13 June 2023
Employee experience | News & Trends
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In the ever-evolving landscapes of retail and hospitality, where technology continues to shape the way we work, it is crucial to acknowledge and celebrate the individuals, teams, and companies that are leading the charge in embracing digital transformation.
Today, we are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2023 Frontline Excellence Awards, hosted by YOOBIC, the all-in-one frontline employee experience platform.
This prestigious event shines a spotlight on retail and hospitality professionals who have harnessed the full potential of the YOOBIC platform to enhance operations, drive productivity, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
A Global Celebration of Vision, Agility, and Innovation
The winners of this year's awards have consistently demonstrated remarkable performance in their respective fields, setting new benchmarks for frontline digitization.
"We are incredibly proud to celebrate the winners of the 2023 Frontline Excellence Awards — pioneering individuals, teams, and companies that have shown remarkable vision, agility, and innovation in these challenging times," said jury member Sandra Campos, Former CEO, Diane Von Furstenberg; public and private board director; Founder, Launchpad.
"Each honoree has demonstrated exceptional skill, passion, and drive in harnessing the power of digitization to achieve remarkable results. Their achievements serve as an inspiration to all frontline employers and staff, showcasing the transformative impact that digital tools can have on employee engagement, operations, performance, and profitability."
Making a return in 2023 after its successful inauguration in 2022, the Frontline Excellence Awards received an overwhelming response from renowned brands and retail enterprises across the globe. With over 100 applications, the competition was fierce, showcasing the industry's commitment to leveraging technology for operational excellence.
Companies from the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Indonesia, Thailand, and South Africa competed for these prestigious awards, proving that innovation knows no boundaries.
A Distinguished Jury of Industry Experts
To ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of the entries, YOOBIC assembled a panel of celebrated thought leaders and industry insiders. The judges included:
- Sandra Campos, Former CEO, Diane Von Furstenberg, public and private board director, Founder, Launchpad
- Ron Thurston, Bestselling author of Retail Pride, Global Top 100 Retail Influencer, and host of Retail in America podcast
- Daniel Binder, Luxury and travel retail expert and former Senior Executive at DFS (LVMH group) and Macy's
- Emmanuel Aublet, Former President of Pizza Hut France and General Manager of Subway France
- Cathy Hotka, Founder of the NRF CIO Council and Store Operations Council, and 2023 Top Retail Influencer
- Andy Adcock, Food retail expert, Commercial Executive, NED, and Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group
- Christel Grizaut, Senior Vice President of Marketing at YOOBIC
The jury evaluated nominations based on the following criteria: Relevance to the category; quality and clarity of the nomination; and KPIs and business impact.
Winners of The 2023 Frontline Excellence Awards
The Frontline Excellence Awards aim to honor retail and hospitality professionals who have successfully embraced the YOOBIC platform to enhance operations, drive productivity, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
This year's winners have demonstrated outstanding performance over a sustained period, becoming role models in their respective fields and setting new benchmarks for frontline digitization.
Let's take a closer look at the exceptional winners!
Individual Award Categories
Chief YOOBIC Officer of the Year: Julien Davy, Fitness Park
Fitness Park's Julien Davy has been awarded the prestigious title of Chief YOOBIC Officer of the Year for his exceptional leadership in managing the sports brand’s wide-reaching franchise and corporate gym network. Balancing the need to maintain operational standards while fostering entrepreneurial energy is a complex task, and Julien has excelled in this regard. Leveraging YOOBIC efficiently, he and his team have achieved impressive results, including increased franchise revenues, improved customer satisfaction, and significant time, energy, and cost savings.
| “Managing a franchise network is a challenge; one needs to monitor the standards of operations while letting entrepreneurial energy flourish. Using YOOBIC very efficiently, Julien and his team have increased franchise revenues and satisfaction(!) and saved time, energy, and money…” Emmanuel Aublet, Retail Tech & Franchise Expert, former President of Pizza Hut France and General Manager of Subway France |
Transformation Leader of the Year: Jena Repichowski, AM Retail Group
Jena Repichowski of AM Retail Group received the Transformation Leader of the Year award for her exceptional leadership in driving the YOOBIC implementation journey to achieve all-round store performance. A true motivational leader, her dedication to employee engagement resulted in improved KPIs and training completion. The transition to digital training and consistent reporting have also led to surpassed sales goals and notable improvements in DPT and conversion rates.
| “Congratulations to Jena from AM Retail Group for winning Transformation Leader of the Year. Excited for the future of this relationship with Yoobic and the positive impacts ahead for the great brands AM Retail Group leads.” Daniel Binder, Luxury and travel retail expert and former Senior Executive at DFS (LVMH group) and Macy's |
YOOBIC Administrator of the Year: Anna Hesse and Amy Moadim-Lesimha, David Jones
Anna Hesse and Amy Moadim-Lesimha from David Jones jointly received the YOOBIC Administrator of the Year award for their pivotal role in rolling out the platform at Australia's leading department store. Their dedication has helped the retailer achieve outstanding employee engagement results across 42 stores and 5,000 frontline staff, with marked improvements in communication and operational excellence.
