The Retail Wave Makers | Lisa Bauer, Starboard Cruise Services

Nadine Heubel: 00:00:04

So hello to everybody from around the world. Welcome to The Retail Wave Makers, a Seatrade Cruise Talks Podcast. My name is Nadine Heubel and the Senior Managing Director Travel Retail North America for Harper Dennis Hobbs. But today, I'm talking to you as the retail ambassador for Seatrade.

Nadine Heubel: 00:00:24

Retail has been going from strength to strength in the cruise industry. And I'm grateful for Seatrade to have acknowledged its development by creating a retail Ambassador role, which I'm honored to have been appointed to. Part of my responsibility is to create further awareness for this exciting sector amongst cruise industry peers. And what better way to do it than creating our own podcast mini-series, The Retail Wave Makers podcast.

Nadine Heubel: 00:00:52

In this podcast series, I will welcome different stakeholders of the cruise retail industry, cruise lines, retailers, vendors and consultants. And I will discuss with my guests the state of the cruise retail industry. We have a lineup of amazing guests, and we will hear from them firsthand about latest innovations, initiatives, challenges and their personal outlook of the future of cruise retail. And we will also get a little personal with our rapid fire questions at the end of the podcast.

Nadine Heubel: 00:01:22

I'm super excited. And as my second guest and welcoming today Lisa Bauer, Lisa is the CEO and President of Starboard Cruise Services, which also includes leading operations of sister company Onboard Media. Lisa has various senior positions in the airline, hotel, cruise and leisure travel industry. Before joining Starboard, she was the VP of onboard experience at Delta Airlines. And in charge of elevating the Delta customer experience, which we all know is second to none. She also had a successful and long career at Royal Caribbean, where she oversaw hotel operations and sales and marketing. Lisa is indeed an accomplished leader whose career has been rooted in her passion for driving retail customer experience through innovation. In my previous life, Lisa and I have been competitors competing for the same retail contracts on both various cruise lines. I have always admired the transformation Starboard underwent under her leadership, and therefore today, I am happy that I have not to compete against her anymore. So Lisa, welcome to the show.

Lisa Bauer: 00:02:33

Thank you, Nadine. And thank you so much for inviting me and for your nice introduction.

Nadine Heubel: 00:02:40

Absolutely. And thank you for being here because I know you had been caught in the horrible Miami traffic. And while I'm actually one of the things of my new position, I'm working from home, so sometimes I miss being in an office, but this is the one thing I don't miss because Miami traffic can be just horrible, right?

Lisa Bauer: 00:02:55

Yes, absolutely.

Nadine Heubel: 00:02:56

So okay, so let's get straight into it. Could you share with our listeners the scope of the retail operation and Starboard Cruise Services? So with how many cruise lines do you work? How many ships do you have? How many square feet of retail space to operate? And also, what is your category mix?

Lisa Bauer: 00:03:12

Yeah, for sure. And, you know, it's interesting Starboard actually started back in 1968. So it's been certainly around in the group sector for a very, very long time. Even 10 years prior to that was in airport duty free and really got it started as an industry. And today, we're very proud to operate across 10 Very diverse cruise line partners. And we're across 83 chips at the moment, as of today, November 1, we operate over 360,000 square feet of retail space. So and again, you know, to your question, it's across all categories, whether it's our luxury brands, you know, Swiss timepieces, or fine jewelry or apparel, to leather to you know, food, liquor, candy, you name it beauty so very interesting across all categories. It's a very diverse business.

Nadine Heubel: 00:04:06

It is indeed when I was asked in again in my past life by people who maybe don't know it that well. So what products do you sell? I would always say we sell from a $5 kitchen magnet to a $30,000 blue watch and everything in between. Right. That's, that's our product mix.

Lisa Bauer: 00:04:23

Yeah, it's a very, very complex offering.

Nadine Heubel: 00:04:26

It is indeed but another question which I had you know, when when when I mean, I mean, I I knew that before joining Starboard again, you you had been working at Delta and start off customer experience there. What made you decide actually to leave the sea and go to the air and then come back to the sea from the air. Tell us a little bit about this.

