Priceline recently held its annual Beauty Prescription Live event and trade show in Sydney, where 61 brands offered sneak peeks of the products they’re working on, exclusively with Priceline, and what’s to come. The pharmacy retailer also soft-launched a new, refined logo and hinted at a revamped store design to be rolled out in the near future. Inside Retail was on the ground and spoke with Corrina Brazel, head of marketing for retail at Wesfarmers Health, the division where Priceline
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Priceline recently held its annual Beauty Prescription Live event and trade show in Sydney, where 61 brands offered sneak peeks of the products they’re working on, exclusively with Priceline, and what’s to come.The pharmacy retailer also soft-launched a new, refined logo and hinted at a revamped store design to be rolled out in the near future.Inside Retail was on the ground and spoke with Corrina Brazel, head of marketing for retail at Wesfarmers Health, the division where Priceline sits within the conglomerate.Brazel previously worked at Australia Post for over a decade, finishing up as the head of marketing and communications, and was Target’s head of brand marketing, prior to her current position.Inside Retail: What skills from your previous roles are you bringing to the role at Wesfarmers?Corrina Brazel: Well, I’ll start with where I came from, I’ve worked in retail pharmacy before – for competitor brands, both client-side and agency side – so I’m familiar with the retail pharmacy industry.A lot has changed since I worked in it previously, and it has gotten to be much more fast-paced and trend-driven than it previously was.I’ve always had retail in my background, even at Australia Post, I was initially the head of retail marketing and then expanded that out into other areas of the business.At Target I was working on brand and retail as well.IR: What are you excited about working on the Priceline pipeline?CB: I do think we are able to develop an incredibly close relationship with our customers, and I do think we’ve got something quite unique to offer in comparison to our competitors.We know that we might not necessarily be the most convenient for some people to go to, but we offer incredible service, value and a depth of knowledge.That beauty piece, coupled with the health experience, is a unique piece for us and I’m very excited about that. Generally, from a health point of view, there is so much exciting stuff coming that our pharmacists can now offer to the local community, and we have such a great chance as a brand to stand there and be at the forefront of some of those health initiatives, partnering with the Australian Government.I believe we can take more of a leadership position when it comes to health, particularly women’s health, that’s really exciting to be a part of.IR: What do you love about retail?CB: It’s one of those industries where you can see an immediate and tangible impact from the work that you’re doing.I think sometimes when you work in a services-based industry, which I’ve done as well – it’s a bit of a slower build to see things happening.Particularly from a marketing and comms point of view, in retail, you create and it’s pretty much out in the world, within a week or two.Then you see whether or not it generated a result, whether that be sales or an uptake of health services.I think it’s almost a bit of an instant gratification, which you get a bit addicted to when you work in retail for a long time, and it’s a fantastic evolving industry – it’s always at the forefront of technology. It’s always looking at ways in which we can make sure that the customer is number one and that you have a great customer experience.I love it, and I mean, I do love to shop.IR: What is the career legacy you hope to leave, and what is your personal legacy?CB: These are deep questions, wow.Career legacy – I do love mentoring and leading a team, and I’m very fortunate to have an incredible group of young women working with me.I think in marketing and comms, it’s often females. So I do hope that what I’m doing is building up a team whereby, if I walk out the door tomorrow, one of them is going to sail in and take over my role.That would be the plan, but also I’m really keen in this position at the moment, to educate the business on putting the customer as number one, and how we always have the customer at the forefront of everything that we’re doing.Using data more, using insights more to develop our decision-making is a legacy that I’m hoping will stick.From a personal point of view, again, I think because this is an industry where the health and wellness piece is there, you do feel like you’re making a difference in the community, which I love. That was a big part of why I stayed at Australia Post for such a long time because it is a very community-driven organisation.Our pharmacists, they’re all small business owners, and I really get a lot of enjoyment and pleasure from seeing them thrive in their local communities, and we’re playing some small part in helping that to happen.
