ures matter because they mark a clear departure from the conditions Jere Calmes inherited. The company had built its operating structure around the assumption that pandemic-era e-commerce growth would persist, and when consumer habits normalised and physical retail made its comeback, the economics became difficult to sustain. Calmes arrived in July 2023 at a moment when competition was escalating from both domestic retailers strengthening their digital operations and international platforms investing more heavily in Australia and New Zealand. Upon his arrival, however, he recognised the underlying strength of the business, particularly its platform business model.  Talking ahead of his inclusion in Inside Retail’s Top 50 People in E-commerce, Jere Calmes said he “immediately” recognised the immense potential of the business. “I was fortunate to join when our platform business was nascent, allowing me to significantly shape our growth strategy as a market ‘enabler’ for online fashion and lifestyle categories,” he said.  Founded in 2011, The Iconic now serves around 2.2 million active customers across Australia and New Zealand. Calmes candidly describes it as a platform designed to support fashion brands, logistics partners and customers within the same ecosystem. The concept of what the business calls a “beyond-the-fitting-room” experience sits at the centre of that thinking, linking assortment, delivery and loyalty into a single operating model. That philosophy has shaped how capital is deployed inside the company. The past two years have involved tighter cost discipline, but the strategy has not been about contraction. Instead, the leadership team prioritised investments that deepen customer engagement and increase the long-term value of each shopper relationship. Improvements to fulfilment infrastructure, expanded private labels and more targeted marketing activity all sit within that framework. Delivery beyond Sydney While The Iconic built its reputation on rapid service inside Sydney, the company spent much of last year improving delivery times in other major markets. Free standard delivery into Melbourne was reduced by more than half, while New Zealand metro customers moved from four or five day delivery windows to next day service. Calmes said the commercial impact appeared quickly. “We know conversion rates in the funnel improve as delivery times contract, and we’ve seen regional indicators on customer and [net merchandise value ] growth change that reflect this.” The results were particularly visible across New Zealand, where customer growth accelerated sharply in the second half of the year. “We saw NZ customers increase at almost [four times] the rate of total company growth from June-December,” he said, adding that improvements in delivery reliability had also reinforced something more intangible but equally important to digital retail. Alongside logistics, the business also focused on strengthening its relationship with existing customers. In October, the platform launched The Iconic “Front Row”, its first formal loyalty program, migrating more than two million active customers before the Black Friday trading period. Early participation has been strong, with more than 960,000 members already earning the program’s currency known as “Icons”. Marketing has also played a role in the rebound, including the company’s “Got You Looking” masterbrand campaign, now two years old, which has lifted brand awareness significantly among its core audience, with unprompted awareness rising 70 per cent since its launch in 2023. The platform is increasingly positioning itself as a marketplace for online fashion brands. For example, the marketplace model, which allows labels to list products directly while using the company’s fulfilment and marketing capabilities, continues to grow steadily and now accounts for more than a third of total net merchandise value. With Q4 net merchandise value up 6 per cent year on year to $289.6 million, Calmes sees the progress as the outcome of sustained focus on the customer and careful investment in the platform’s capabilities. “Just as importantly, we are building a stronger, more scalable platform model for our customers and brand partners. As AI pushes fashion retail even further into the digital space, the brands that win will be the ones that understand customers best, and we are uniquely positioned to excel at fashion e-commerce at scale across ANZ.”  Under Calmes’ leadership, The Iconic has entered its next phase of growth, where customer insight, delivery performance and marketplace scale continue to shape results across Australia and New Zealand.To read the full interview with Jere Calmes, as well as insight from other e-commerce industry leaders, download the report in full here.