe: That's right. It seems like everyone was, you know, we're into big data and we were, but it wasn't about like right now. It's if we don't have great data to use. And if we do not provide the right data to AI, AI is definitely going to give you something that you're not. Looking, you know that it shouldn't or that you don't want to have and that's the concern. That is, that's what starts the concern.
[00:14:59] Jay Topper: No. And I think the people that run data and analytics and these people are infinitely smarter than I am because I've had the pleasure to oversee that group several tours of my years. Tours of duty for me is that they've gotten more and more involved directly with the business, you know, educating other departments that maybe 10 years ago, you know, didn't have to really understand data that well. They understood reporting, but even today's merchants at the last couple of companies I've worked for, they get down into the weeds and they get down into the detail and they want the data to Tell a story so they can react to it. So they're getting, I think all retail companies in general are getting more and more tech savvy. Have you experienced the same thing?
[00:15:41] Karen Beebe: Yes, absolutely. And they're wanting more and more detailed attributes on everything, right? So that you have all kinds of ways to look at the information. And then how can that information tell you the story faster? then you having to go through and look at all of it.
And I think that is one of the missions that we need to do, especially here that I am here at Bealls Inc working through of how do I provide the data in such a way that they can, they can serve it up with so that they can make the decision they need to make versus going through all the detail and then having to Then make all those important decisions.
[00:16:21] Jay Topper: No, I think that's exactly right. When you're, I have a question for you about Bell's Inc. What's one of your favorite products at your current company?
[00:16:28] Karen Beebe: Favorite product at my current company?
[00:16:30] Jay Topper: Yeah, what's something you've recently bought from Bell?
[00:16:33] Karen Beebe: Everything, actually. Have you seen what we sell? Yeah. I'm just, we have so many great brands.
And then we also have our own exclusive brands that we develop. So it's for me, it's been finding some of those great brand treasures that we, we have.
[00:16:50] Jay Topper: And then at Bealls Inc now bringing us up to the current, what type of initiatives, innovations, you know, challenges are you trying to tackle when you're at Bealls right now?
[00:17:00] Karen Beebe: So we are working towards transforming still some of our transformation from our legacy modernization and we are putting the finishing touches on Oracle. So we have gone through and we have Oracle within our HR solutions and our finance solutions and we're finishing that in the merchandising side of things.
So that's been a big transformation and we also have really looking at our. data. So it goes back to looking at our data, looking at how we are. Then I start off by saying security and protection of all of our information and data is number one.
[00:17:43] Jay Topper: Yep.
[00:17:44] Karen Beebe: And then on top of that, how to get our data in such a way that our associates can leverage it.
quicker, faster, better than they do today. We have other systems that we need to refresh. And so we have some older technologies still out there that are still needing to be modernized, and we're going through that in a way that makes sure that we're not being too disruptive, but being disruptive enough.
And the, probably the most recent piece that we just did was a replatform on e comm. We did that very quickly.
[00:18:19] Jay Topper: Yeah, speed to speed is super critical. When you go look at a new platform, whether it's in the PLC or e commerce or O. M. S. Or product catalog or any system. How important is it in today's retail to make sure that those systems can be managed and configured by the end user versus some of the old ways of doing business where you had to engage I.
T. And get your request put into a sprint. So sort of customization versus configuration. How important have you found that
[00:18:52] Karen Beebe: I'm a firm believer in customization? Sorry. Configuration, not customization. I am a firm believer in configuration and being able to put the power in the user in user hands. We just recently put in a new order management solution and before.
It was always a call to technology that said, Hi, can you please change this parameter so that we can then, you know, make it easier for these stores or group these stores together or do these different things. But it was always a code change. Now we've put a solution in place that they can manage it themselves.
They can make the changes that they want to make. And, you know, just more efficient and better from the operational standpoint. So that's one way of how we're modernizing.
[00:19:41] Jay Topper: When you and I agree, I think power to the end user in today's world is especially critical when you're evaluating a technology. Any technology.
How do you also do due diligence to make sure that the technology is real? Because sometimes it can look like a shiny object on the front end. But when you start digging down into the technology, it's perhaps a little less accommodating.
[00:20:04] Karen Beebe: Yes, and yes, and I can think of something that just recently happened that we're doing that exact situation.
But you know, we when we start J on any kind of evaluation, it's it is reviewing it collectively as a team, meaning technology and the business team together, and we're looking at it ballistically. And we want to make sure from the front end that it's handling all the functionality that you're wanting and then the team to make sure they dig deep and look at that technology.
And I can think of something, you know, just recently that It's it. It looked great on the front end and we started going deeper and it's actually may not work.
[00:20:53] Jay Topper: So a quick outtake on customization versus configuration. And when you think about O. M. S. And product catalogs, I'm a firm believer as a lifelong CTO and C.I.O. That giving power to the end users, making it configurable versus customers. Always having to get into the queue for sprints to get technology to do the work that the end users should just be able to do and even bringing AI into the end user community to where they can start predicting and understanding some of the dials they can turn to better work their business. I think that's absolutely key. And that is certainly what we subscribe to it fabric. And I think having technology in the business really intertwined when you go through those selection processes is critical because if you lean too hard one way or another, you either get good technology that doesn't do everything the business needs or you get What you think is going to work for the business, but the technology isn't there. So I love that, that combination. So we're in January when this launches, but when we're talking, we're in peak. Cyber Monday was yesterday. What keeps you up at night during cyber week and this crazy selling season that we're in the middle of?
