Beyond the visibility exercise: Sammy Allanson on winning regional retail growth

Sammy Allanson, Sullivan & Stanley's Client Partner to the North, spoke to Retail Sector's Talking Shop podcast about why regional retail growth depends on earned trust rather than visibility, and why the bigger problem facing retailers everywhere is execution. Drawing on Sullivan & Stanley's Intelligent Enterprise research, she identifies where transformation value leaks and how retailers like M&S and Gymshark are gaining ground by embedding decision-making close to the customer. 

The overview 

Retail growth in the north is built on trust, earned through consistent local credibility rather than scale or visibility. Across retail more broadly, Allanson points to a deeper problem: only 7% of organisations consistently deliver the full value of their transformation programmes, with most of that value lost to governance, adoption and optimisation rather than ambition. 

Key terms 

Value leakage: The difference between the transformation value an organisation plans to deliver and what it realises. Sullivan & Stanley's research puts the average at 27% realised of every transformation pound invested. 

Execution Intelligence: One of the four intelligences, alongside Human, Artificial and Technology Intelligence, describing an organisation's capability to turn strategy into delivered outcomes. 

Client intimacy: The depth of an organisation's understanding of what its customers need, used to anticipate demand rather than simply respond to it.

Trust is the currency of the north 

Sammy Allanson spent over a decade in systems integration, with retail making up a significant share of that portfolio, then five years in CxO advisory spanning the full retail and supply ecosystem. A few months into leading Sullivan & Stanley's northern business, she was asked on Talking Shop what sets the region apart. Her answer was immediate: 

"I think the north generally in terms of buying is based on trust. And although that is true across the entirety of the UK, it's emphasised within the north."

The evidence shows up in the region's infrastructure. The logistics and distribution investment already flowing into the region is itself evidence the north is "already winning" rather than catching up, built on a supply chain where trust runs from manufacturing through to the shop floor. What the retailers thriving there share, in her view, is how they pair that trust with a leaner operating model and a store experience built on local credibility. 

"The key differences for me is leaning into that real trust-led environment, but also credibility," she said, pointing to "a low-cost op model to be able to really make sure that that experience when you step into store is something that's slightly different." 

What catches retailers out when they expand north 

Building that trust takes time, and Sammy has watched plenty of retailers expand north without it. Asked what catches larger retailers out, she pointed to the service infrastructure customers only notice when it's missing. 

"Efficiency and optimisation aren't always the answer," she said. "Having things like really effective returns policies and making sure there's multi-channel options start to cater for that." 

She draws a sharp distinction between that kind of operational expansion and the independents winning ground in the north, who succeed by slowing down rather than scaling up. "When you look at the true independents that are winning, they are slowing people down... and being able to have more effective conversations by getting to know them. That creates a different level of trust. You start to buy into a store story or a founder's story." 

The warning is for retailers trying to copy that feel without the substance behind it. "Those that are genuinely creating those authentic communities will really make the wins. And that's what we're seeing in the north at the minute." 

Where the 27% disappears

The regional picture connects to a problem Sammy traces across retail as a whole: the gap between transformation ambition and what gets delivered. Sullivan & Stanley commissioned independent research with UK business leaders to find out how wide that gap really is. 

"The uncomfortable truth is what we found is only 7% of organisations achieve their full value of the transformation that they set out to deliver," Sammy said. "That's really stark." 

Crucially, she's clear the shortfall comes down to what she calls execution leakage, rather than weak strategy or underfunding. Sullivan & Stanley's research puts the scale of that leakage at an average of 27% of every pound invested. 

"The majority of value leakage isn't because of lack of strategy or refined strategy, and certainly not because of lack of funding. It's what we call execution leakage." 

She breaks that leakage down into three recurring causes. 

Closing that gap, in Sammy's view, means blending what Sullivan & Stanley calls its four intelligences: "human intelligence, artificial intelligence, technology intelligence and execution intelligence." The retailers she sees succeeding are doing several things at once. "They're doing multiple. They're creating the conditions" for value to hold. 

