rtini, head of customer and people at Miss Amara, built the online rug retailer’s B2B business from the ground up.  Lydia Bertini started her career in bricks-and-mortar stores, but since joining pureplay online rug retailer Miss Amara in 2020, she has embraced the opportunities of e-commerce and earned a reputation for creating exceptional digital customer experiences.  This can be seen in Miss Amara’s renowned free styling service, which Bertini refined, leading to an increase in both demand and conversion. More recently, she has turned her attention to the brand’s burgeoning B2B business, which was added to her portfolio in 2023. “We started with a list of 400 small B2B customers that we knew purchased regularly from us. Today, our B2B business comprises a wide range of partnerships – from over 4,000 interior designers to multichannel retailers such as Baby Bunting, Barbeques Galore, Freedom Furniture, and Temple & Webster,” Bertini told Inside Retail.  She sees B2B as a considerable untapped opportunity in the e-commerce industry, largely due to the perception that catering to end consumers is more straightforward.  “The complexity of B2B transactions – negotiating long-term agreements, developing relationships, and addressing specific business needs – might be perceived as more challenging or resource-intensive,” she said.   But for those that get it right, B2B can provide an exciting avenue for expansion, especially at a time when many consumers are feeling the pinch of higher costs and reducing their discretionary spending as a result.  Using empathy to address pain points By approaching B2B with the same customer-first mentality as DTC, Bertini has grown the channel into a six-figure business, and it’s now a key part of Miss Amara’s growth strategy.  “Miss Amara is a tech business first and our in-house tech team has employed design thinking to streamline the ordering process, and invested time and energy into our retailer relationships, using empathy to identify and address pain points in the B2B customer journey,” she explained. “To continue growing Miss Amara’s B2B offering, we are continuing to evolve and grow our product range, offering more value options and diversifying our design aesthetic to appeal to a broader audience.” Beyond B2B, Bertini is working on improving the post-purchase customer experience and is collaborating with the operations team to refine the delivery process, implement a seamless returns system, and leverage customer feedback to enhance the onsite user experience.  “Brands can easily fall into the trap of letting their customer down post-checkout, so we want to do things differently. Our goal is to make rug shopping easy and fun, and we think we’re succeeding in doing that!” Bertini said. Other top priorities for the year ahead include expanding Miss Amara’s international presence, driving innovation in customer experience, and continuing to evolve and grow the workplace culture, particularly initiatives around diversity and inclusion.  “We’re also working on automation initiatives to help us as we scale across multiple channels and markets,” she said. Growing leadership role As head of customer and people, Bertini sees it as her mission to drive sales growth alongside cultivating a thriving work environment. As any good leader knows, the two are not unrelated.  Over the past few years at Miss Amara, Bertini has established a paid parental leave program, a diversity and inclusion committee, eNPS surveys to gauge employee satisfaction, and an anonymous feedback bot to gain real-time feedback from team members.  Upskilling team members is a key area of focus for her. She was the driving force behind the decision to have all team members become qualified stylists and last year she encouraged warehouse staff to enrol in a traineeship program to gain access to career advancement opportunities.  These initiatives reflect the growing leadership role Bertini has taken on at Miss Amara, which she describes as “a rewarding journey, particularly when balanced with being a mother and the inherent nuances that come with wearing many hats”.  “I’ve been fortunate enough to be supported and encouraged by Miss Amara founders Alex and Aaron Weller, who have committed to fostering a workplace culture that recognises and celebrates the multifaceted lives of our team, and the diversity of perspective that can bring,” Bertini said. She also credits her team that embraces “transparency and openly shares feedback, wins, and failures, in the spirit of growth”, and individuals in the wider online retail community for sharing their insights and time in helping her build her e-commerce career.  “I have always been a passionate retailer and I’ve loved delving into the intricacies of the dynamic industry that is e-commerce. Shifting gears from traditional bricks-and-mortar retail to e-commerce has provided a huge growth opportunity for me personally.”