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MaryLou Costa

MaryLou Costa writes on business topics like work culture, sustainability and innovation. She has written for The Guardian and has appeared on BBC and Sky News.

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returnship programs

How return-to-work programs boost retention for women in tech

  • Women and diversity
  • min read
    • Mothers returning to work after a career break to raise children face many challenges, from closed doors to employers penalizing resumé gaps to being expected to take a backward step for a more family-friendly role. Research by the Association of British Insurers in 2018 found having children leads to women earning 20 percent less than men long-term. UK charity Pregnant then Screwed's data shows around 62 percent of women returners work fewer hours, change jobs or stop working because of high childcare costs. Support in returning to work How can companies support women to thrive in the workforce while closing the gender pay gap? Harvard Business Review names "returnships," or return-to-work programs, as one of the top five ways. PWC research shows better supporting returners could raise UK women's earnings 1.1 billion British pounds (around 1.5 billion US dollars) while boosting the UK economy 1.7 billion British pounds ($2.3 billion US dollars.) Meta, formerly Facebook, launched its returnships program. People who've been away from work for two years or more and want to re-enter full time are eligible for the 16-week, immersive, paid program. If you show ability to succeed after training and mentorship, you're considered for a full-time position. Returning without starting from scratch With a nearly four-year resumé gap after having two children, IT professional Zandra Otubamowo anticipated picking up her career where she'd left it. But after a string of rejections, she had to consider starting from scratch. She says, "I had many mixed feelings, but the one that stands out was the frustration of trying to get something you know you want, but it's not coming, and you don't know what else to do." Otubamowo continues, "In that gap, it's not like I was sitting at home, just taking care of my family. I was still learning about the technical world, doing training and connecting with people. So what didn't I have? I felt like the gap was the reason." A friend told Otubamowo about Meta's Return to Work program. She applied immediately and started her role as Technical Program Manager in September 2020. Meta hopes its Return-to-Work initiative will help double female employees globally by 2026 – women are currently around 37 percent of their workforce. "The support in the program was like being put into a bubble to protect us, which you don't get when you just come in normally," Otubamowo says. "From my manager to my mentor and my buddy, there were so many people put in place for me to make sure I succeed. You're coming into a space where things are moving so quickly, but in the program, people help you move at your pace. I don't think I could have survived otherwise." "We need more women to feel comfortable coming back into the workforce and not feel like they have to take a paycut or fall behind – that you are going to be given what you deserve," says Otubamowo. Bridging the gender gap Financial services group Nomura launched its Returners Program in 2019 as part of a plan to increase numbers of women in the business. The program gives 12 weeks' induction, training and coaching to anyone who's had a career break of 18 months or more, after which candidates can apply for positions at the company. Most succeed. Nomura is aiming for 33 percent female employees and has so far reached 31 percent. They want 19 percent working at senior level and have reached 14 percent. After a seven-year career break to care for two young daughters, Rachael Grieve recalls jumping back into the job market in 2019 and finding nothing but despair. The yawning gap in her resumé left her with few opportunities that suited her experience and ideal schedule. After a failed interview for an office manager position, "I went home and burst into tears, thinking, "That's it – I'm done." It felt like all these doors were closed. I still remember that desperation and fear, especially after interviews destroy your confidence. You find yourself stuck as to where to go." Soon after, a chance conversation with a friend who still worked at her previous employer, Nomura, led to Grieve returning and setting up the company's Returners Program. Shereen Peeroo Finney, a cybersecurity architect, joined Nomura in 2019 through the program after taking two years away to reassess her career direction and retrain. "We had resumé advice, practice interviews, external mentoring and a 90-day plan. The program helps you regain confidence a lot faster," Peeroo Finney says. Securing the right support and partners for success Tackling gender inequality isn't easy, admits Grieve, now Nomura's global head of learning and development for technology. She feels strongly about leading this program, so it becomes a standard part of Nomura's diversity, equality and inclusion strategy. "Our Chief Information Officer from day one was 100 percent supportive," Grieve says. "It made a massive difference to be given the platform and sponsorship. I also made sure all senior managers understood the caliber of candidates we were getting through it." Specialist firm Inclusivity Partners helps run Nomura's returnship program and similar programs for Shell and Virgin Money. Inclusivity Partners founder Stephanie Dillon says, "If you want to make the difference for women, they need a job. They need pension contributions. They need financial independence. With return programs, you're providing a job opportunity. Now [when the candidate is] back in the market, other companies think, "that's a good candidate," rather than fixating on the career break."
on demand transport