Lisa Bauer: 00:04:46

Yeah, you know, I actually worked back in the 90s for a airline called Midwest Express that was all business class, you know, gourmet food, complimentary wine and was really, really amazing airline initially owned by Kimberly Clark. And then we went public and won Best domestic airline five years in a row because it was all about the customer. And so I had always had this passion for customer experience. And then I ended up at Royal Caribbean and I had a love of cruising because my mother owned a travel agency. And so I remember in my, you know, very young years, being very upset when all my friends were going to Florida and we had to go on a cruise, I had this love of cruising. And so when I was offered the opportunity to go to Royal Caribbean, it was like a dream come true. And you know, such a great brand. You know, I love the airline industry, I love the cruise industry, and of course Delta such an amazing brand. And when I had the opportunity to go to Delta, they really wanted to bring somebody in specifically from the cruise industry, because the cruise industry has done such an amazing job with the guest experience. And so when I went to Delta, it was all about not just the North American guest experience, but the Global Customer Experience, and how do you have a different product when you're going to Asia, that when you're going to South America than when you're going to Europe, and really make sure you have this deep understanding of who the customer is, what food, the customer likes, what languages the customer speaks, you know, different protocols. And so it really was a great opportunity at Delta. Delta is an amazing company, I can't say enough about it. Ed Bastian is the CEO, really, really a inspirational leader, and just really enjoyed my time there. But then when I got the call about Starboard and the opportunity to come back to South Florida, my family's here, you know, I have a huge friend network here. And of course, I had worked with Starboard as a business partner when I was at Royal. And so I really saw it as a great opportunity, having had the ability to sit on both sides of the table to really understand the business really well. And, you know, I looked at it as a great challenge. So here I am. Probably more than you wanted to know, but at least that explains a little bit.

Nadine Heubel: 00:07:00

Very interesting. I always love to hear you know, there's always stories behind and not just the two sentence stories. They're always like deeper stories behind people's choices. So thank you for sharing. Now you talk to us a little bit about you know, what, actually why Delta wanted to have somebody from the cruise industry. And now as you look back, what do you think the cruise industry can actually learn from the airline industry?

Lisa Bauer: 00:07:22

That's an interesting one. I think the airline industry, I think is probably a little bit more agile than the cruise industry. Not sure why. But just in terms of the ability to pick up trends a little quicker, maybe. And airlines and airplanes are easier to redeploy, necessarily than ships. But I think they're both really trying to be about hospitality and not having airlines just be transactional.

Nadine Heubel: 00:07:48

So you came back from Delta four years ago, five years ago?

Lisa Bauer: 00:07:51

2019! Yeah, six months before COVID?

Nadine Heubel: 00:07:55

Always great timing. Right. So when you rejoined six months before COVID? What, in your opinion, what was the state of the retail, then?

Lisa Bauer: 00:08:02

You know, honestly, you know, I had been with Royal when I was running operations, and I hadn't seen a whole lot evolve, honestly, from then. I mean, it was always a really great offering. But there wasn't a whole lot that had changed. Maybe a little bit of an introduction of some more of the luxury boutiques on board, I think that was very much inspired by the expansion in Asia. But you know, it's certainly opportunity, because each of the cruise lines have things that are very, very important to them. So I think the opportunity was to lean in whatever was important to each of the cruise line partners, and figure out how to bring that to life, versus kind of this peanut butter approach where it was category driven. And you buy the product, and then you had peanut butter at across all cruise ships and cruise lines. So I think the real opportunity for my perspective was to figure out what did each of the cruise brands stand for? And how did you assort and curate for them versus how it had been previously done? hope that made sense?

Nadine Heubel: 00:09:00

Yeah, no, absolutely. And do you think that this is really maybe the biggest untapped opportunity and in the cross retail industry that really to focus on the customer offering based on the cruise line? And based on the customer profile? Are there any other untapped opportunities you would love to talk about?