| “Amy and Anna showed tremendous commitment to the program, and this has been rewarded with some outstanding engagement results.” Andy Adcock, Food retail expert, Commercial Executive, NED, and Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group |
District Leader of the Year: Pauline Depoid, Claudie Pierlot
Claudie Pierlot’s Pauline Depoid, who has been recognized as YOOBIC’s District Leader of the Year. With exceptional energy and focus, area manager Pauline has proven to be a powerful evangelist for her company’s digitization, harnessing the power of YOOBIC to reduce store-visit times by an impressive 90 minutes while sharing best practices for improving store operations.
| “For any project to succeed, one needs a powerful evangelist. Pauline is a perfect example of what energy and focus can bring to a company. Follow her steps and save one hour and a half for each store visit!” Emmanuel Aublet, Retail Tech & Franchise Expert, former President of Pizza Hut France and General Manager of Subway France |
District Leader of the Year: Matthew Licht, Bonchon
Matthew Licht from Bonchon has also been honored as the District Leader of the Year for his exceptional management skills across multiple locations. Juggling the responsibilities of running several stores, training restaurants, and innovation labs requires a highly skilled and organized leader. Matthew has effortlessly achieved this feat by utilizing YOOBIC to improve employee communication and training, standardize processes, and access performance-boosting operational insights.
| “Imagine juggling all company stores, two training restaurants and two innovation labs… All in one app in the hands of an exceptional leader. Kudos, Matt!” Emmanuel Aublet, Retail Tech & Franchise Expert, former President of Pizza Hut France and General Manager of Subway France |
Frontline Hero of the Year: Elena Torrecilla, Sessùn
Elena Torrecilla, a shop manager at Sessùn, has been recognized as the Frontline Hero of the Year for her unwavering commitment to maximizing the benefits of YOOBIC at the French fashion brand. Elena's determination and dedication were instrumental in the successful implementation of the digital workplace platform, resulting in significant improvements in operational efficiency, customer experience, and overall performance.
| “Sessùn has really thought about how to maximize the benefits of the tool and Elena’s determination and commitment was integral to the delivery of a tremendous program.” Andy Adcock, Food retail expert, Commercial Executive, NED, and Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group |
Frontline Excellence Advocate of the Year: Eddy Ladaa, RDTS
Eddy Ladaa of RDTS received the Frontline Excellence Advocate of the Year for his outstanding role in leading the national merchandising department and equipping frontline teams with the tools and guidance to achieve operational excellence. He also effectively tackles employee retention challenges by using YOOBIC to facilitate new employee integration and monitor learning progress, all while gaining valuable insights to make informed decisions for project assignments and employee fit.
| “Congratulations to Eddy Ladaa, the frontline advocate of the year! We were very impressed by Eddy’s dedication to improving the day-to-day life of frontline workers at RDTS with a true search for perfect operational excellence and employee engagement. Eddy managed to significantly improve employee retention rate and customer satisfaction with a strong learning and employee experience program for RDTS frontline teams!” Christel Grizaut, Senior Vice President of Marketing at YOOBIC |
Frontline Excellence Advocate of the Year: Sarah Brown, Francesca’s
Francesca’s director of communications and training Sarah Brown has been honored as the Frontline Excellence Advocate of the Year for her instrumental role in leading the apparel chain through a transformative brand rebuild and expansion towards robust profitability. Through her strategic utilization of the YOOBIC platform, Sarah has empowered the brand’s nearly 4,000 frontline team members to effectively communicate, manage tasks, and access vital information and on-the-job training tools.
| “When deciding about new technology solutions that enhance both the customer and employee experience, advocacy from incredible brands like francesca’s is invaluable. Nearly 4,000 of francesca’s frontline team members are now using YOOBIC’s app to communicate, manage tasks, and access information and skill-based training tools, enabling teams to keep learning, growing, and working effectively regardless of their base. To use their own words, ‘In less than two years, francesca’s has gone from bankruptcy to profitability, and YOOBIC has been a big part of that strategy and success.’ Congratulations Sarah, that’s true advocacy!” Ron Thurston, Bestselling author of Retail Pride, Global Top 100 Retail Influencer, and host of Retail in America podcast |
Team Award Categories
Frontline Experience Program of the Year: Bolay
Fast casual restaurant chain Bolay has been honored with the Frontline Experience Program of the Year award for their masterful utilization of YOOBIC’s all-in-one platform and commitment to continuous employee development. Bolay achieved improved communication, compliance, and engagement across their restaurants in Florida, Georgia, and Virginia, while fostering a strong sense of community within the company.