Why employers are noticing high-tech, on-demand public transit

  • Emerging tech
  • min read
    • Although it offers significant carbon reductions on the private car as a means of transport, public transportation isn't famed for comfort. But what if your post-pandemic commute involved leather seats, air-conditioning and Wi-Fi? Kura is an emerging company that hopes to reinvent the office commute with tech-optimized corporate shuttle buses. Kura's software uses postcode analysis to calculate optimal pick-up points for employees at public transport stops or residential hubs. It's public in the sense they can convert these pick-ups into published timetable that could be shared with multiple employers. They've already had great success in the 'school run' market. Kura's Commuting to 2025 report highlights how the return to the office and fears of catching COVID-19 will likely lead to a spike in people using cars for commuting. Its survey of 2,000 UK workers found 42 percent plan to return to the office full-time or hybrid working (partly at home partly in the office) and half of those plan to commute by petrol or diesel car. 60 percent cite infection control and lack of social distancing on public transport as concerns. The Cambridge Globalism Project found similar results, with 23 percent of UK adults saying they planned to travel more by car post-pandemic. Before the pandemic, around 17 percent of UK workforce used public transport to commute, but the proportion was much higher in populous cities. Some urban areas have seen public transit use decline as much as 60 percent. Kura believes it addresses many passenger concerns with pre-booked spaces, distanced seating plans and regular vehicle sanitization. Considering carbon emissions and employee demand Kura chief executive Godfrey Ryan thinks the on-demand public transportation market needs to be built up. He says their research shows 63 percent of employees favor employers that offer commuting support. Still, only 30 percent of London businesses are considering doing this – an expectation gap between employees and employers. But he thinks there's a changing tide, as employers look to their employee benefit packages to compete for talent and pressure increases for businesses to reach net-zero emissions. "We're getting a lot of interest from UK employers re-focussing on carbon neutrality post-lockdown. Alternatives to single-occupancy car use, such as shared transport, helps meet net-zero targets and this sustainability effort increases their appeal to employees," he notes. Around one-fifth of businesses worldwide have made net-zero targets. Millenials and Gen Z especially are increasingly examining employers' environmental credentials as they decide where to share their talents. "In London, employers with a command-and-control approach have relied on their employees enduring the inconvenience and cost of the commute without impact on staff satisfaction and retention. This is changing." Employee shuttles aren't new. Silicon Valley tech giants including Google, Facebook and others are renowned for transport perks, with dedicated teams managing employee transport demand and encouraging greener commuting. Chief Policy Officer for Bay Area urban advocates SPUR, Nick Josefowitz, argues to avoid pre-pandemic traffic levels returing, "all larger employers (should) take more responsibility for getting their workers to work and back home...in a way that minimizes their impact on climate and air quality." A flexible spin on a familiar transport model Flexibility is an area where many emerging commuting tech businesses are innovating. Amiad Solomon, co-founder and CEO of corporate commuting app Hip, suggests flexibility is the future of commuting. Hip raised 12 million US dollars in capital in 2021. Google revealed in a webinar with the Mineta Transport Institution (MTI) that it's relaunching its on-demand shuttle when its employees move from remote to hybrid working in late 2021. It piloted the program in 2019 and 2020, adding to its scheduled services from San Francisco to its campuses. The new on-demand service lets employees living in neighboring communities request a shared minivan ride within two morning and evening periods, Monday to Friday. During its pilot, it gave more than 7,500 rides to nearly 900 Google employees. The most popular days are Tuesday to Thursday, which may mirror in-office days for many. They're working on how to cover more flexible hours and avoid empty return trips. MTI researchers evaluating the pilot say whether it takes off beyond Silicon Valley remains to be seen. On-demand transport needs employer and public sector support The growing on-demand public transport market is gaining traction all over the world. Australian-led startup The Routing Company is already running on-demand, fixed-rate, shared minivan rides in Scotland, Australia and the US. We must work with communities to unlock public transit's potential for users and the environment, says Routing Company's founder James Cox. Yet large investment needed upfront and beyond has given varied results for on-demand public transport in other markets. Its selling point was, "cheaper than a taxi but more flexible than a bus." PickMeUp attracted good passenger numbers but wasn't commercially sustainable. The pilot proved there is high demand for ride-sharing services, but we need extra funding to make it viable," a GoAhead spokesperson says. "Demand-responsive services need partnership with the public sector and/or local employers to make it work. The council contracts our North Lincolnshire scheme, so there we can build a customer base without revenue risk." Putting the onus on employers to lead in commuter transport Do employers have the captive audience, capital and motivation to transform commuting comfort, convenience and sustainability? Andy Taylor thinks so – he's senior director of global strategy at transport industry tech platform Cubic Transportation Systems. "There's a lot of potential in companies providing on-demand mobility as a job perk, instead of getting things like a company car," Taylor observes. Taylor notes stumbling blocks in making companies more aware and trust in private, on-demand shared transport – perhaps reasons trial take-up has been slow. Google invested heavily in an internal email marketing campaign for its on-demand shuttle. Customer experience is the main evaluation criteria. They measure to make sure riders are picked up within a maximum timeframe, as close as possible to home and have enough space on the journey. For companies who've chosen to make the most of the employee appeal of on-demand transport, "enjoying the ride" has become central to their employer brand. With transport making up 14 percent of global carbon emissions and the pandemic threatening the viability of some public transit systems, new ways to minimize travel's environmental impact are always welcome.
career women jobsharing

