Consumer CHAMPION

Martin Newman, The Consumer Champion, is a globally renowned authority in Customer Centricity and Customer Experience. With four decades of experience in the consumer-facing sector, he has revolutionised multichannel operations for brands like Burberry, Ted Baker, Intersport, and Harrods and scaled and sold global ecommerce agency Practicology.

As the Founder of The Customer First Group and Customer Service Action, Martin has shaped the consumer-focused landscape and authored influential books "100 Practical Ways to Improve Customer Experience" and "The Power of Customer Experience".

Martin has served as a trusted advisor and board member for brands such as The Scout Store, The Mayborn Group, In Kind Direct, Clearpay, Tern, Afterpay and Marketplacer. His expertise is widely sought after, and he has delivered captivating keynotes for prestigious global events and strategic sessions for top-tier companies like Toyota, Haleon, Specsavers, Pandora, Adobe and Meta. Martin educates and empowers businesses worldwide through his online Mini MBA in Customer Centricity and MBA in a Day workshop.

What is Customer Centricity?

Customer Centricity is more than simply ensuring a good customer experience. It is putting the customer at the heart of all that you do. It touches every part of the business and everyone from the CEO to the Front line. Customer Centricity is the only strategy that can drive sustainable increases in Customer Lifetime Value and customer retention and future-proof a business, ensuring it is ready for the next generation of consumers.

100 Practical Ways to Improve Customer Experience

Virtually all consumer-facing businesses talk about putting the customer first, but in reality, few deliver on this as effectively as they could. 100 Practical Ways to Improve Customer Experience walks readers through a wealth of practical tips, tools, guidelines and frameworks, for implementing customer-focused marketing strategies at every step of the customer journey. By ensuring that the customer remains the key focus, companies can identify areas in need of improvement and implement relevant steps throughout the value chain to transform their business.

The Power of Customer Experience

In The Power of Customer Experience, Martin presents clear data that proves the direct link between customer-centricity with profit and shareholder value. Drawing on examples from well-known companies like JD Sports, Delta Airlines, Lego, Selfridges, BMW, Hilton, Deliveroo and Uber, it analyses how organizations provide the most effective customer experience, and reveals the strategies that have allowed them to succeed.

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WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

“Incredibly engaging (and humorous) keynote!Thank you for an outstanding presentation. You captivated the audience and provided a real practical step-by-step guide to putting the customer at the heart of a multichannel business. We’ve had great feedback – real great content – and appreciate you joining us. Cannot stress how worthwhile you were. 100% recommend booking for CX focused keynote presentations.”

Retail Week

“Martin joined our management team last week for our annual two day strategy review. He is truly an expert on customer centricity in a multichannel environment. He stretched us and challenged us through engaging presentations as well as helped us articulate key strategies with a focus on digital and customer centricity.”

Xavier Simonet

CEO and Managing Director, Kathmandu

“Martin was the opening keynote speaker at Metapack’s annual Delivery Conference, TDC Global 2020. He delivered a great presentation on the roadmap to customer centricity, focussing the audience on a key theme for the day – the importance of putting consumers’ expectations and experience front and centre of their business’s strategy to drive customer engagement . His passion for the subject and energy on stage saw him rate as one of the top speakers of the day.”

Joanna McDonough

Event Director, Metapack

“Martin’s knowledge and experience in the retail space makes him a thought leader. His business knowledge and professional delivery style made the event a winner.”

Mark Fenton

Itau

“Martin’s knowledge and experience in the retail space makes him a thought leader. His business knowledge and professional delivery style made the event a winner.”

Mark Fenton

Itau

"The first word that comes to mind when I think of Martin – Inspirational!  He is a leader who personifies customer centricity and is able to articulate it in practical, common sense ways that very few people are able to, yet everyone who interacts with him can easily digest. A leader who is able to engineer the most complex business plans through putting the customer right into the centre of them and help organisations build a customer first culture and  business models.  If you are looking to build a sustainable business that is future proof ready, designed for the customer of today and tomorrow, Martin is unquestionably the man you want with you every step of the way!"

Rizwan Rajpoot

Managing Director, Digital Retailing, Al-Futtaim

“Martin is the most dedicated customer focused professional I know. A man with a mission his energy is infectious. Martin is a consummate professional, motivational leader, market visionary and true customer champion. A veteran of the retail landscape, his passion to do right by the customer is inspirational and his thought leadership in this area will undoubtedly pave the way for companies and retailers to truly understand ‘how’ to be Customer First and sustain their long term business profitability.”

Nadine Neatrour​

eCommerce Director, Revolution Beauty

“Martin was booked to speak about how brands can better understand consumer behaviour at our national conference but the Coronavirus lockdown meant we pivoted to an online Virtual Summit instead. Whilst some people struggle to have an impact on screen, Martin's keynote presentation was fun, engaging and incredibly thought-provoking. Our audience valued his real, practical advice backed by hot-off-the-press research and data. At a time when businesses need to truly wow their customers, I would recommend Martin to speak at any event - either live or online.”

Amalia Brightley-Gillott

Managing Director, Family Business Place

“Martin joined our client management conference as keynote speaker on customer centricity. His focus on purpose, inclusivity and return on involvement brought a totally different perspective to our focus on key corporate clients”.

Jeremy Metson

Partner, Head of Business Development, Knight Frank

“I have known Martin for over 8 years and have had the pleasure of working closely with him on a number of large transformation projects covering IT systems transformation as well as organisational change programmes.  

Martin has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the ecommerce and digital landscape through his work with some of the most significant retail brands, both as a consultant but more importantly, as a practitioner.  

His understanding of the levers that influence retail performance is vast and he has a unique ability to seamlessly transition between strategic thinking and detailed operational execution.  

However, his biggest strength is his ability to see everything through the eyes of your customer and his constant challenge to his clients and partners is to focus on delivering the very best customer experience.  That isn’t easy for most people and yet Martin can explain the hardest concepts in the easiest of terms.”

Andy Harding

Chief Digital Officer, Arcadia

Why should I book Martin?

How to work with Martin

Speaking

Martin is a world-renowned keynote speaker and thought-leader and he educates, entertains, engages and provides practical steps businesses can take to improve their performance.

Education

Immerse yourself in Customer Centricity on Martin’s Mini MBA in association with The Oxford College of Marketing and Oxford College of Leadership and Management.. Or book an MBA in a day bootcamp for your business or event.

Advisory

Martin is a trusted board advisor and runs advisory boards for businesses, brands, technology vendors and start-ups across retail, CPG, automotive, travel, hospitality and financial services.

Insight

Martin carries out consumer research and mystery shopping to give you real life insight into your customer's experiences, wants and needs.

Podcast and articles

PODCASTS

Tune in to Martin’s monthly Consumer Focus podcast, where he is joined by a panel of consumers and special guests to discuss current topics and what’s hot and what’s not about the businesses and brands they interact with and buy from.  

ARTICLES

Check out Martin's regular articles and thought leadership on Customer Centricity. Including insights and practical ways to put the customer at the heart of all that you do.

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Complete our contact form with your enquiry details, including the type of event, potential dates and audience, and we will get back to you to discuss more details.