Carolyn Young knows from experience there is more to retail than just standing behind a till.
She grew up working in her parent’s Masterton dairy.
But now the new boss of industry body Retail New Zealand is in prime position to use that experience and her advocacy skills to lobby for what the industry needs.
Young took over as Retail NZ’s chief after Greg Harford departed in July.
With economic headwinds hitting retailers across sectors this year, Young says entering the role was a new challenge that she was excited to tackle.
“Once I started going out and talking to retailers, [I found] just how devastating some of the issues have been,” Young says.
She says retail crime is hitting retailers with an increase in aggressive behaviour towards staff.
“They’re not the things that we would expect to see from fellow Kiwis.”
Young says Retail NZ is working to address retailer concerns, particularly increased crime.
“One of the things we want to see is more police available.”
She says new police minister Mark Mitchell’s comments on increasing police presence have been welcomed by retailers and by the lobby group.
“If there’s greater visibility, there’s less likelihood of crime, and there’s the deterrent of crime,” Young says.
Another concern for retailers is sentencing, as Young says supermarkets and other retailers are seeing a rise in recidivist offenders.
“We need to see a more efficient use of the justice system so people can be seen more effectively and they won’t re-offend,” Young says.
Fair pay agreements are just one of the former Government’s policies on the chopping block, which is “happy” news for retailers, says Young.
“Employers feel the current way they work with employees is sustainable and meets business needs as we move forward.
“They don’t want legislation to put boxes around how they recruit people.”
She says retailers hire a diverse range of staff: “Part-timers who work on weekends and evenings, students, retired people. Some might work on the shop floor or doing marketing,” Young says.
“Those jobs don’t always fit in a box that fair pay agreements set into the space.”
She says businesses and consumers are already feeling more confident with the change in government, but that the coalition is still in its “honeymoon phase”.
“As I always say, the proof is in the pudding,” she tells the Herald.
Young’s immersion in retail began early. Her parents ran a dairy in Masterton in the greater Wellington region where she says it was compulsory to work after school, weekends and school holidays from the ages of about 12 to 18.
She says the experience taught her “there was more to retail than standing behind the till”.
“I learned how to interact with people, but then you have to mop, fill up stock, clean,” Young says.
“When it’s your parents, you’re working pretty hard,” particularly with their Scottish Presbyterian upbringing, she says.
Young’s parents migrated to Wellington from Scotland in 1958.
“They came out on the last sail of Captain Cook. They spent a year in Wellington then they moved to Masteron in 1959,” she says.
“We didn’t have any family in New Zealand because my parents both immigrated. For Christmas and special occasions, it was my brother, me and Mum and Dad.
”The thing I always wanted in my life was an auntie and a cousin - people that you could spend a day with… and I never had that opportunity.”
She says her mum made her first trip back home in 1985, with Young making her way to Scotland in the 1990s.
Although she stayed in the UK for five years, she said meeting her family wasn’t what she expected.
“It’s kind of different when you meet your family as an adult,” she says.
“It’s not the same as growing up with them because, for my aunties and cousins and uncles, I was just one more niece or cousin. Whereas for me they were everything.”
“Our household ran like Scotland in 1958,” Young laughs.
The Wairarapa College alum says she moved to Wellington looking for “bigger and brighter things” not found in provincial New Zealand.
“Wellington is not that much bigger, but certainly offers a lot more opportunities than Masterton does,” she says.
She moved on to Victoria University in Wellington to study for a Bachelor of Arts degree, before stepping into a career in finance.
“I worked in the sharemarket for the first 15 to 20 years of my career,” she says.
“I’ve done anything from working on the trading floor at Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers [in London] to working as a financial adviser here in New Zealand.”
She said the fast-paced, people-facing environment gave her a solid foundation for the responsibilities of a chief executive.
“When you work as a financial advisor, you have to understand the individual, their goals and where they want to be,” she says.
Before Retail NZ, Young served as chief executive at Netball Central Zone from 2013 to 2018, then at Special Olympics New Zealand until this year.
While retail may seem like a far cry from sport, Young says the role of a chief executive across advocacy groups is “largely the same”.
“In member-based organisations, you are here to serve members and to provide advocacy and service and advice to them. Whether you’re working in sport or disability or retail, the role is very much the same.”
Special Olympics NZ works across 172 countries to support people with intellectual disability to get into sport, however Young says the chief executive roles are “largely the same”.
“Setting the foundations, having policies, your staff, your KPIs [key performance indicators], your strategic plan, finances - having all of those sorted are very similar in a not-for-profit.”
Young says, “Previously I was representing people who had an intellectual disability and advocating on their behalf. Now I’m talking about the great work that’s happening in retail.”
Part of that, she says, is advocating for retailers to the Government but also giving advice and business support.
Young says retailers have shown support for the coalition Government’s repeal of Smokefree policy that restricts the number of retailers allowed to sell cigarettes.
“One of the challenges was going from 6000 stores that currently sell tobacco and smoke products down to 600,” she says.
She says the change would have led to a loss in the livelihoods for many retailers and would make tobacco retailers “a real target for crime”.
“Cigarettes are products that are easily sold on the black market and easily exchanged for cash.
“If you have one or two stores in the city or one store in a rural area that is selling cigarettes, it will be well known by criminals,” Young says.
Despite the controversy surrounding the legislation change, she says the new National-led Government has other plans to achieve a Smokefree New Zealand by 2025.
“I’ll be interested to see what the legislation looks like,” she says.
Born: Masterton, Wellington
Family: Mark Woodard from Charlottesville, Virginia in the US, miniature schnauzer Pepa, Devon Rex cat Gracie
Education: Wairarapa College, Victoria University
Last book read: Red Bones, Shetland Series by Ann Cleeves
Last TV show watched: Hijack starring Idris Elba, also a fan of anything featuring Elba
Last holiday: Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
Hobbies: Cycling, hiking, walking the dog, spending time with friends
Alka Prasad is an Auckland-based business reporter covering small business and retail.
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