How job sharing is boosting careers for women in tech

  • Leadership
  • min read
    • When Sophie Smallwood returned from parental leave in 2018, she considered job sharing. She was keen to make the most of family life without taking a backwards step in her tech career that featured work with enviable brands like Facebook, eBay and Trip Advisor. But finding both necessary elements – the right job and with the right sharer – proved impossible. "It led to me launching Roleshare because I didn't want to be a statistic and to help other women avoid becoming one too," Sophie says. And the statistics are stark. Research by the Association of British Insurers shows having children means long-term, women earn 20 percent less than men. World Economic Forum (WEF) global shaper Nikita Khandwala says the financial and career impact of having children is one of the biggest reasons behind lack women in senior positions. The part-time penalty The earnings and seniority gap between men and women seems driven by women with children being more likely to work part-time. Khandwala thinks companies like Roleshare, advertising positions supportive of job sharing and helping people find good job-share partners, can help bridge these gaps. WEF in a recent paper even suggested job sharing would help address urgent post-pandemic economic and social challenges like deepening inequalities. Kaspersky's 2021 Women in Technology survey of 13,000 female tech and IT workers in 19 countries found 40 percent feel family pressures have held them back from pursuing career changes since the pandemic. Even more – 44 percent – said men progress faster than women in their organization. Beyond part-time challenges and limits Ellen Wilson and Helena Zaum shared an executive role at Microsoft for four years. They found job sharing a more appealing and effective way to maintain seniority and career momentum after having children. Keen to balance work and family but told her role couldn't be part-time, Wilson, her manager and director wrote a business case for a job share involving each partner working three days a week. When the business advertised the position, Zaum was the successful candidate, bringing new and useful experience to the role. The director who approved their job share has since set up a new unit and advertises all roles as possible job shares. Zaum shared similar motivations. She'd gone part-time after parental leave and reported challenges like a stop-start career, working on non-work days and a feeling of treading water. "Job sharing has been invaluable. It's let me keep my hand in. I think it's a good way of keeping women in the workplace. "We have been a good example of how job sharing can work. People sidle up to me in the corridor wanting to know more about how we set it up. My initial experience of going part-time wasn't easy as there wasn't so much precedent in the business then, but Microsoft has since proven itself a flexible employer and I feel great loyalty." How to run a successful job share Wilson and Zaum agree their job share "worked brilliantly" as they brought different skills and experience, complementary personalities and eagerness to communicate. Zaum points to the "peer mentorship" she and Wilson established in their partnership, which was so successful they both eventually went four days a week. It let them develop their own scopes so their positions became standalone, showing how job sharing can improve both career progression for women and how much the company gets out of a role. Not just helping working mothers Job sharing isn't just for women with children but anyone wanting a different work-life balance. Nicola Johnson-Marshall is in a job share leading communications for banking software standards leaders Open Banking Implementation Entity. She works three days a week and runs a coaching consultancy the rest of the time. And more men are taking up flexible working. Parenting website DaddiLife's 2020 survey found 32 percent wanted more quality time with family. Flexible jobs website Find Your Flex says half its users are men. Roleshare highlights how Brendan Clark previously shared his iSupply CEO position because he wanted more quality downtime. Sam White shared group sustainability and policy director role at Aviva and cites as advantages, prioritizing family and having a more equal marriage. Zaum's husband shares his Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation role at Reading University. Why companies should support job-shares While 50 percent of Fortune 100's Best Companies to Work For offer job sharing, up 15 percent on the previous year, reported numbers of people job-sharing are low. Statista figures show 123,000 UK employees on job-share contracts in 2020 down from 185,000 in 2013. Smallwood points out many job share contracts are written as part-time so they may not show up in data. But she and Wilson's experiences show job shares tend to be candidate-driven rather than company-initiated. Zaum thinks managers must be better equipped to enable job sharing in their teams. Roleshare provides a job-share support toolkit for companies, including guides and plans. Smallwood says managers should ask for a joint vision and plan from a job share partnership to ensure they're on the same page practically and values-wise. Smallwood also advises companies to see beyond headcount and budget. A job share may be 1.2 headcount but gives twice the value in experience. Smallwood reports many more job-share advantages for companies. "You get more diversity of thought in a role. You have business continuity. Even if one person leaves the company, you still have the skills from the other. You can bet they'll want the best possible talent to join the team." Zaum and Wilson hope job sharing gets more widely adopted to show how it can be a gender equalizer. "The tech sector is still struggling to have more women in senior positions and companies realize they must be more flexible," says Wilson. What if your tech firm could retain more of its best people? What if it had more diverse perspectives in senior management and increased productivity at every level? Supporting job sharing arrangements can boost the pillars of success by giving you more employee energy in each role. It makes sense for leaders to fly the flag for job sharing in their business.
work from anywhere

