FEATURE | Business Transition
O
ne of the problems with interviewing senior executives working at the top of British business is that, no sooner have you put your pen down – or turned the recording app off on your smart phone as it is today – the man (as it was in this case) in question is poached for a role at another firm. When we meet, Alex Williamson is CEO of the 12,000-acre Goodwood Estate. Now, he is CEO of House of Fraser, the department store group with more than 60 shops across the UK and Ireland. Williamson may have been a leſt-field appointment but, having spent the morning with him earlier this year discussing his approach to business, I can see how the people at House of Fraser would have been impressed with his knowledge of dealing with high-end, high-expectation customers. If Goodwood is about anything, it is about providing quality entertainment to people who, on the whole, can afford the very best. Williamson will no doubt miss his position down in West Sussex but will take his business knowhow and expertise in superior customer service to the retail giants with a view to beefing up their sales growth. He said: “I have had the most
Frank Levin (leſt), House of Fraser chairman, welcomes Alex Williamson into his team
extraordinary nine years at Goodwood, working with Lord March and the team on a broad range of projects. And I am very pleased to be taking on this role at such a pivotal time for House of Fraser, another great premium British brand.” Frank Slevin, chairman at House of
Fraser, gave an insight into what he hoped Williamson will bring to his new role when he said: “Alex is uniquely placed to execute our vision, and to contribute his extensive expertise of delivering compelling and engaging experiences for the customer.” It was back in 2012 that Lord March, the charismatic owner of Goodwood, promoted Williamson from Finance Director to Chief Executive and, although he is no doubt sorry to see his top man go, I don’t think I am giving away any trade secrets by saying that the estate, which prides itself on maintaining standards, will deal with seamlessly with the changes.
Indeed, Lord March, who took over the running of the business from his father in 1994 and oversees everything with awesome efficiency, is clear about what matters to him. “Our customers sit at the centre of everything we do. Our attention to detail and delivering small twists that our customers notice and appreciate is the most important thing. Giving a great experience, delivered through great people and offering great value for money continues to be our approach. “We always need to look new and
fresh while retaining the essence of each event that makes it uniquely ‘Goodwood’. We mystery shop all aspects of the customer journey at each event to see what we are doing well or what needs to be improved. This information is fed back to all the stakeholders and actioned for future events. We continually look at how we can keep raising the bar R
GOODWOOD GOES GLOBAL WITH A MILLION MINUTES A MONTH!
Like a lot of modern companies, Goodwood is working hard to improve its online business. “One of the big things for us is to take our brand worldwide,” explains Williamson. “We have invested a lot in digital content, particularly around motorsport. We’ve gone from a standing start to being one of the top ten automotive digital publishers in the world. We had 140m views of our content last year – a million minutes watched a month – which means we can attract companies like MasterCard to
44 DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
become Festival of Speed presenting partners, which they will be this year. It’s the first time we have had a presenting partner because they can see it’s not only the people we have here on the ground every day of the festival but it is all year round, every day all over the world. And as soon as you start opening the world’s mind to the concept of Goodwood it opens massive opportunities. We are starting to receive significant interest about how we might bring a slice of Goodwood overseas.”
dofonline.co.uk
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