Lisa Bauer: 00:09:17

You know, I think it's two things. One, from my perspective was just the way we work with their cruise partners and engage with them. So, you know, my objective with creating the account teams at Starboard was so that every one of our cruise line partners felt like they were our only partner. You know, we created these dedicated account teams that wake up in the morning focused on one of our cruise brands and went to sleep that night. And they really knew what that cruise partner stood for who their customers were, their itineraries, you know, really understood what was happening with that cruise line, and we're able to communicate that to the merchant team. And I thought that was a huge untapped opportunity because, you know, even back from my days at Royal which was a, you know, a very large cruise line. You never knew if you were getting the full attention. And you know now I wanted to make sure every single one of our cruise line partners, you know, kind of fell back in love with us and really felt like they were our only partner. So I thought that that was a really big opportunity.

Nadine Heubel: 00:10:12

Thank you. I like what you said that your cruise line partners was to fall in love with you again. That's a nice way to put it. Another question I have for you is starboard is part of the LVMH group. And could you share with us a little bit how you create synergies between your sister brands not only the brands like the the Diors of this world, but also with BFS as the airport retailer or Sephora or other partners.

Lisa Bauer: 00:10:37

I couldn't be happier to be part of LVMH I have an incredible boss who really helps us, you know, navigate within LVMH that one of the beautiful things about LVMH is each of them are really empowered to work independently. But yet, we try to work together to figure out how we can, you know, really collaborate in unique ways. And a couple examples, Nadine, that I would share with you. One is with Le Bon Marché, the fabulous department store in Paris.

Nadine Heubel: 00:11:05

I love it!

Lisa Bauer: 00:11:05

I love that place. And we actually really partnered with them because they do such an incredible job with these personalized experiences. And we collaborated with them. And they helped us source over 70 unique destination brands for our Mediterranean season last summer, which was fantastic.

Lisa Bauer: 00:11:23

You know, we partnered with DFS with the global supply chain shortages, they were able to help us out with some different beauty opportunities. You know, we partner with Sephora on global beauty trends, and how to be out in front of what they're seeing from the customers. And we're able to say, you know, what are customers in Europe want versus what do the customers in Asia want versus, you know, North America. So the consumer insights has been something that's been a huge benefit. And then of course, you know, the distribution within some of the luxury brands and really partnering with them some of the collaborations I shared about Le Bon Marché. But we've also done something similar with less than 10. And some, you know, really trying to partner there. And one of the things that I'm happiest about was, you know, I had met Ida Simonsen, and who's the president of Stella [McCartney], North America, one of the LVMH presidents meeting, and we started talking about how much I love Stella and how I'd love to get the Stella brand on a ship. And we were able to, you know, bring Stella as a first at sea on Beyond. So I think it's just really about establishing those relationships within LVMH. And really finding out what's important for the LVMH brand and how Starboard can partner and be a part of that.

Nadine Heubel: 00:11:23

Wow!

Nadine Heubel: 00:12:35

Thank you. Yeah, LVMH is definitely an amazing group, and both Le Bon Marché and La Samaritaine is one of my most favorite places to go to when I come to Paris.

Lisa Bauer: 00:12:44

You'll have to let me know the next time you're headed there. And we'll get you set up with our folks that run it for a behind the scenes. It's quite fascinating.

Nadine Heubel: 00:12:51

Really. Oh, I would I would I would definitely take you up on this offer. Thank you.

Lisa Bauer: 00:12:56

They're amazing.

Nadine Heubel: 00:12:57

I can only imagine. Another question I have. If you have done so many different new amazing initiatives on your 83 ships as of today, correct? Yeah, I remember this correctly, what is the retail initiative you're most proud of?

