Outreach Sequence (3-Step): River Island — Mark Barraclough (Ecommerce & Womenswear MD)

Metadata

• Brand: River Island
• Contact: Mark Barraclough, Ecommerce and Womenswear Merchandise Director
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-barraclough-03147570/
• Signal Lead: L2 — Appointed Ecommerce & Womenswear MD (February 2026)
• Signal Stack: L2 appointment + L3 Shopify migration active + L3 post-restructuring digital pivot + L3 12% mobile surge
• Urgency: 7 — 90-day window closing, Shopify migration in flight
• Channel Strategy: LinkedIn (Step 1), Email (Steps 2-3)
• Draft Date: 2026-05-02
• Status: Pending CMO review
• Existing Relationships: Simon Pakenham-Walsh (CIO) has separate outreach sequence — Mark's thread is independent and focuses on commercial/merchandising outcomes, not technology decisions

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Relationship & Intel Flags

• CIO thread active: Simon Pakenham-Walsh (CIO) is the primary entry point for River Island with a separate 7-touch sequence. Mark's outreach should be independent — never reference Simon's thread or imply coordination.
• Shopify migration context: Phase 1 (international) active with Tryzens Global. Mark likely owns commercial outcomes on the migrated platform — his interest is conversion and merchandising performance, not the migration itself.
• Post-restructuring pressure: 33 stores closed, £40M funding. Every digital investment must show immediate ROI. Frame value in revenue recovery terms.

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Step 1 — Connect (LinkedIn, <100 words)

Mark, interesting move joining River Island as Ecommerce & Womenswear MD — stepping into a digital-first pivot with a live platform migration is high-stakes, high-reward territory. I work with mid-market fashion retailers navigating exactly this kind of transition: measuring where the new platform experience is converting and where it's silently losing revenue. With womenswear being the commercial engine, I'd imagine visibility into the customer journey is top of mind. Worth connecting.

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Step 2 — Value (Email, <100 words)

Mark, one thing I've consistently seen with platform migrations in fashion retail: the new platform ships, traffic arrives, and the headline metrics look fine — but underneath, there's usually 3-5% in hidden friction that nobody catches until peak trading.

At River Island's scale, that's significant revenue. Especially on mobile, where you're seeing 12% transaction growth — the gap between mobile intent and mobile conversion is where the biggest wins hide.

I recently helped a comparable fashion retailer identify £6M in mobile checkout friction within 60 days of migration. Happy to share the approach.

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Step 3 — CTA (Email, <75 words)

Mark, quick question: as womenswear goes live on the new platform, how are you measuring experience quality at the session level — especially the gap between desktop and mobile conversion?

If it's worth 15 minutes, I can share a post-migration measurement framework that helped another ecommerce MD build an evidence-based case for where to focus optimisation first. No pitch — just the framework.

[Calendar link]

Outreach Sequence (3-Step): River Island — Ben Lewis (CEO)

Metadata

• Brand: River Island
• Contact: Ben Lewis, Chief Executive Officer
• LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ben-lewis-552244116
• Email: ben.lewis@river-island.com (inferred)
• Signal Lead: L1 — Active Shopify migration with Tryzens Global and Akeneo PIM; CEO stated ambition to make River Island a leading tech company
• Signal Stack: L1 Shopify migration phase one international + L1 CEO tech-company ambition + L1 CFO Antony Smith departed Jan 2026 + L1 Oracle Retail Planning selected + L1 12% mobile app transaction surge Q4 2025 + L1 real-time inventory deployed
• Urgency: 9 — Platform decisions being made now; international expansion phase underway
• Channel Strategy: LinkedIn (Step 1), Email (Steps 2-3)
• Draft Date: 2026-05-03
• Status: CMO approved — IE reference fixed in Step 3
• Cluster: River Island (coordinated with Simon Pakenham-Walsh CIO — drafted 2026-05-01, Mark Barraclough — drafted 2026-05-02)

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Cluster Coordination Note

Ben is the executive sponsor entry in the River Island thread. His sequence leads with platform migration ROI and the tech-company vision. Simon Pakenham-Walsh (CIO) carries the technical integration angle. Mark Barraclough carries the operational execution angle. Sequences staggered: Ben Week 1, Simon Week 2, Mark Week 3. Ben gets the "is the Shopify migration delivering the commercial outcomes you promised the board?" frame.

