The International Retail Academy

The International Retail Academy Creating epic customer experiences for retailers! Sales & leadership coaching. Workshops, talks 🔥

Retail has one of the highest turnover rates of any industry. Yet some stores hold on to their people for years and they...
01/08/2026

Retail has one of the highest turnover rates of any industry. Yet some stores hold on to their people for years and they rarely win on pay alone

They win on culture!

Three habits we see in the teams people don't want to leave:

1. Managers who protect breaks as fiercely as they protect targets...YES take your full lunch, go for a walk, re-set your energy, because without that we lose the afternoon momentum

2. Wins celebrated in the moment, not filed away for the quarterly review or newsletter. GIVE energy willingly to the team

3. Schedules built with people, not just for coverage

Culture isn't a perk, it's your most reliable retention strategy and it's built one shift at a time by a leadership team who genuinely care about doing the right thing, consistently

Which of these three would move the needle most in your store this weekend?

Happy Friday, retail teams! Here's a little something to help you with the weekend rush3 moments quietly decide how a vi...
31/07/2026

Happy Friday, retail teams! Here's a little something to help you with the weekend rush

3 moments quietly decide how a visit goes in your store:

1. The welcome. A genuine hello can 'break the ice' immediately and the customer will likely stay longer
2. The connection. Read what THIS customer actually needs, not the same pitch on repeat or pushing your agenda
3. The checkout. Stay calm and warm, fold & wrap with care, and end on a high note so she feels "wow, I love this store"

None of these cost a thing. Only effort!

"But Kayleigh we've got so much to do and honestly our customers aren't even that nice or open"

I hear you, I lived the same experience when I was an Assistant Manager being pulled between operational excellence and styling at the fitting rooms...!

But the moment my Manager said "store standards will always be a task, we must keep that standard high yes...but when a customer is here, they are the priority. You might only get a few minutes with that person but if it's a good experience, they'll come back and our sales grow...meaning, we stay open!"

YES it's THAT important

You saw what happened with so many brands these last few years?

It is the job of everyone in a business to be of service to each other...and the customer

Have a GREAT weekend!

30/07/2026

The pendulum is swinging back to human connection in retail and we couldn't be more excited to see this play out!!

And we've been talking about this ever since starting The International Retail Academy!

Our goal has always been to help retail teams connect better with customers

To care
To give value
To help the person standing in-front of you

We've seen our clients succeed massively!

Rituals enjoying a huge sales uplift, a DIY retailer grew their transactions significantly, Hunkemöller increased conversion and membership capture rate, Curry's are growing sales and a jewellery brand learnt new ways to go deeper with the customer conversation resulting in ATV growth

All of these things don't happen because of tech...sure, it helps, but ultimately it's the person who is at that final last mile of service

The future of retail is high technology AND high human 🤩

14 bookings in the diary and only a handful of dates are available for you to grab 🤩Connecting with my audience during a...
28/07/2026

14 bookings in the diary and only a handful of dates are available for you to grab 🤩

Connecting with my audience during and after a keynote is CRITICAL

It is without doubt the most important thing a speaker can do

I've been to hundreds of events where you're expected to sit still and listen to someone with little to no interaction, self reflection and a big slump of energy

I'm not up for that and my audiences are not, either!

Sometimes I'll go out with a mic and hot spot people (who voluneer), sometimes I'll get people on the stage and sometimes we have a big group hug afterwards...

It's always a FUN and MOVING experience

I'm so grateful to everyone who has booked me for the next season, we have 14 dates in the diary already and my keynotes will be making the rounds in the UK, Copenhagen, Berlin, Antwerp and many more!

I will only be taking on a handful of new bookings this year...because as much as I enjoy serving your teams

I really enjoy the restful moments inbetween, helping my team at The International Retail Academy to engineer more conversion growth for our clients

Enquiries can be here or via my website kayleighvfazan.com

Please be quick as I've already had to decline 3 bookings (in Malta, London and Rome) as the dates clashed with prior bookings...! Gutted, but there we go!

Leadership on the shop floor is about creating conditions where your team can do their BEST workThe energy, focus and pa...
27/07/2026

Leadership on the shop floor is about creating conditions where your team can do their BEST work

The energy, focus and passion of the leader ALWAYS ripples into the team
It creates the store culture

This is how much power you have as a leader...

This week, try leading one conversation with a question instead of an instruction, watch how your team responds

You may be surprised by what your team already knows!