Execution Intelligence in practice 

Ask Sammy what good execution looks like in a retail environment and she's clear there's no template to copy. "We're seeing where retailers have the most success in execution is they don't try and copy and paste a playbook that is not set up for their business," she said. "Being able to test effectively, fail effectively and learn from those in a real agile environment is something that we really support." 

M&S and Greggs offer two concrete examples. When Marks & Spencer rolled out Microsoft Copilot to 11,000 staff, what caught her attention was where the decision making moved. "One of the things that we're seeing as part of that distribution is the ability to really embed decision making at the shop floor level," she said. Greggs, she added, has "a similar setup around the way that they're being allowed to make decisions through data that's embedded, not something that feels random." 

When nostalgia isn't enough 

Asked about Claire's, the accessories retailer once synonymous with a generation's first ear piercing, Sammy’s diagnosis centred on a brand that stood still while its customers grew up. 

"From a branding perspective, they didn't grow up with their clientele," she said. "I think that they were trying to serve what was a great client base at where they thought the client base still was." 

The lesson generalises well beyond one retailer. The brands keeping pace with their customers are the ones that know precisely what they stand for, and what they won't. She returns to Gymshark cancelling fraudulent bot orders placed during a high-demand product drop, a move that made it "really clear where their human centred customer base can come in." She cites Co-op's campaign addressing abuse towards retail staff in a similar light: shoppers responded by directing more footfall towards smaller, independent stores "because people saw what was happening and wanted to be able to just be around and support." 

Data is only the starting point. "The data by itself without the emotional aspect and the human led aspect is not going to be the thing that creates survival. It's what you do with the data to create that experience, and the wanting of more of that brand, that will start to avoid things like the Claire's situation." 

What retail leaders in firefighting mode miss 

For retail leaders in firefighting mode, Sammy's advice centres on pausing long enough to find the actual trigger. 

"My biggest observation of leaders that are winning that fight is being able to pause, step back and really translate to what the triggers are," she said. That means listening properly to what customers are already saying. "I do not feel that there is any other industry outside of retail where you will get the most open, honest feedback as a consumer of your journey... retail has the most identifiable trigger points as to where their journey has not succeeded." 

Her closing point is a warning against overreach. Trying to serve every customer segment through every channel sounds generous, but it leaves store teams unable to manage what's been promised. "It's the reality of what is possible versus what is practical." 

What the M&S Copilot announcement revealed 

Asked when she first understood AI's real impact on retail, Sammy recalled the reaction that followed one specific announcement. "The moment that I started to understand really what the AI impact was having on the retail sector was the way in which M&S announced their investment into Copilot," she said. "There was applaud and there was uproar and there was confusion... the reception to that announcement was something unlike we'd seen for many years." 

It was a theme that came up at one of Sullivan & Stanley's Women in Transformation Community breakfasts a few days earlier: whether the industry was overreacting to a shift retail has weathered in different forms before. 

What Sammy sees across the market is AI adoption that runs ahead of the business strategy. "The number of conversations I've had around AI strategy is phenomenal," she said. "When there's no linkage to the business strategy... it'll just make it better or quicker or will be more productive. They are assumptions that are likely to be true but have not been tested in your brand, with your people, with your customers." 

What moves retailers forward, in her view, is demonstrated progress. "Small wins, small gains, and actually translating reality of pace and progress versus a really great strategy, that's going to be the thing that starts to set them apart." 

The episode develops Sammy’s views beyond this summary on why perceived store closures often tell a different story, and the operational pressure retail staff are under from rising theft and reduced enforcement powers.

Listen to the full episode on Retail Sector's Talking Shop podcast on your preferred channel:

Apple podcasts

Spotify

Her account of where transformation value disappears mirrors what Sullivan & Stanley found when it asked 200 UK C-suite leaders the same question. Read our Intelligent Enterprise research to see where the 27% goes, and what closing that gap takes in practice. 

About Sammy Allanson 

Sammy Allanson is Sullivan & Stanley's Client Partner to the North, leading the firm's northern business and client relationships across the region. Her background spans systems integration delivery, frontline transformation work in policing and five years in CxO advisory across the end-to-end retail and supply ecosystem. Connect with Sammy on LinkedIn.