Why hiring ‘digital nomads’ is about to get smoother

  • Remote working
  • min read
    • Last year, as the pandemic broke out, British entrepreneur of Capital Business Media Richard Alvin found his return flight from Florida to the UK canceled. He then rented an Airbnb with a pool and worked remotely from it for the next three months, in constant communication with his London and New York teams. While many businesses see the benefits of recruiting internationally and don't mind navigating time zones for meetings, some challenges – like international employment law – mean 'remote first' companies are still uncommon. But new platforms are landing that help even the smallest start-up employ the best people beyond the usual horizons. Remote appeal for workers The increasing adoption of remote working opens a wealth of possibilities for people liberated by the confines of the office-based 9 to 5. Progressive companies, largely those in tech, promote it as a new kind of 'office perk.' And with good reason: Kaspersky's Securing the Future of Work study of 8,000 respondents found for 32 percent, being able to work from anywhere was the benefit of remote working they most wanted to keep post-pandemic. Employees are acting on that desire too. The Global Workforce Revolution report by international HR and employment platform Remote found 20 percent of US and 10 percent of UK tech workers have requested to relocate since Covid. The report also found a huge 81 percent of the 1,500 UK and US tech workers surveyed would move to a different state or country if it wouldn't affect their employment or pay. The report also surveyed tech companies, finding 66 percent plan to increase options for employees to live and work where they want to. Attracting and retaining people is a motivator, with 42 percent of tech businesses expecting international remote working to increase talent supply. Navigating the red tape of global employment The borderless recruitment promised by remote working isn't as simple as posting a job vacancy and watching international applications roll in. HR, tax and employment laws vary across the globe – more than some companies can easily navigate. Larger international enterprises are more likely to have the resources to do it. But there are ways even small to medium-sized companies could take advantage of global talent without so much red tape. Those committed to teams without borders are increasingly adopting specialist platforms for international employment. Video conferencing start-up Whereby, founded in Norway, has a 'remote first' policy. They use Remote to help expand their workforce internationally. "Remote-first means our business is set up so we can work wherever we thrive," says Whereby's vice president of people and talent, Jessica Hayes. "We're not doing this because we can make more money by recruiting globally. We believe talent is equally distributed across the world, but the opportunities are not." Hayes hopes Whereby will recruit more people from Japan to support its growing Japanese user base with local insights. Working with platforms like Remote helps Whereby ensure all international employees have the same legal security and support with a permanent or contracted work arrangement. Driving the remote economy These are familiar pain points for Remote's vice president of growth, Elisa Rossi. Last year, she relocated from San Francisco back to her native Italy to be closer to family. Rossi relays how Remote's CEO Job van der Voort's experiences in a previous role at one of the world's largest and most successful remote-first companies led him to build Remote. "They decided they'd never have an office and hire the best person for the job, regardless of where they are. It's now a successful enterprise with talent across 67 countries. There are the logistics and all the operational challenges of making that happen. "We want to take a leading role in the remote economy by making it easy for people to employ anywhere. We reduce the significant complexities of global employment, like establishing an entity in a new country, figuring out tax and staying compliant." Remote's users range from three-person start-ups to enterprises with 1,000 roles to fill. Customers are largely in the US, Europe and Latin America. Their most active customers are tech companies expanding internationally, those adopting remote-first from day one and companies transitioning to remote-first. Rossi thinks Remote levels the playing field for companies of any size to benefit from global talent. Opening the best work opportunities to the world It's an issue close to the heart of Estonian entrepreneur Karoli Hindriks, who, like Whereby, wants to equalize the distribution of great work opportunities. Hindriks founded cross-border recruitment and immigration platform Jobbatical in 2014. Estonian's government consulted her in developing its digital nomad visa, which lets remote workers work freely in Estonia for a year. Hindriks explains, "Jobbatical started by asking, how could we come from a small country like Estonia and attract people from all over the world to Tallinn instead of Silicon Valley, New York or London? We found the biggest pain point for both employees and companies isn't the recruitment, but the immigration relocation, so we built tech around that." "We need big economies like the UK, Spain and Italy to consider this policy seriously," she says. "When companies and a country can make the process easy, companies can focus on hiring the best people, regardless of location. Today we cannot help with the immigration status of digital nomad workforces, and I see more companies requesting help at a policy level, so they can let people work where they are living." Getting on top of international legislation While platforms like Remote and Jobbatical can do much of this heavy lifting for companies, Whereby's Hayes recommends companies use international legal counsel too. "Employment law in every country is a complex beast. If a manager has staff in multiple countries and needs to terminate one, how can they know the legislative requirements? Or the tax perspective? Employees will have different questions too." Although Remote's Rossi and Jobbatical's Hindrix point to their companies' rigorous cybersecurity and data handling practices, remote-first employers need top-notch cybersecurity practice. As dispersed home workers can mean the business is more vulnerable to cyberattack, investing in cybersecurity tools and awareness to protect against international breaches is a must. Kaspersky's Securing the Future of Work report gives tips for remote-working employees, like updating devices and passwords regularly and using virtual private networks (VPNs.) It's also worth reading up on the importance of system hardening and team cybersecurity awareness. "You need to know the cyber-risks of remote working, how you can prepare your teams and encourage a culture of collaboration and transparency. If you're thinking about extending remote working beyond COVID-19, have the right cybersecurity training program and products in place to keep your teams and business safe," advises Kaspersky UK enterprise expert Lee Rendell. Working from anywhere is becoming a reality. If companies can keep tabs on the legal requirements and sharpen their cybersecurity game, they can take advantage of a wider talent pool and greater diversity. As more players aiming to smooth the process of hiring internationally come on the scene, the digital nomad may soon travel wherever the wind takes her.

