Jaqueline Gold, CEO of Anne Summers
Jacqueline Gold transformed Ann Summers from a string of seedy sex shops into a thriving Surrey-based company with a multi-million pound turnover. Fiona Adams talks to one of the most powerful women in retail
On the day of my interview with Jacqueline Gold - chief executive of the sex toy and lingerie retailer Ann Summers - I spend a leisurely morning going over my questions. Jacqueline, on the other hand, is up at 5am and, by the time we start chatting at midday, she has already travelled from Surrey to Bristol for one meeting and is almost back at Reading for another. She has a 20 minute window for me, but she shows no hint of time pressure with her warm and engaging answers.
The early start is a little out of the ordinary for this working mother, who likes to breakfast with her young daughter Scarlett, but the action-packed schedule is not. After all, the Surrey-based businesswoman did not become head of a company with a £150 million turnover and the 16th richest woman in Britain, by resting on her laurels.
In this particular instance, the laurels in question belonged to her father David Gold, current co-owner of West Ham United football club and one of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs. David was certainly in a position to help Jacqueline get a foot through the door, but she had to prove her worth.
In 1979, Gold senior employed Jacqueline as a clerk on work experience at Ann Summers, part of Gold Group International. Within two years, she had launched the massively popular Ann Summers parties and set the flagging company on a course for success.
“Going into business wasn’t obvious for me,” recalls Jacqueline. “There were no female role models for a start, but I knew financial independence was important. At 13 I was designing crosswords at 50 pence a time, and by 15 I was doing every Saturday job going from working in hairdressers to bars.
“When I joined Ann Summers on work experience, I had no intention of staying! Women only made up 10% of the workforce and I didn’t exactly feel comfortable in that environment. Everything I suggested was met with skepticism and when I first proposed my idea of Ann Summers parties (after attending a Tupperware do), well, the board just didn’t get my idea.”
The anecdote that one of the board members told Jacqueline that there was no point trying to sell sex to women because they weren’t interested in it anyway, is a famous one. But he and other doubters have had to eat their words. The parties, which allowed women to browse and shop for lingerie and sex toys in the privacy of their own homes, were launched in 1981 and 33 years later there are more than 2,500 held each week in the UK, attended by up to 20,000 customers.
“The parties had entertainment value, and were a great introduction into our retail channels,” explains Jacqueline. “They also gave women confidence to venture into our stores. Women are so much more empowered these days than they were back then.”
I wonder if she means in the bedroom or the boardroom?
“Both!” she laughs.
The parties were just the first step on a journey that has seen the Ann Summers go from strength to strength. The first store opened on the high street in 1993 (there are now more than 150 across the country), online trade is strong, including a concession on eBay. There are sales partnerships with Superdrug and the catalogue giants Very, Isme and Littlewoods, and Jacqueline has plenty of future plans up her sleeve, including forays into the American, Australian and European markets.
“Our concession on eBay has been a gateway to international business, a cheap way for us to dip our toe in the water,” says Jacqueline. “It gives us an insight into whether we want to expand into bricks and mortar. But retail winners are those who also embrace technology. After Easter we launched our ‘click and collect’ service: this is how consumers want to shop now.”
Jacqueline, who is 54, grew up in Biggin Hill. Her home is now in Oxted, where she moved three years ago to be closer to Ann Summers HQ at Gold Group International in Whyteleafe. She lives with her husband Dan, who is a city trader. Their daughter Scarlett, who is five, was born after eight years of IVF treatment. Sadly, the couple lost Scarlett’s twin, Alfie, in January 2010. Born severly brain damaged, he was looked after at The Children’s Trust in Tadworth and died at eight months.
Jacqueline has often said that plunging herself back into work saved her sanity after Alfie’s death and, no doubt, the fact that she works alongside close family must have helped. Her father is still chairman of Gold Group International and her sister Vanessa is Jacqueline’s managing director. The siblings have worked together for 26 years, but is it always plain sailing?
“We get on really well,” says Jacqueline. “Obviously we have disagreements, but we share the same values and the same vision, two key things in a partnership - or a marriage.”
Despite her high-powered career, it is clear that Jacqueline’s own marriage to Dan and their family life with Scarlett are her priority.
“I try to make sure that we start the day together and that I am home each night to cook and eat dinner with Dan and Scarlett, and put her to bed. When I’m with her, it’s 100% Scarlett time and I won’t look at emails. We always make time for family holidays - going away just the three of us, which I adore.”
Jacqueline is, understandably, passionate about getting more women into business. Having succeeded in a male-dominated arena herself, one of the things that she is most proud of is the growing number of female entrepreneurs, thanks in part to her WOW (Women on Wednesday) Twitter campaign. This weekly call asks businesswomen to get in touch with their company name and a short overview of what they do, and then Jacqueline names her top picks.
“I’ve been blown away by my WOW campaign, how it’s built in popularity; it’s amazing how many incredible businesswomen are out there. Where women see a glass ceiling they are leaving the boys’ club culture and setting up businesses of their own. It’s fantastic to see these women coming through,” she says, adding, “But we do need society to embrace the concept with proper tax relief on childcare.”
I wonder what Jacqueline considers to be the most important ingredient for making it in business.
“Courage and confidence,” she says, without hesitation. “The courage to challenge yourself and step out of your comfort zone and the confidence to believe in your abilities and what you can achieve.”
And with that, one of the most powerful women in British retail is off to yet another meeting...
To take part in Jacqueline’s WOW campaign, follow her on Twitter @jacqueline_gold
