NORA, Australia’s leading body for new retail, has created special chapters to provide advocacy, ambassadorship and thought leadership in specialty areas such as supply chain, marketplace and payments.
NORA CEO Paul Greenberg says that chapters will be able to campaign for specific causes, while staying under the “broad church” of NORA. The chapter approach recognises and supports the diversity of the retail ecosystem.
“It’s a very exciting time for Australian new retail, with plenty of growth opportunities, but the pace of change has created a need for a more dedicated focus on certain sectors of the industry,” he said. “By setting up NORA chapters, groups of passionate professionals can play a much more effective role in raising issues specific to a sector.”
Each chapter will share NORA’s values of growing the overall industry, taking an “ecosystem” and open source approach to the landscape. Chapters will include areas such as supply chain and logistics, payments, marketplaces, security, digital marketing and customer service.
The Supply Chain and Logistics Chapter is the first to have been appointed, with Toll Holdings’ Head of Consumer Delivery Luke Condon acting as the inaugural chapter head. The chapter also comprises SEKO Omnichannel Logistics Director Geoff Rowan, ParcelPoint Director Operations Jo Cope, AussieCommerce Group GM Supply Chain Anna Forster, Paperless Warehousing Executive Manager Matt Vercoe, and ADSone MD Sagi Simchon.
Chapter members are volunteers and not statutory directors of NORA, and there will be regular rotation to ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate.
“The concept of introducing chapters has been part of the conversation from the inception of NORA, which is built on the three pillars of new retail – technology led, customer-centric and borderless retail,” Mr Greenberg said. “Chapters will be able to give more attention to some of the pressing causes facing the industry.”