[00:22:02] Karen Beebe: What keeps me up at night every day is actually not going fast enough. That, I mean, it's, it is. How do we go faster? And so through holiday, especially just coming off of, you know, Black Friday and Cyber Monday and just the selling season, you want to make sure that the system is always up, ready and going. And that's not, you know, you're not doing anything to hinder the business.
And so that's what usually keeps you up during holiday. What's keeping me up typically all the time is how to keep everything secure and how to go faster, how to go faster. And I think that's where, how to leverage AI to go faster.
[00:22:45] Jay Topper: And again, that speaks to sometimes that's how employees are operating, not always just focused on personalizing a website, but how, what can you do in your development org or in your user community or customer service.
to help them move faster and be more efficient. I think that's a place where I believe A. I is going to start rising up maybe even to the forefront of some of the efficiencies and operational excellence that companies seek. Well, I'm gonna I promise this this weekend. I have a rare free weekend and I'm going to go into Bell's Inc this weekend and do some shopping.
I have a sibling that has a birthday and that's where I'm going to go shop for her. So last question for you. So I love, you know, you came up through a lot of different ranks and at a few different companies and here you are now the CTO for a large, you know, Omnichannel multichannel retailer with multiple brands.
If you're talking to a director or a VP that's that wants to be a C level employee or wants to become a VP or a VP that wants to become a C, what's one or two pieces of advice that you would give to people listening to this that want to, you know, be in the type of role that you're in?
[00:23:57] Karen Beebe: They start off with about three big things. Believe in yourself. Number one, believe in yourself. Find your passion. Really work hard on that passion. And if you're not loving it, then maybe this is the wrong thing to be doing. Believe in yourself, but be flexible with it. Meaning, you could go down a path of, you start off in technology, you go to the business side in a business job, and then you come back into technology.
You don't have that plan. Exactly. But that's what happens. And then take a risk, believe in yourself, take that risk and move forward and learn from it. That's one. So believing in yourself. The second piece is relationships are key. You need to establish trust and you need to be trustworthy and you need to build those relationships at all different levels and throughout your career.
And I think, you know, because you're trying to go up the The ladder and technology. Maybe you think, Oh, I just need to focus up. No, you need to be focusing sideways and you need to focus down. You need to focus on all different levels and really have that more. I'm gonna call it that servant, you know, the servant leader mentality or that humble leader.
mentality as you go with your relationships. And one piece that I keep remembering constantly is be careful with your words because your words are so important. And sometimes when you're a leader, You don't realize how impactful your words can be. So through all that relationships are key and then being the best version of yourself, surrounding yourself with people who are, who think things are possible.
And, and I just love the, the one quote, you know, of. What seems impossible is possible, especially if you're around people who think things are possible. So being around people that can help you make things happen and being inspired by those around you and exposing yourself to new things and new, new things that you may be fearful of, but just going out there again and taking that risk.
If you can do those things, I think that it rises you up to, um, A method of leadership that you start appreciating and you have that learning mentality at all times. You know, and I listened to the topper top 10. Okay. And I was looking at, at your top 10 and, and I was thinking, you know, a lot of those same qualities that you highlighted.
I'm like, I agree with those so much that they're, you know, optimism. So that was kind of like that. Believe in yourself and you're really talking about taking calculated risk as one of those top 10 items and be genuine, right? Be genuine and be humble.
[00:26:53] Jay Topper: One thing you said that I really loved, especially I loved all your three, but I've told directs my whole career is that it's kind of easy to make your boss happy and it's kind of easy to make your directs happy or at least manage up and down.
But it's that peer base that you need to, you know, nothing's better than getting a compliment from a peer that appreciates what you're doing. And I think appreciation and even critique moves up and down the chain, you know, pretty normally, but that side to side of being really open and honest and appreciative of that base of peers, I think is absolutely critical to advance their career and moves mountains. I appreciated spending time with you and thanks for joining Chiefly Digital.
[00:27:35] Karen Beebe: Thank you. Really appreciate it, Jay.
[00:27:44] Jay Topper: So that was great talking to Karen. Three things that jumped out at me and she brought up speed two or three times and I'm a big believer. that in a multi channel or, you know, unified commerce, connected commerce world speed to market is key. And if you're a sea level employer, a VP thinking how you can go faster is critical.
I also am a big believer in having the right foundation before you add a bunch of new technologies into your technology portfolio. You need to have your data organized your systems and your platforms. Need to be well thought out and well architected. Otherwise, you're just putting more and more new things on the old and you end up racking up technical debt.
And then the last thing that I brought up during the outtake is configuration over customization and a big believer in power to the end user. So hopefully most of you are experiencing that or looking in that direction. So that concludes this episode of chiefly digital. You can find us on Spotify, Apple or YouTube.
Thank you very much. If you made it this far, I appreciate you and I hope you had a wonderful holiday season.