Dynamic pricing with AI could make a meal of food waste

  • Tech for good
  • min read
    • You're in the poultry section of your supermarket, hoping to get some chicken for tonight's dinner. You notice a pack expiring sooner than the rest at a reduced price. Would you choose that chicken? Not everyone will – some will want to prepare their chicken in several days' time. But if you're having chicken tonight, you'll likely choose the cheaper chicken and feel good about saving money. When multiplied over countless supermarket buying decisions each day, common-sense consumer choices could become a game-changer if prices better kept pace with expiration dates. But for food retailers, adjusting prices to account for demand and expiration dates is labor-intensive. Food waste is a super-sized problem. The United Nations says we waste 1.3 billion tonnes of food each year, valued at 2.6 trillion US dollars. That's a third of all food produced for human consumption. Food waste accounts for around six percent of greenhouse gas emissions – three times the emissions from aviation. Wasteless, a tech start-up founded in 2017, hopes its cutting-edge AI-based technology for grocery retail dynamic pricing could radically reduce the waste when supermarkets must dispose of expired, unsold goods. Discounts without discount stickers Wasteless is already in supermarket chains like Spain's Dia, Italy's Iper and Belgium's Intermarche Jurbise. In 2020, they ranked 19th in the FoodTech 500 list of international "agrifoodtech" start-ups and scale-ups based on size, digital footprint and sustainability practices. Combining their algorithm with an electronic shelf label (ESL) system, stores can show a price that reduces as the item's expiration date nears. ESLs change in real-time as the algorithm sets and resets markdowns. When short-dated products sell out, the ESL returns to the original price. "Food waste costs supermarkets a tremendous amount of money. It doesn't make sense to keep working this way from a business, sustainability or consumer perspective," says David Kat, Wasteless's Senior Vice President of Business Development. That's what the supermarkets have in mind too. Wasteless quotes former Iper IT director Gian Maria Gentile in a case study: "Iper implemented Wasteless technology to stimulate consumers to make a more sustainable choice, reducing food waste and optimizing product availability." AI reinforcement learning sets optimal discounts Wasteless's dynamic pricing engine uses "reinforcement learning." It takes into account how consumers trade off expiration dates against discounts, which changes depending on how many items are on a shelf. Wasteless can set an optimal discounting policy for each retailer. The algorithm also considers when the next shipment arrives, how many units remain at which prices, and potential substitute product availability to understand how customers choose. The logic helps avoid under- and over-pricing, leading to shortages (and reduced profits) and surpluses. With all those factors, it's a job for artificial intelligence (AI,) insists Kat, which is what sets Wasteless apart from the status quo. Discount sticker-slapping and making sudden bargain bins before a store closes is costly, he says. "Slapping stickers is operationally difficult, expensive and time-consuming, but also degrades the product. You're basically saying, this product doesn't have real value," Kat explains. With a system like Wasteless, "Discounts are applied when needed, not just on the last day or hours before closing. If the AI sees it's needed, the discount can kick in three or four days before expiration, so the price is right at the right moment." The food waste reduction journey is complex Human psychology may be the simpler part to navigate – customers can save money, do good and feel good. Where Wasteless has been implemented, consumers understand the system and respond to the discounted price, cutting food waste. Retailers should have the same reasons as consumers to want to cut