about martin newman
Martin Newman
Martin Newman, known as the Consumer Champion, is a globally renowned authority in the fields of Customer Centricity and Customer Experience. With a career spanning four decades in the consumer-facing sector, Martin is leading positive change for both consumers and brands.
As the Founder of The Customer First Group and Customer Service Action, Martin has played a pivotal role in shaping the customer-focused landscape. Throughout his career, Martin has revolutionised multichannel operations for brands like Burberry, Ted Baker, Intersport, and Harrods and scaled and sold global e-commerce agency Practicology.
With his wealth of experience, influential books, advisory roles, educational programs, and captivating speaking engagements, Martin continues to shape the landscape of customer-centric transformation for brands and businesses around the world.
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Martin Newman
Martin Newman is a globally recognised Consumer Champion, keynote speaker, educator, and author with over four decades of experience in consumer-focused industries. As the founder of The Customer First Group and Customer Service Action, Martin is committed to driving positive change for both consumers and businesses, empowering organisations to build trust and long-term relationships through customer-centric strategies.
Martin has revolutionised multichannel operations for some of the world’s most prestigious retail brands, including Burberry, Ted Baker, Harrods, and Intersport. His leadership has shaped the retail landscape by delivering innovation, operational excellence, and customer-first approaches.
In addition to his corporate roles, Martin founded the global e-commerce consultancy Practicology, scaling it into a 100-person operation across multiple continents before successfully selling the business in 2018. His influence extends to board advisory positions for notable organisations like Scout Store, Clearpay, The Mayborn Group, and Wiggle, guiding them on strategic initiatives.
As an engaging keynote speaker and event chair, Martin has shared stages with global innovators, including Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and inspired audiences at events for brands like Toyota, Adobe, Meta, and Specsavers. His career has earned him multiple accolades:
- Featured in Retail Week’s Top 50 eTail Power List for five consecutive years.
- Named in Retail Insiders Top 100 Retail Movers & Shakers.
- Recognised in British Vogue’s Online Fashion 100.
- 100 Practical Ways to Improve Customer Experience, shortlisted for the Business Book of the Year Award 2019.
- The Power of Customer Experience, a comprehensive guide to building customer-focused businesses.
These services are designed to help businesses optimise their customer experience, foster growth, and stay ahead in today’s competitive market.
Martin Newman
Martin Newman is a globally recognised Consumer Champion, keynote speaker, educator, and author with over four decades of experience in consumer-focused industries. As the founder of The Customer First Group and Customer Service Action, Martin is committed to driving positive change for both consumers and businesses, empowering organisations to build trust and long-term relationships through customer-centric strategies.
Martin has revolutionised multichannel operations for some of the world’s most prestigious retail brands, including Burberry, Ted Baker, Harrods, and Intersport. His leadership has shaped the retail landscape by delivering innovation, operational excellence, and customer-first approaches.
In addition to his corporate roles, Martin founded the global e-commerce consultancy Practicology, scaling it into a 100-person operation across multiple continents before successfully selling the business in 2018. His influence extends to board advisory positions for notable organisations like Scout Store, Clearpay, The Mayborn Group, and Wiggle, guiding them on strategic initiatives.
As an engaging keynote speaker and event chair, Martin has shared stages with global innovators, including Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and inspired audiences at events for brands like Toyota, Adobe, Meta, and Specsavers. His career has earned him multiple accolades:
- Featured in Retail Week’s Top 50 eTail Power List for five consecutive years.
- Named in Retail Insiders Top 100 Retail Movers & Shakers.
- Recognised in British Vogue’s Online Fashion 100.
- 100 Practical Ways to Improve Customer Experience, shortlisted for the Business Book of the Year Award 2019.
- The Power of Customer Experience, a comprehensive guide to building customer-focused businesses.
These services are designed to help businesses optimise their customer experience, foster growth, and stay ahead in today’s competitive market.
Expertise
Media
Martin appears regularly on BBC TV and Radio, on Sky, ITV, Channel 5 and a host of other media channels such as LBC, The Times and FT to discuss consumer issues relating to the retail, travel, CPG, hospitality, automotive and financial services sectors.
Speaking
Martin's reputation as a captivating speaker in the realms of customer experience and customer centricity is unmatched. He has graced the stages of prestigious global events, captivating audiences with his insightful keynotes and strategic sessions.
Acknowledgements
Amongst Martin’s many accolades, he has been featured in various industry leader lists, including Retail Week’s top 50 eTail Power List five years in a row. He has also been named consecutively in the Retail Insiders top 100 Retail Movers & Shakers list, as well as the British Vogue Online Fashion 100 and Top 50 Retail Influencers 2022 and 2023.
Judge
Martin judges numerous industry awards such as the World Retail Awards, the Customer Experience Awards, the Retail Insider Awards, the RTIH awards, the PayPal eTail Awards, the Online Retail Awards of Australia and the Great British Entrepreneur awards.
Educator
Through his collaboration with the Oxford Professional Education Group, Martin educates and empowers businesses worldwide with his online Mini MBA in Customer Centricity. Additionally, he conducts bespoke workshops and strategy days and offers an in-house MBA in a day.
Author
Martin's profound knowledge and insights have led him to become an acclaimed author. He has penned two influential books, "100 Practical Ways to Improve Customer Experience” and "The Power of Customer Experience", offering invaluable guidance to businesses striving to enhance their customer-centric strategies.
Advisor
Martin is a trusted board advisor and member for esteemed brands such as The Scout Store, The Mayborn Group, In Kind Direct, Wiggle, White Stuff, Afterpay, Marketplacer and a Trustee of In Kind Direct.
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 centric businesses start by ensuring they create a great employee experience, creating an environment and culture for them to thrive.
They understand that just transacting with customers is not enough and that they need to become service providers, leveraging technology to empower customers, to deliver the end-to-end experience they require. By doing this and by demonstrating genuine purpose, and the right values, by being truly diverse and inclusive and by walking the talk on social responsibility, any business can begin to build a more emotional connection with its customers and, in doing so, start to turn them into fans of the brand. Customer centric brands also obsess with turning data into actionable insight, and they do this by measuring what really matters.
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