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Step 1 — Connect (LinkedIn, <100 words)

Ben, returning to River Island with the ambition to build both a leading retailer and a leading tech company is a distinctive mandate. The Shopify migration with Tryzens, Akeneo PIM, Oracle Retail Planning, and a 12% mobile app transaction surge in Q4 — that's significant investment velocity. The challenge I see with CEOs running multi-vendor platform transformations: each partner reports their own metrics, but nobody owns the end-to-end experience measurement. I work with retail CEOs connecting platform investment to session-level commercial outcomes. Would value connecting.

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Step 2 — Value (Email, <100 words)

Ben, one pattern I see during platform migrations of this complexity: Tryzens reports Shopify performance, Akeneo reports PIM adoption, Oracle shows planning accuracy — but the CEO still can't answer a simple question: where exactly is revenue leaking in the customer journey, and which investment is responsible for fixing it?

With 122 stores, real-time inventory now live, and international expansion underway, the compounding integration risk between vendors is real. I recently helped a comparable retailer identify £6M in recoverable experience friction within 90 days of their Shopify migration.

Worth sharing the framework?

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Step 3 — CTA (Email, <75 words)

Ben, quick question: as River Island scales Shopify internationally, can you currently measure experience quality at the session level — correlating mobile app behaviour with in-store inventory and web checkout across all your active markets?

If that's worth 15 minutes, I can walk through how one comparable retailer protected revenue during a multi-vendor platform migration. No pitch — just the measurement architecture.

[Calendar link]

Outreach Sequence (3-Step REVISED): River Island — Mark Barraclough (Ecommerce & Womenswear MD)

Metadata

• Brand: River Island
• Contact: Mark Barraclough, Ecommerce and Womenswear Merchandise Director
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-barraclough-03147570/
• Signal Lead: L2 — Appointed Ecommerce & Womenswear MD (February 2026, NEW tenure)
• Signal Stack: L2 appointment + L3 Shopify migration active + L3 12% mobile transaction surge + L3 post-restructuring (33 stores closed, £40M funding)
• Urgency: 8 — 90-day window closing May 2026; mobile growth amplifying any platform friction
• Channel Strategy: LinkedIn (Step 1), Email (Steps 2-3)
• Draft Date: 2026-05-03
• Status: REVISED — Pending CMO review
• Revision Note: CMO directed shift from generic post-migration language → anchor on 12% mobile surge + 90-day new-role agenda. Must make mobile the central frame.

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Revision Summary

Original issue: Solid structure but generic "post-migration friction" framing. Didn't leverage the 12% mobile transaction surge as the defining signal or connect it to Mark's 90-day agenda as a new appointment.

Revised angle: Mark is 3 months into a new MD role where mobile is growing 12% on a freshly migrated Shopify platform. His 90-day agenda is about proving digital-first ROI after 33 store closures and £40M restructuring. Mobile is the story — it's where growth is, it's where friction costs the most, and it's what the board is watching.

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Step 1 — Connect (LinkedIn, <100 words)

Mark, three months into the Ecommerce & Womenswear MD role with mobile transactions up 12% on a new Shopify platform — that's the story the board wants to hear after 33 store closures. But 12% mobile growth also means 12% more exposure to mobile-specific friction: checkout drop-offs, payment failures, responsive layout issues that don't surface in desktop testing. At River Island's scale post-restructuring, the difference between mobile intent and mobile conversion is likely £6-8M annually. I help ecommerce leaders quantify exactly that gap within their first 90 days. Worth connecting.

