ceive guest lectures from those clients and, in some cases, conduct internships with them.  The General Store, meanwhile, will be able to offer clients input from the Customer Experience Research Group’s director Sean Sands on customer research, global benchmarking and strategy planning.  Sands hopes the partnership will lead more university students to pursue careers in retail.  “Retail has traditionally been seen as something you just do on the side when you’re studying. It’s not seen as a long-term career prospect, so in some ways, we’re trying to change their perception at the graduate and undergraduate level as well,” he told Inside Retail.  A key part of his pitch to students is the close connection to consumer trends. “Retail is an industry that’s very much at the coalface in terms of consumer, and when you’re that close to consumers, you’re really on top of trends, particularly in categories like fashion more than, say, automotive parts,” he said.  “But whichever category you’re in, you’re responding very quickly to changes in consumer behaviour and changing trends, and that means it’s very interesting, it’s not stale, there’s always something happening and changing.” Combining the art and science of retail Besides creating a pipeline of new retail talent, the Customer Experience Research Group aims to help retailers better understand and leverage their data.  “I think data is one of the areas where there’s so many opportunities for retailers,” Sands said. “Loyalty programmes are the kind of place where there’s a lot of information coming in and it’s maybe not being used in the best possible way.” He also sees advertising and marketing as key areas for improvement. With a background in market research, he believes retailers need to gain a better understanding of the different variables in the market and take a more critical and strategic approach to their activities.  This is where the partnership with The General Store comes in. Matt Newell, The General Store’s partner and CEO, believes the two organisations have complementary strengths, with Swinburne delivering the “rigour” of academia and The General Store delivering the “relevance” of professional consulting.  “It’s a combination of arts and science,” Newell told Inside Retail.  “The General Store is a very creative and innovative organisation, and [Swinburne] brings in more of the analytical chops to make our work sharper and more effective.”