Sebastian James is excited by the task of revolutionising Boots in the UK.
The Nottingham-born health and wellness brand has endured tough trading conditions over the last few years and parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance revealed recently it would be looking at poor-performing stores.
Mr James, who took on his role at Boots UK last year, is under no illusions he faces a big task to make the company fit for 21st century shoppers.
And in a frank interview the former Dixons Carphone CEO admits Boots UK will need to move “more quickly” to adapt to market changes in the future - and major investment needs to be made.
He is, however, confident improvements can - and will - be made as he outlined his vision to regenerate the company’s physical stores, its online presence and reclaim its status as the place to go for wellness, beauty and pharmacy products.
He said: "In a world where Boots has been around 170 years, I think it is very easy to fall into a pattern that says we are going to do the same thing this year as we did last year and that should be OK. Those days are over.
"We could rise and fall with the markets - and the market's in decline at the moment - but I think our best opportunity now is to continue to invest hard in the stores, in digital, in pharmacy and our dot com presence where we are doing lots of exciting things and growing very fast.
"These are things we must embrace and love if we are going to adapt and be a modern retailer and we are quite a long way from that today."
Mr James estimates it will take around three years to turn round the fortunes of the retail side of the business, admitting the stores are "a bit tired".
This investment includes the refurbishment of 24 'beauty halls' which will boast live demonstrations, discovery areas and make-up and skin care areas.
Mr James said: "In beauty, which is a big part of our business, I think over the years we have become a lot less relevant because all the new brands have gone to other places like Superdrug and online.
"To give you a sense, we launched on average one new premium brand a year over the last 10 years.
"This year we will launch 26 so we are absolutely determined we will get back in the way we present our stores and in the brands we offer and we are going to get back our relevance to customers."
He added: "You will think of Boots again as the home of beauty. It used to be, it has stopped being and we think we can get that back quite easily."
As well as beauty, the company wants to make big changes to its pharmacy business which will include exploring ways to assist in primary care and relieve pressure on GPs by offering more services.
This could include blood pressure checks and treating conditions such as urinary tract infections. Boots UK is also working in partnership with Microsoft and Verily to revolutionise its healthcare offering.
Its other big task is improving the Boots e-commerce website - an area Mr James has big plans for.
He said: “The internet, I think, is our friend,” he said.
“70 percent of people who buy online from us pick it up in store, which is very unusual, it is normally the other way around.
“We think it is a good way to drive footfall, to drive loyalty with our customers and to begin to deliver in a more targeted way the offers and presentations that will suit them.
“One of the things we need to think about is can we infer from behaviour and demographics the kind of website they would like to see.
“At the moment (the website) is a fairly mixed bag. We have a website where you will have a premium product next to a toothbrush, for example.
“One of the things I am anxious to do over the next year is to begin to infer what kind of website you would like to see. If you are principally a beauty customer, then let’s talk about beauty in a beauty way.”
Walgreens Boots Alliance, which took over the ownership of Boots in 2014, announced in April it would look at poor performing shops after enduring the "most difficult" quarter in the group's history.
One expert at the time commented that Boots UK had failed to keep up with trends and deal with a rise in competitors across its product ranges, as well as freshening up its physical stores.
Mr James acknowledged this while discussing the future direction of the company, but added: "There's no room for nostalgia but on the other hand, we would be foolish to abandon everything that’s great about our brand."
Part of that, he added, was remaining close to Boots' roots in Nottingham.
"I see no reason why Nottingham shouldn't be the home of Boots in 170 years' time," he said. "For me, Boots and Nottingham are inextricably linked and I think that is an important part of our heritage. I think Nottingham has served Boots well and I think Boots has served Nottingham well and I think we should carry on helping one another in that way."