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Step 2 — Value (Email, <100 words)

Mark, here's the challenge with a 12% mobile surge on a new platform: you're scaling on infrastructure you haven't fully stress-tested at peak. Desktop conversion benchmarks don't translate — mobile has its own friction fingerprint.

Post-restructuring, every digital £ matters more. The board approved £40M for a digital-first future. The question they'll ask at 6 months is: "Is mobile converting at its full potential, or are we leaving revenue on the table?"

One fashion retailer at a similar scale found £6.2M in mobile-specific friction within 45 days of their platform migration. The fixes were operational, not technical — live within 2 weeks.

Happy to share what they measured.

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Step 3 — CTA (Email, <75 words)

Mark, as you build your 90-day view on Shopify performance — do you have session-level visibility into where mobile conversion breaks down versus desktop, specifically on the new platform?

If 15 minutes is worth it, I can walk through how one ecommerce MD built a mobile friction scorecard that became the basis for a £6M+ revenue recovery plan. No pitch — just the measurement approach.

[Calendar link]

Post-Intro Follow-Up Sequence (3-Touch): River Island — Mark Barraclough

Metadata

• Brand: River Island
• Contact: Mark Barraclough, Ecommerce and Womenswear Merchandise Director
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-barraclough-03147570/
• Email: mark.barraclough@river-island.com (inferred, 94% domain pattern)
• Warm Route: Suzy Slavid intro (Adrian → Suzy → Mark)
• Signal Stack: L2 new appointment Feb 2026 + L3 active Shopify migration + L3 12% mobile surge Q4 2025 + L3 no DXA incumbent (green field)
• Urgency: 9 — 90-day window closing May 2026; migration baseline opportunity expiring
• Channel Strategy: Email (all 3 touches — post-intro, so email is appropriate)
• Draft Date: 2026-05-13
• Status: Draft — pending CMO review
• Grounded in: River Island four-whys strategy (2026-05-03)
• Prerequisite: Suzy Slavid warm introduction completed

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Sequence Design Notes

This is a post-introduction sequence — Mark already knows who Adrian is via Suzy. The tone shifts from "establish credibility" (cold) to "deliver on the promise of the intro" (warm). Each touch should feel like Adrian following through on what Suzy set up, not starting from scratch.

Core angle: Mark owns ecommerce performance on a platform that's mid-migration. Mobile is surging (+12%). There's no DXA measurement in place. His 90-day agenda needs evidence-based wins — QM gives him session-level visibility he can't get from Shopify native analytics or GA4.

Proof point: UNTUCKit — fashion D2C on Shopify, +20% web conversions, -21% mobile abandonment. Direct peer match.

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Touch 1 — Introduction Follow-Up (Email, same day or next day after Suzy intro)

Subject: Good to connect — following up from Suzy

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the connection — appreciate Suzy making the intro.

She mentioned you're leading the ecommerce side during a significant platform change, and I thought it was worth a conversation. I've been working with fashion retailers going through similar migrations, specifically around measuring commercial impact at the session level — not just headline conversion, but where and why revenue leaks during the transition.

One thing that keeps coming up: mobile is usually where the biggest gaps appear post-migration. The 12% transaction growth you're seeing on mobile is a strong signal — but it also means any friction on the new platform is amplified on the fastest-growing channel.

A brand in a very similar position — fashion D2C, Shopify migration — deployed Quantum Metric during their migration and recovered 20% in web conversions by identifying friction they couldn't see in aggregate analytics.

Would 20 minutes be useful? I can walk through what they measured and how it might apply to your world. No pitch — just the measurement framework.

Best,
Adrian

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Touch 2 — Value Drop (Email, 5-7 days after Touch 1 if no response)

Subject: Re: Good to connect — following up from Suzy

Hi Mark,

Quick follow-up — one insight I thought might be relevant as you settle into the role.

