About
Because the better we understand each other, the more we can achieve together.
Why work with Mat Dye?
My ecommerce career so far has covered a variety of senior digital roles with both national multichannel retailers and global brands selling direct to consumer.
Between 2022 and 2023 I worked on a one-year contract with the wonderful Lucy & Yak as Head of Digital, leading the digital team across all elements of ecommerce, marketplace, tech, insight and analytics.
Prior to that, I was lucky enough to hold senior management positions within the digital team at a number of major multichannel retail businesses, joining each of them at the very beginning of their digital launch phase.
My team at Lucy & Yak executed an extensive ecommerce and technology roadmap including the build and launch of a new Shopify Plus website, a new mobile app, two major pricing, shipping and returns integrations plus many other enhancements on both the front and back end that powered KPI improvements globally.
“Thanks Mat for everything you delivered for Lucy & Yak during your 12- month contract with the business. Landing our new Shopify Plus website, our Global-e integration and our first ever mobile app gave the brand a brilliant platform for expansion both domestically and internationally.
The team learned a huge amount from you too, not only related to ecommerce but also reporting, data analysis and people development. You’ll be an asset to any team in the future.”
Chris Renwick
Co-founder, Lucy & Yak
Kukoon Rugs is one of the UK and Ireland’s leading homeware brands and from 2020 to 2022 I worked with the founders Clare and Paul as Head of Ecommerce. My role covered D2C ecommerce, eBay, Wayfair and all digital marketing channels (organic was managed in-house and paid was through an agency partnership).
This was of course an unprecedented time for all online businesses, navigating two COVID lockdown peak seasons and leading a brilliant team which was juggling a rapidly growing business with all the unique challenges outside work which the global pandemic presented for us.
Traffic growth through this period was phenomenal, as it was for most ecommerce businesses, with tactics in place to ensure this was maximised to its full potential. Rather than sit back and let that grow the business on its own however, a dedicated conversion rate and AOV strategy meant that a triple-digit traffic uplift wasn’t the only lever contributing to revenue growth. D2C revenue grew double or triple-digit across organic search, organic social, paid search and email during this period, while marketplace channels were also developed and improved significantly in tandem. 2021 website revenue was up 237% YOY, including during Q4 when many brands’ sales were level or down vs 2020.
Working with premium footwear brand Le Chameau, I led the digital team to triple-digit like-for-like sales growth over an 18-month period, with conversion rate growth of over 90%. This growth was primarily driven by a full .com mobile-first site re-design and URL re-structure, combined with extensive performance marketing optimisation, expanding into new international markets and moving the full .com site to a new web platform across four international subdomains.
In tandem with this .com re-design and re-platform project, the brand’s Amazon business was also re-launched and rapidly expanded, also delivering triple-digit like-for-like sales growth.
At American Golf I led the trading team to five successive years of growth before being promoted to Group Head of Ecommerce with responsibility for nine specialist retail websites across two brands covering the whole of Europe.
As Group Head of Ecommerce I was responsible for delivering the cross-functional digital strategy which culminated in americangolf.co.uk being recognised as one of the top 25 ecommerce retailers in the UK in the annual IRUK Top 500 report.
How I work.
I’ve worked in ecommerce and digital marketing across a number of different sectors, including music and entertainment, sporting goods, clothing and premium footwear, homeware, consumer electronics, art and even children’s toys.
These are certain positive ways of working which I will always stand by and believe in as a formula for success.
Move forward at pace.
Working in digital for well over a decade teaches you a lot. In particular it teaches you the value and importance of moving forward at pace. Changes in consumer behaviour and technology mean things are constantly evolving.
No brand can ever be everything to everyone, but moving forward quickly, and quickly learning what is working for your brand and your target customers, is critical.
Communicate honestly and transparently.
I like to have honest, constructive, outcome-led conversations. If analysis shows something clearly isn’t right or clearly isn’t working, let’s get straight onto what we’re going to do about it.
Equally of course, let’s always celebrate every success and see if there’s a way we can make every win an even bigger win.
Make data-driven decisions.
There’s usually a lot of data at your fingertips and it’s essential to use that data to drive decision-making as much as possible. We’ve all been in situations where different people have different opinions on what the outcome of a consumer behaviour test will be, then when the test data becomes available the actual outcome was one that nobody predicted at all.
If that outcome is what your visitors want or prefer, based on their behaviour, then that is always the outcome I will base my decision and subsequent work on.
This shift from a subjective approach to a data-driven approach is a change in mindset for some, but it’s always worthwhile.
Pursue the happiness advantage.
I’m a big advocate of ‘The Happiness Advantage’. I believe that happiness breeds success, rather than the other way round. I like to nurture positive working relationships with like-minded individuals. If you haven’t read Shawn Achor’s book of the same title, I recommend it!
Commit to finding that extra 10%. Then 10% more.
When you’re fighting for a competitive advantage, that extra 10%, you need to get the detail right in your execution. Even during the biggest projects or the highest pressured situations, you will never lose sight of the importance of the detail when working with me. If that means going the extra mile to get something right for your customers, that’s never a problem.
Work as hands-on as is necessary.
I’ll always be as hands-on as is necessary; I really enjoy rolling up my sleeves and getting stuck in. By working my way up throughout my ecommerce and digital career, I have built a strong working knowledge of ecommerce platforms, content management systems and digital marketing technologies. If you need somebody to step up and get the work done, I’ll be there.
Want to find out more?
Get in touch today.
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