What's the best question a leader ever asked you? 👇

Retail | Leadership | Culture

Saturday retail vibes! How many of these do you recognise as a retail worker...1. That feeling of excitement to be worki...
25/07/2026

Saturday retail vibes! How many of these do you recognise as a retail worker...

1. That feeling of excitement to be working a busy day
2. Wondering if you're heading to M&S or Greggs for your lunchbreak
3. Dreading the customer returns...it's too busy for this
4. Looking forward to seeing you best work buddy
5. Knowing that you'll have a great day
6. Looking forward to buying that item on your staff discount
7. Dressing up
8. After work drinks

Let us know which numbers you are feeling...would you add anything?

Retailing | Team | Culture

Is it time that we all lowered our expectations when it comes to receiving great service?Simply accept that "people just...
24/07/2026

Is it time that we all lowered our expectations when it comes to receiving great service?

Simply accept that "people just don't want to help" ?

Well, if that's the case...how about we all just shop online more and more

Have more time in the house
More time isolated from conversation
More time living on the screen
..more opportunity to weaken mental health further

Yeah, cool

If that's what you want?

Retail | Shopping | Service | Culture

Helping a brand to increase sales is what we do...it's actually the RESULT of what we doHOW we get there is by deliverin...
23/07/2026

Helping a brand to increase sales is what we do...it's actually the RESULT of what we do

HOW we get there is by delivering you the things that you/your teams NEED (never copy/paste, never a drawn out consultancy)

The challenge at Rituals was to assess the existing legacy selling ceremony and run a gap analysis on how this was practiced in real-life, on the shopfloor

Visiting many markets, stores, workshopping and pulling together hundreds of data points from surveys, we then progressed to ideation phase, then design of the new "feel good experience"

This was brought to life through new modules, an animation for everyone in the business to watch, a poster printed for all stores and various in-store video trainings. We also dived deep on behaviours, creating a mini-video series for selling skills specifically

The experience was launched, globally to all store managers at the same time and the response was phenomenal "this feels so good...it's what we've been doing for a long time but now it feels like we have permission and real empowerment to do this"

Within months sales were climbing and by the time we reached the 1 year anniversary, retail was in a high double digit growth!

Working with this brand was pure magic, we loved the partnership and willingness to move fast

Speed matters so much in this industry, and while others are talking about how to improve, Rituals are already 5 steps ahead!

Retailing | Leadership | Culture

Let's talk about 3 critical moments to elevate your in-store serviceYou can feel a store's culture within seconds of wal...
22/07/2026

Let's talk about 3 critical moments to elevate your in-store service

You can feel a store's culture within seconds of walking in...and so can your customers

So this is touchpoint number 1. But how can you impact 'culture' because it can't be measured!
Well, start with the environment itself

How loud is the music? Is it appropriate for the brand?
Are the spotlights positioned in the best place or blinding customers when they walk in?
How about the fragrance of the store?
Is the store too cold/too hot?

It's important to review these on a daily basis. How many times have you left a store because the music was thumping loud or no air conditioning was on?

The second touchpoint is the connection moment...the ice-breaking verbal part of customer service. Is your team saying the same thing over & over or are they genuinely trying to connect with each individual?

The third touchpoint is the cash desk. Is it tidy, calm? Are you folding and wrapping with care? Are you complimenting the customer choice and affirming the purchase?
Never underestimate the power of this moment; a great checkout experience can reduce returns significantly!

What's one critical moment that you'll get onto right away?

Retailing | Customerexperience | Leadership

Customer experience is decision your team makes a hundred times a dayAnd there are a handful of brands who deeply unders...
21/07/2026

Customer experience is decision your team makes a hundred times a day

And there are a handful of brands who deeply understand this

So what is their secret?

They all have a very clear service mission...think of it as the 'North Star' of customer service. It's a phrase or short sentence that connects everybody in the business to being customer-centric

For example, when partnered with Rituals we created the "Feel good experience" ...because we wanted every customer (& team member) to feel good about their experience in the stores

Every greeting, every recommendation, every recovery after a mistake is a brand moment. The retailers winning on experience aren't the ones with the biggest budgets; they're the ones whose teams are coached to notice, connect, and act

Another secret? Leadership development. Pouring effort into developing the leaders responsible for commercial growth. Hard skills and soft skills are considered equal and given the time it deserves

A question for retail leaders this week: how can I inspire my teams to understand our service mission and how does this show up for every customer, everyday?

Retailing | Coaching | Leadership

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