Gold reveals secrets of £162m success

Published on Monday 21 November 2005 00:52

WITH a public plaudit from the celebrity bible OK magazine saying she is "the woman responsible for bringing sex to the high street and liberating thousands of women between the sheets", Jacqueline Gold, chief executive of Ann Summers and Knickerbox, is one of Britain's most successful businesswomen.

Add to that the title of "second most powerful woman in retail" by Retail Week, the "most inspirational businesswoman in the UK" in a survey by Barclays Bank, one of the top ten "most powerful women" by Cosmopolitan and a new entry in Debrett's "People of Today" 2005 for her contribution to British society.

Gold leads a business empire she says is run by women, for women. She is coming to Edinburgh on Sunday to share the benefit of her experience with Scottish businesswomen at this year's Scottish Enterprise Women Into Business national conference at the EICC.

"I am delighted to be speaking at the conference. Anything I can do to help inspire other women to succeed can only be a good thing. We need more successful women entrepreneurs and business leaders because as we know women make better bosses and businesses than men. We have always been a business for women run by women. I had no formal business training, so if I can be an inspiration to other women in business then that can only be a positive thing."

Gold began working for Ann Summers, the adult retail chain owned by her father's company over 24 years ago as a 19-year-old and is credited with transforming it into a multi-million-pound success story that has made sex toys and lingerie mainstream.

Despite the parent company Gold Group International incorporating property and publishing interests, Gold Air International (an executive airline), and Birmingham City Football Club, Gold is adamant nothing was handed to her on a plate.

"I was hoping to do something artistic and training to be an interior designer. The business didn't appeal to me because it was very male dominated at that time, with just four sex shops. I felt uncomfortable even going into them. The workforce was men, the customers were men. I think only about 10 per cent of the customers were women. The shops we have now are not sex shops. There is a significant difference. A sex shop is usually located in a back street somewhere. Our customers are women and don't want to go somewhere sleazy. They want to feel comfortable going into our stores," says Gold.

A few months into the business, Gold was invited to a clothes party where a discussion began about the embarrassment women felt buying sexy underwear and sex toys.

Her eureka moment came when she decided the company needed to be as female-friendly as possible, starting with women-only Tupperware-style parties to sell Ann Summers products.

"When I took my ideas to the board they didn't have confidence that it would work. I had no business plan and it was really difficult as it was an all-male board at the time.

"One of the board said: 'This isn't going to work. Women aren't even interested in sex.' Twenty-four years ago everything was aimed at men if it had anything to do with sex. This was turning that whole idea on its head. It really did revolutionise things. Attitudes to sex have changed. Women are much more aware of their own sexuality, they are more confident, they are much more in control of their lives personally as well as professionally.

"Long gone are the days when women would only buy lingerie to turn on the man in their life. It has become a real fashion item," she says.

Despite the board's initial reception, she was eventually loaned 40,000 to advertise and host seminars in London. By the end of the first year, 500 party organisers were signed up; there are 8,500 today.

"The 40,000 was not enough but I persevered. I was a young woman alone in the sex industry. It was a massive task to change the image of the raincoat brigade. There isn't an hour I wouldn't work or a job I wouldn't do. It's about having belief and passion in what you do. In the first year, we turned over 83,000. This year, it will top 162 million."

Gold says very early on she set her own course. "I refused to let negative thinkers bring me down to their level. In my 20s, I was so passionate about the business I threw myself into it. I compromised myself in the beginning to be what I thought a businesswoman should be, dressed in power suits and talking tough. Then I saw myself on GMTV and thought I looked more like a politician. That's when I decided to let the business do the talking."

Today, her main advice to any entrepreneur is to value customers' and staff opinions. If you have an idea, she says, then do your research and go for it with a passion. "Don't be put off, remain focused and go with your gut feelings. My own lack of business training, which I thought was a great disadvantage, actually turned out to be one of my biggest strengths because it forced me to rely on feedback from customers and staff. Listening to them has been a fundamental part of the success of the business. We understand our customers' needs and are led very much by what they want."

The company is now the UK's biggest sex toy retailer and now operates 123 outlets. She also snapped up the mass-market lingerie retailer, Knickerbox in 2000. "They were losing 5 million a year," she says. "There were a lot of synergies with Ann Summers. We cut the number of stores and put concessions into Ann Summers. It's working well, and Knickerbox is now making money again." Gold says the secret of her success comes down to using "common sense". When asked about her career milestones, she says one has to be the decision to take on the government after a decision to ban advertisements for employment with Ann Summers in Job Centres. The ruling was overturned in the High Court, with the judge saying the government had "lost sight of its statutory purposes". When Ann Summers was voted one of the "Top 100 Companies To Work For 2005" by the DTI, surely it was sweet revenge.