Avani Chheda

- Led national customer experience strategy across all Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix locations across the country, spanning Beauty, Pharmacy, and Front Store - Own Voice of Customer program, translating sentiment analytics and friction point analysis into operational improvements - Develop frontline service standards and training tailored to each business area - Build sales-focused service programs to drive revenue growth and customer loyalty - Partnered cross-functionally to embed customer insights into broader business decisions

Provide strategic guidance to retail organizations to enhance operational efficiency, optimize labour planning, elevate customer experiences, and improve overall business performance. Guide retail technology organizations on product development to meet customer needs, as well as develop their value proposition for clients.

Led national store experience and operations for a $2B retailer, reporting to the Chief Stores Officer. Team of 18, $300M budget across CX, workforce management, specialty businesses, and store analytics. -Drove significant improvements in NPS, traffic conversion, and basket size through CX and selling initiatives -Delivered substantial labour cost savings via operational efficiencies while increasing customer-facing presence -Optimized commission and incentive programs, reducing expenses while maintaining sales performance and associate retention -Grew vendor contributions through strategic staffing partnerships -Led end-to-end evaluation and rollout of omni-channel retail technology across stores nationally -Developed and rolled out training and communications programs to 10,000+ associates Led real estate fleet analysis, site selection, and store format strategy

Reporting to VP, Store Operations, led a team of 12 in Workforce Management, Labour Planning, Store Analytics, and Operational Strategy ⚬ Recruited and built a new team in Canada to lead labour planning, budgeting, and scheduling - successfully launched new workforce management application for store scheduling across all stores, through determination of requirements, configuration, user testing, pilot and full rollout for 10,000+ users ⚬ Led operational pivot through Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in over $70 million+ in expense savings through labour efficiency improvements. structural changes, and new operating strategies - Reduced back-of-house payroll spending while increasing or maintaining customer-facing associate presence, through developing a more flexible and efficient store structure ⚬ Created and implemented new dashboards and reporting to measure store and associate performance and improved visibility to store and associate KPI metrics to drive higher accountability and a performance-based culture

Reporting to VP, Store Operations, led strategic projects and analytics with a team in Canada (Hudson’s Bay) and the US (Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, Lord & Taylor). Acted as a subject matter expert on store planning and provided operational insights to the Store Planning & Design teams. ⚬ Partnered with Canadian and US Real Estate and Store Design teams on location planning; evaluation on site selection, store design build, implementation of merchant strategy ⚬ Focused on delivering insights and strategic recommendations on operational efficiencies to be implemented across North America to drive sales and EBITDA through cost reductions and gross profit improvement ⚬ Partnered with Senior Vice Presidents of Stores for Saks Fifth Avenue, Hudson’s Bay, and Lord & Taylor, to improve business performance through implementation of analytical tools and dashboards for all regional Leadership and General Managers to understand their business and drive sales through operational metrics

Reporting to VP, Store Planning Development was responsible for driving store productivity improvements and space planning/optimization for all 350+ stores in the US and Canada (Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off 5th, Hudson’s Bay, Lord & Taylor, Home Outfitters) ⚬ Led all capital project planning, including new store openings and major renovations, for the Store Planning & Design team and delivered ROI through consistently improved productivity through recommendations that incorporated banner strategy ⚬ Developed and implemented best practices and processes around capital project planning, store prototype & store merchandising change process ⚬ Launched and administered Store Planning, Design & Construction team's website, as a hub for information and to facilitate communication for internal partners

Led sales, service, operations, visual merchandising, marketing, and asset protection at multiple locations with full P&L responsibility and 100+ employees and up to $30 million in revenue ⚬ Regional trainer for Ontario; trained all levels of management on customer service management, coaching, and service leadership ⚬ Customer Loyalty Market Lead for Ontario - led credit & loyalty training, operations and communications for the province

⚬ Promoted through various store and merchandising roles based on consistent results in all stores and department performance on sales and behavioural metrics ⚬ Led high profile, flagship locations, in beauty/cosmetics, apparel, accessories and home, with volume up to $65M