Brands running multi-vendor stacks (Shopify + PIM + payments + inventory systems) often find that aggregate analytics mask where friction actually sits. Conversion drops, but is it the checkout flow? Payment routing? Product data sync? A mobile-specific layout issue? GA4 and Shopify dashboards show that conversion moved — but not which system caused it or what it cost in £.

At River Island's scale, even 0.5% of sessions hitting a cross-system friction point is meaningful revenue. The brands I work with are solving this by correlating frontend experience with backend systems in a single session view — so when something breaks during migration, they know which vendor to call within hours, not weeks.

Happy to share a 2-page breakdown of how this works in practice. Just say the word.

Best,
Adrian

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Touch 3 — Soft Close (Email, 7-10 days after Touch 2 if no response)

Subject: Re: Good to connect — following up from Suzy

Hi Mark,

Last note from me — I know you're deep in the first 90 days and time is scarce.

The reason I think timing matters: once the Shopify migration is fully live, the window to establish a pre-migration baseline closes. Post-migration, you can measure what the new platform does — but you can't compare it to what came before. That baseline is what lets you tell the board "migration improved conversion by X%" with confidence, rather than attributing changes to seasonality or marketing mix.

If this lands at the right time, I'm here. If not, no worries at all — Suzy knows where to find me.

Best,
Adrian

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Handling Notes

• If Mark responds to Touch 1: Move to meeting. Prepare the UNTUCKit case study and a River Island-specific brief showing migration measurement value at £2B revenue scale. Do NOT send the full four-whys — it's internal strategy.
• If Mark responds to Touch 2 asking for the breakdown: Send a concise document covering session-level measurement during migration, cross-vendor correlation, and revenue quantification. Keep QM-specific language light — focus on the outcome.
• If Mark responds to Touch 3: He's interested but was busy. Be flexible on timing. Offer a 15-minute call or async video walkthrough.
• If no response after all 3 touches: Wait 2 weeks, then deploy a final "door open" touch referencing any new River Island news (earnings, migration milestone, etc.). If still no response, mark as dormant and revisit when a new signal emerges.
• Do NOT reference: Suzy's role beyond the intro, specific revenue figures (£2B), restructuring details, store closures, or Blue Coast Capital. Mark knows his own context — citing it feels like a pitch deck.
• Key objection to pre-empt: "We'll sort measurement after migration." Counter: the baseline window is what makes during-migration measurement irreplaceable. After migration, measurement is forensic, not preventive.

Warm Intro Request: Adrian → Suzy Slavid → Mark Barraclough

Metadata

• Brand: River Island
• From: Adrian (GrowthStack)
• To: Suzy Slavid, Trading Managing Director (Operating Board)
• Intro Target: Mark Barraclough, Ecommerce & Womenswear Merchandise Director
• Warm Route: Adrian direct LinkedIn connection since May 2017 (9-year relationship)
• Channel: LinkedIn DM (existing connection)
• Draft Date: 2026-05-13
• Status: Draft — pending CMO review
• Grounded in: River Island four-whys strategy (2026-05-03)
• Cluster: River Island — this message precedes the Mark Barraclough post-intro sequence

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Context for Adrian

Mark Barraclough joined River Island as Ecommerce & Womenswear Merchandise Director in February 2026. He's 3 months in — deep enough to own his remit, early enough to be building his vendor stack. Previously Trading Director at Boohoo Group (Karen Millen, Coast, Oasis, Warehouse). He's directly responsible for ecommerce performance during the Shopify migration, which means conversion, mobile experience, and merchandising outcomes land on his desk.

Suzy, as Trading MD, likely works closely with Mark on commercial performance. The ask is natural: Adrian reconnects with Suzy and asks if she'd be willing to connect him with Mark for a conversation about measuring platform migration impact.

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LinkedIn DM to Suzy (~130 words)

Hi Suzy, hope you're well — it's been a while since we last caught up.

I wanted to reach out because I've been doing a lot of work with fashion retailers going through platform migrations, specifically helping them measure the commercial impact in real time rather than finding out months later that conversion shifted.