costs while making a positive impact on the world, but Kat says the business psychology is more complex. Wasteless is a "hard sell" to some retailers. Firstly, it's a "difficult problem to solve for" in companies using little data science, he says. It also means working with all layers of a business, especially IT departments, as Wasteless uses the retailer's private cloud and cybersecurity protocols, although only price, not customer data, is stored. "Food waste is seen as the cost of doing business. No one loses their bonus because of food waste. And that's a problem because most food waste happens in high-income countries, in retail and consumer environments." Regardless of the environmental impact, there's a clear business case for solving food waste. When Wasteless entered Italian supermarket chain Iper, expired food waste fell 39 percent and revenue rose 10 percent. Spain's chain Dia cut waste by one-third while boosting revenue 6 percent. No-brainer for savvy retailers The idea of "optimal markdowns" is gaining traction with more savvy retailers, Kat believes. He thinks smaller chains tend to be more entrepreneurial and open-minded than larger counterparts, that may be more hesitant to introduce new components to complex IT systems. Kat continues, "It's easy to keep doing business as usual. Retailers are well-organized, logistical machines, but dynamic pricing isn't changing the machine." If it doesn't work, it's just "deleting one line of code and you're running your business as before." But with the potential for chains to raise every store's bottom line by around 120,000 US dollars, simply by selling what they've previously thrown away, Kat is adamant the return on investment makes it a no-brainer. "We need food waste reduction targets, but they're ambitious. You can't achieve them with traditional methods. Retailers must approach from different angles," he says. Cutting waste in hospitality and retail The travel sector was first to understand the value of dynamic pricing. Consumers are used to seeing the cost of flights and hotel rooms rise as their planned travel date nears. Dynamic pricing has helped European hostel and hotel chain A&O keep bookings high over the past year despite the pandemic. They used another start-up, Pace Revenue, to keep 'pace' with changing customer demand. While hotel rooms in larger cities usually cost more than those in smaller cities, since COVID-19, when lockdowns are lifted, holidaymakers have sought to avoid the crowds. Rooms priced cheaply soared in value as last-minute bookings poured in, driving prices up and selling all the rooms at a higher margin. The potential to cut food waste and related costs exists in hospitality too. A&O's Chief Marketing Officer Philip Winter gives the example of applying dynamic pricing to breakfast, which operates for five hours with few punters at 6 am and a rush at 9 am. A lower price for an early breakfast, he says, could help clear the buffet and reduce uneaten items. Dynamic pricing is also seeing success in general retail, with UK marketing agency Digital Ethos introducing it over the past year to e-commerce clients in fashion, drinks and home interiors. Fashion retail has a faster stock turnaround than most retail, with many stores changing their entire stock at least twice a year with seasons and trends. With dynamic pricing, new season jeans could fluctuate in price depending on supply and demand, even rising in price as stock diminishes and the last pair becomes a prized commodity. It's the reverse of Wasteless's food model, but the outcomes are the same: No human pricing needed, increased revenue and reduced waste. Consumers are familiar with sales and discount stickers as a markdown mechanism. But we know they embrace new pricing models when the benefits are clear. Will more retailers see they can use this tech to sell more and reduce waste? It depends if they've set their sights on 'business as usual,' or the future.
by Innovating leaders.
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