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On this episode of Talking Shop I’m joined by Alain Bejjani—former Group CEO of Middle East retail giant Majid Al Futtaim, and author of the definitive new book, NEXT: Leading Through the New Realities. Drawing on his childhood in war-torn Beirut, and his experience steering a $9.5bn dollar retail and lifestyle empire through a global pandemic, Alain brings an unmatched perspective on leadership under pressure. Today, we break down his crisis survival playbook for retailers operating in distress. We discuss why resilience must always outpace efficiency, the four assets a brand must protect at all costs, and how to turn macro-turmoil into a long-term direction that scales.

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The COO of JD Sports, Sherilyn Paterson, has stepped down amid her retirement after spending 12 years at the group. In a post on LinkedIn, Paterson wrote: “Today is my first day of retirement after an amazing 12 years with the JD group as part of the executive team and this leadership role. 

“I have loved every product review, every customer improvement, every operational challenge, every project and everything in between! The people in JD are what make the company and there are too many to mention!” 

In her role as chief operating officer for the JD Group, she led the global strategy and teams within its operations centre of excellence, which includes merchandise planning and allocation, supply chain and customer experience

Prior to her role as COO, she was group operations director and later merchandising director at the sports retailer. 

Before she joined JD, Paterson was head of merchandising at both Arcadia and later Kurt Geiger

Earlier this year, JD reported that its profit-before-tax fell by 8% to £912.4m for the year ended 27 January 2024.

Despite this, the company said it welcomed “strategic progress in a challenging market”.

Its full-year revenues rose by 2.7% to £1.4bn, up from £1.13bn the prior year.

It also saw organic sales growth of 9%, with a premium sports fashion organic sales growth of 10.9% and a like-for-like sales growth of 3.8%.

In the period, JD opened over 200 new stores and has plans in place for over 200 new JD stores in FY25.

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