I noticed Mark Barraclough joined as Ecommerce & Womenswear MD earlier this year — sounds like he's landed right in the middle of a big transformation. Given he's looking after ecommerce performance on a new platform, I think there's a conversation worth having around how other brands in similar positions have protected revenue during migration.

Would you be open to making an introduction? Happy to keep it light — just a quick conversation to share what I'm seeing in the market.

Thanks Suzy, would be great to reconnect regardless.

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Notes for Adrian

• Tone: Warm, peer-level. You're reconnecting with someone you've known for 9 years. No jargon, no pitch language.
• Why this works: You're not asking Suzy to buy anything — you're asking for an intro, which is a low-friction favour. Suzy benefits because if Mark gets value, it reflects well on her.
• Don't mention: Quantum Metric by name, specific revenue figures (£2B, £20M), restructuring, store closures. Let the conversation with Mark get specific.
• If Suzy asks "what's this about?": "I work with a platform called Quantum Metric — a few fashion brands on Shopify are using it to measure migration impact. UNTUCKit saw +20% web conversions. Thought it might be relevant for Mark's world."
• If Suzy offers to intro directly: Accept gracefully. Ask if email or LinkedIn intro works best for Mark. Then deploy Touch 1 of the post-intro sequence within 24 hours.
• If Suzy doesn't respond within 7 days: One gentle follow-up, then pivot to cold outreach to Mark using the existing revised 3-step sequence.
• Fallback: If Suzy declines or is unavailable, the revised cold Mark Barraclough sequence (2026-05-03) is ready to deploy independently.

River Island — Mark Barraclough (eComm & Womenswear Director)

7-Touch Email Sequence + LinkedIn Connection

Date: 2026-05-14
Priority Rank: 2 of 7
Signal Stack: L2 (active Shopify migration with Tryzens Global) + L2 (Ben Lewis CEO transformation mandate) + L2 (12% mobile app transaction surge Q4 2025) + L2 (Mark Barraclough new in role Feb 2026)
Entry Strategy: Cold LinkedIn + email — new appointment (Feb 2026), 90-day window active
Proof Point: UNTUCKit (fashion D2C on Shopify, +20% conversions, -21% mobile abandonment)
Warm Route Support: Suzy Slavid (Trading MD, 9yr Adrian connection) — warm intro request already drafted separately

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LinkedIn Connection Request

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contact: Mark Barraclough
brand: River Island
signal_refs: [2026-02-01 Mark Barraclough appointment, 2026-01-01 Shopify migration]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 0
channel: linkedin
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 1: new eComm & Womenswear Director Feb 2026, Ring 2: Shopify migration active]

Mark — congratulations on the eCommerce & Womenswear Director role at River Island. Leading digital through a platform migration at this scale is a genuinely interesting challenge. Would be great to connect.

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LinkedIn Follow-Up 1

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contact: Mark Barraclough
brand: River Island
signal_refs: [2026-01-01 Shopify migration with Tryzens Global]
signal_levels: [L2]
touch_number: 0.1
channel: linkedin
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: Shopify migration, Ring 5: UNTUCKit proof point]

Mark — thanks for connecting. One thing I've been working on with fashion D2C brands migrating to Shopify: measuring conversion impact during migration, not after. The brands that establish a pre-migration baseline catch friction in days. The ones that wait discover it in quarterly reviews when the revenue is already lost. Thought it might be relevant given where RI is in the migration.

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LinkedIn Follow-Up 2

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contact: Mark Barraclough
brand: River Island
signal_refs: [2025-Q4 mobile app transaction surge 12%]
signal_levels: [L2]
touch_number: 0.2
channel: linkedin
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: mobile app growth, Ring 5: UNTUCKit mobile abandonment -21%]

Mark — one more data point: a fashion D2C brand on Shopify (UNTUCKit) reduced mobile abandonment by 21% after deploying session-level measurement. With RI's 12% mobile transaction surge, mobile is the fastest-growing and most fragile channel during migration. If protecting mobile conversion during the transition is on your radar, happy to share what they found.