| “An excellent presentation illustrating the importance of communications and training, delivering some great results.” Andy Adcock, Food retail expert, Commercial Executive, NED, and Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group |
Communication Program of the Year: Zadig&Voltaire
Luxury retailer Zadig&Voltaire has been honored with the Communication Program of the Year award. Operating in 40 countries with 20 different languages, the brand faced unique communication challenges. Leveraging YOOBIC's built-in translation feature, Zadig&Voltaire overcame these obstacles, fostering real-time communication between headquarters and boutiques. This seamless communication has fostered a tighter, more connected, and engaged employee community.
| “Forty countries, twenty languages: it should be a Babel mayhem! Yet with YOOBIC and 100% active users, Z&V was able to divide emails by twenty, increase real-time communication between HQ and the boutiques, and engage staff into energized communities.” Emmanuel Aublet, Retail Tech & Franchise Expert, former President of Pizza Hut France and General Manager of Subway France |
Learning Program of the Year: TERACT
TERACT has been awarded the Learning Program of the Year prize in recognition of its exceptional digital campus. This impressive platform has facilitated true on-the-floor training, enabling staff to effortlessly access educational materials on a wide variety of topics. Teract's dedication to continuous learning and development is commendable and serves as an inspiration to the industry.
| “TERACT’s Digital campus is a remarkable example of multi-brand “on the floor” training, enabling staff to train almost effortlessly on literally hundreds of topics!” Emmanuel Aublet, Retail Tech & Franchise Expert, former President of Pizza Hut France and General Manager of Subway France |
Operational Excellence Program of the Year: Benetton Group
Renowned global retailer Benetton Group has been recognized with the Operational Excellence Program of the Year award. This prestigious accolade acknowledges the company's exceptional achievements over the last 12 months, including the successful implementation of YOOBIC for over 3,600 users across three different brands in nearly a thousand locations.
| “We chose them for several reasons, including their high number of users (over 3600 people across nearly 1000 locations), the complexity of the store network that includes three different brands, and their ability to align all of the field leadership teams and visual HQ toward consistent execution. That's Operational Excellence at its best!” Ron Thurston, Bestselling author of Retail Pride, Global Top 100 Retail Influencer, and host of Retail in America podcast |
Project Launch of the Year: H&M Indonesia
H&M Indonesia won the Project Launch of the Year award for achieving an impressive 99% user engagement level and 97% compliance rate in operational, visual, and cash office standards from the start of their YOOBIC implementation. Through real-time data sharing and digital task management, H&M Indonesia boosted productivity, launched 25 campaigns in 6 months, and improved decision-making with analytics, all while minimizing paper usage.
| “The keen interest that the H&M Indonesia team displayed in their learnings is best-in-case teamwork. Their focus on reducing the maintenance work through digital tools in order to spend time with those that matter the most (the customer) is at the core of any retailer’s values and is an example to all frontline teams. This is a high achieving organization that dedicated time to upskilling in order to achieve their goals. We are very proud to honor them with this award.” Sandra Campos, Former CEO, Diane Von Furstenberg; public and private board director; Founder, Launchpad |
Project Launch of the Year: PureGym
PureGym is another team that won the Project Launch of the Year award for their excellent deployment of the YOOBIC-powered “Connect” platform. Their focus on employee engagement, internal communications, and task digitization has boosted efficiency and minimized administrative load. The transition to digital workflows not only maximized sustainability but also fostered a proactive approach to health and safety, thereby achieving high member satisfaction ratings and NPS scores.
| “A team that is in front of customers and is visible at all times needs to be organized and thoroughly trained in order to motivate their audience. Time is the most critical asset that anyone has. For PureGym, their adoption rate was so impressive across hundreds of locations, their results in eliminating all email activity to their frontline and putting all communication on Connect was the greatest return on their investment. This is a team that took a commitment to performance improvement and excelled across the board. There is no doubt that this results in better staff retention and greater loyalty with their clientele.” Sandra Campos, Former CEO, Diane Von Furstenberg; public and private board director; Founder, Launchpad |
Global Roll-Out of the Year: Sergent Major
Children’s clothing retailer Sergent Major has been awarded the Global Roll-Out of the Year team award for effectively scaling and adapting the YOOBIC app across their 426 European stores, converting weekly launch notes and merchandising advisories into accessible modules. The introduction of quizzes ensured information retention and active regional manager monitoring fostered continuous improvement, culminating in a realization rate surge to 51% and a flawless 100% validation rate.
| “A great example for keeping it simple and deep, with a really innovative approach to engagement.” Andy Adcock, Food retail expert, Commercial Executive, NED, and Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group |
Congratulations to all of the 2023 Frontline Excellence Award winners. And a heartfelt thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination! 👏
The Frontline Excellence Awards were designed to shed light on extraordinary individuals and teams, and we are sincerely grateful for your participation and partnership.
Follow YOOBIC on LinkedIn for more winner coverage.