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Touch 1 — Email (GIVE only, <100 words)

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contact: Mark Barraclough
brand: River Island
signal_refs: [2026-01-01 Shopify migration, 2025-02-01 Ben Lewis CEO return]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 1
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 1: new eComm Director 3 months in, Ring 2: Shopify migration active with Tryzens Global]

Subject: Shopify migration measurement at RI

Mark,

Three months into the eCommerce Director role at River Island, mid-Shopify migration — you're inheriting a consequential transformation.

The hidden risk: without session-level measurement capturing the before and after, there's no objective way to prove the migration improved conversion — or to hold Tryzens Global accountable to delivery benchmarks. Aggregate analytics reveal migration impact weeks after damage begins. Session-level measurement catches it in hours.

UNTUCKit — fashion D2C on Shopify — found precisely this: 20% conversion improvement that was invisible to aggregate dashboards until they measured at session level.

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Touch 2 — Email (GIVE only, different angle, <75 words)

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contact: Mark Barraclough
brand: River Island
signal_refs: [2025-Q4 mobile app 12% surge]
signal_levels: [L2]
touch_number: 2
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: mobile app growth, Ring 2: Shopify responsive layout migration]

Subject: Re: Shopify migration measurement at RI

Mark,

Different angle — RI's mobile app transactions surged 12% in Q4 2025. Mobile is the fastest-growing channel.

During a Shopify migration, mobile is also the most fragile — responsive layouts change, app-to-web handoffs break, payment flows restructure. The fastest-growing channel becomes the least measured during the most complex transformation.

UNTUCKit cut mobile abandonment 21% by measuring this layer during their Shopify deployment.

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Touch 3 — Email (GIVE + soft question, <75 words)

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contact: Mark Barraclough
brand: River Island
signal_refs: [2026-01-01 Shopify migration, Tryzens Global partnership]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 3
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: Tryzens as migration partner, Ring 4: independent measurement for vendor accountability]

Subject: Who measures the migration partner?

Mark,

Tryzens Global is building the Shopify migration. They'll report that it's going well — that's their job.

The question for the board: who independently validates that conversion, checkout completion, and mobile experience improved or degraded? Having the builder grade their own work leaves a credibility gap with investors and the board.

Is independent migration measurement something the team is considering, or is aggregate analytics the current plan?

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Touch 4 — Email (GIVE + soft offer, <75 words)

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contact: Mark Barraclough
brand: River Island
signal_refs: [2026-01-26 Antony Smith CFO departure, Blue Coast Capital]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 4
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: CFO departure + Blue Coast Capital, Ring 4: ROI-quantified migration measurement]

Subject: Migration measurement benchmarks

Mark,

With new finance leadership and Blue Coast Capital's investment, demonstrating migration ROI in £ — not just "it went live" — will matter.

I have benchmarks from fashion D2C brands that measured Shopify migration impact at session level: the typical conversion delta, the most common friction sources, and the timeline to catch issues.

Happy to share the data if it's useful for planning — no commitment required.

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Touch 5 — Email (soft meeting ask, <75 words)

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contact: Mark Barraclough
brand: River Island
signal_refs: [2026-02-01 Mark Barraclough appointment]
signal_levels: [L2]
touch_number: 5
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 1: new in role, building vendor stack]

Subject: 20 minutes on migration measurement

Mark,

You're early enough in the role to shape how RI measures the Shopify migration impact. Once the platform goes live without a baseline, that measurement window is gone permanently.

Would 20 minutes be useful to walk through how fashion D2C brands are measuring migration conversion impact in real-time? Happy to share the UNTUCKit approach specifically.

If timing's off, no problem at all.

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Touch 6 — Email (GIVE only, <75 words)

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contact: Mark Barraclough
brand: River Island
signal_refs: [2026-01-01 Shopify migration, Akeneo PIM + Stripe]
signal_levels: [L2, L2]
touch_number: 6
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 2: multi-vendor stack complexity, Ring 4: cross-vendor friction diagnosis]

Subject: When checkout fails, which vendor is responsible?

Mark,

RI's Shopify migration involves Shopify + Akeneo PIM + Oracle Retail Planning + Stripe. When a checkout fails, was it Shopify? Stripe routing? Akeneo data sync? Oracle inventory?

Without session-level correlation across the full stack, diagnosis becomes finger-pointing between vendors. The brands solving this are correlating frontend behaviour with backend responses in a single session view.

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Touch 7 — Email (GIVE only, graceful close, <75 words)

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contact: Mark Barraclough
brand: River Island
signal_refs: [2026-01-01 Shopify migration]
signal_levels: [L2]
touch_number: 7
channel: email
status: draft
dnc_checked: true
concentric_rings_used: [Ring 1: new role, building approach]

Subject: Still relevant, Mark?

Mark,

Over the past weeks I've shared data on Shopify migration measurement, mobile conversion protection, vendor accountability, and cross-stack friction diagnosis.

Is any of this on your radar as the migration progresses, or is the timing off? Either answer is genuinely useful.

Best of luck with the migration either way.

Warm-Route Outreach: River Island — Suzy Slavid (Trading MD)

Metadata

• Brand: River Island
• Contact: Suzy Slavid, Trading Managing Director (Operating Board)
• Warm Route: Adrian direct LinkedIn connection since May 2017 (9-year relationship)
• Signal Lead: L1 — Active Shopify migration without DXA measurement; Suzy owns trading performance and conversion
• Urgency: 9 — Migration baseline window closing; no DXA incumbent (green field)
• Channel: LinkedIn DM (warm, existing connection)
• Draft Date: 2026-05-13
• Status: Draft — pending CMO review
• Cluster: River Island (coordinated with Ben Lewis CEO — drafted 2026-05-03, Simon Pakenham-Walsh CIO — drafted 2026-05-01, Mark Barraclough — drafted 2026-05-02)

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Cluster Coordination Note

Suzy is the primary warm route into River Island. As Trading MD, she owns conversion, revenue, and merchandising — the exact outcomes affected by the Shopify migration. Adrian's 9-year LinkedIn connection makes this a peer-to-peer conversation, not a cold approach. This message should land first in the River Island sequence, ahead of the cold outreach to Ben Lewis, Simon Pakenham-Walsh, and Mark Barraclough.

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Warm Introduction (LinkedIn DM, ~120 words)

Suzy, it's been a while — hope things are going well.

I've been following what's happening at River Island and the Shopify migration is clearly a massive undertaking. Moving the entire platform while keeping trading performance stable is one of the hardest things a retail business can do.

The question I keep hearing from trading leaders running these migrations: how do you know whether conversion changes are caused by the new platform, seasonality, or something else entirely — especially when you don't have a measurement baseline before go-live?

I've been working with a platform called Quantum Metric that a few fashion brands on Shopify are using to measure exactly this. UNTUCKit saw a 20% lift in web conversions after deploying it during their own migration.

Would it be worth a quick catch-up? Happy to share what I'm seeing.

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Notes for Adrian

• Tone: Peer conversation, not a pitch. You've known Suzy for 9 years — lead with the relationship.
• Don't oversell: One proof point (UNTUCKit) is enough. Let curiosity do the work.
• If she responds positively: Request intro to Sarah Stacey (Head of eComm Ops) for a technical walkthrough. Frame it as "Sarah's team would run this day-to-day."
• If no response within 7 days: Follow up once, then pivot to Mark Barraclough (eComm & Womenswear Director, new in role Feb 2026) as alternative entry.
• Key objection to pre-empt: "We'll sort analytics after migration." Counter: the baseline window is closing — post-migration measurement is forensic, not preventive.
• Do NOT mention: Specific revenue figures (£2B), store closures, or restructuring. Suzy knows the situation — referencing it feels like a pitch deck, not a conversation.