Lisa Bauer: 00:13:09

I would say probably the curation that we've really been able to move to, you know, we used the pause when we were shut down, to really get together as a leadership team and create our North Star, and really have the whole organization understand what we stood for. And it was a lot of work. And really, we tapped into curate a vibrant world and this idea of not walking into -And I don't mean this in a bad way- but not walking onto a cruise ship and having it feel like it's an airport. And it's this category next to this category, but more around how a customer could walk into Mankind, for example, that we launched on apex, which is a men's boutique anchored in Mont Blanc and all kinds of men's accessories, everything from liquor, to leather to accessories to fine jewelry, and really this idea of curation, I think is very important. And then also how we've been able to start deliver on destination. And really bring the destination to life in a way that you know, the guests can take home memories. So, you know, we have a long way to go. But I think the idea that our team understands that it's about this idea of curating a vibrant world is really everybody's rowing in the same direction.

Nadine Heubel: 00:14:22

Great. And I remember also that when we met in Barcelona for the DFNI Cruise Conference, you had also created this new word for instead of travel retail, retail-tainment. Retail-tainment is also one of the I think one of the things I always hear and read when I hear about your new initiative. And as we are here at a Seatrade podcast. I of course also have a Seatrade related question for you. In your opinion, what Seatrade do to really help cruise retail industry thrive?

Lisa Bauer: 00:14:50

The best thing I can say is that we need to get people that have not experienced cruise onboard, even for just a ship tour. I'll give you an example. Last week we had Celebrity Beyond in New York and I invited the LVMH presidents from New York to come. And I had a number of the LVMH ... I could go on and on, none of whom had ever set foot on a ship. Those that are not in the cruise industry have the perceptions of cruising, that are not good, that are about lines and crowds, not the incredible experience it is. And so I'm on this mission. And I'd love to partner with Seatrade, to figure out how do we do panels, where we invite some of the leaders of the large retail companies to come and talk about what's important to them. And you know, when they're deciding to put one of their luxury watch boutiques on a ship, what's important to them? And then how do we also reciprocate and put ship tours and things like that in place to be able to host them and work with the various cruise lines, even to invite them to the tonight inaugural sailings and things like that. So I think we have a joint educational opportunity because the cruise lines don't understand brands requiring adjacencies, and so much square footage and how their brand comes to life, we have an educational opportunity to do the cruise line. So I think if we can give some of the retail partners a seat at the table to explain, you know what they're looking for. And then we can do the same and really educate the cruise line partners. I think it'll be transformational in the way that we approach retail moving forward.

Nadine Heubel: 00:16:32

Perfect. I love this. And I'm happy to partner with you on this one. I think this is a great initiative as a retail ambassador. And I want to really take this offline with you Lisa and see what we can do with this.

Lisa Bauer: 00:16:44

I mean, even just the reaction from last week, Nadine with the folks that I had on board just to see their reaction. It's amazing. You take them through the suite and they're like, when can we sail, we're not going to step foot on board unless I you know, encouraged it.

Nadine Heubel: 00:16:59

Yeah, there's a lot of education to be done. I agree fully agree with you. So Lisa, you're ready for rapid fire questions.

Lisa Bauer: 00:17:07

I am I'll do my best.

Nadine Heubel: 00:17:10

So what is your favorite cruise destination?

Lisa Bauer: 00:17:11

My favorite destination is to cruise in the med but specifically Italy. Anything Italian I'm in!

Nadine Heubel: 00:17:17

The favorite location to unbind on a cruise ship?

Lisa Bauer: 00:17:21

You know I love to just sit by the pool and read a book. To me that's a way for me to really decompress.

Nadine Heubel: 00:17:29

Buffet or a la carte breakfast?

Unknown: 00:17:31

A la carte. I think when I go to the buffet I eat too much so I do a little a little more disciplined.

Nadine Heubel: 00:17:39

Okay, good one. Bingo or trivia?

Lisa Bauer: 00:17:42

That's a tough one. I'm gonna go with bingo though. It's a little like gambling.

Nadine Heubel: 00:17:46

What was the last product you bought on a cruise ship?

Lisa Bauer: 00:17:48

Actually, I bought a beautiful John Hardy bracelet for my husband. That was my last purchase.

Nadine Heubel: 00:17:55

Lucky husband.

Lisa Bauer: 00:17:56

Yes.

Nadine Heubel: 00:17:57

What is your most favorite specialty restaurant on a cruise ship?

Lisa Bauer: 00:18:01

That's a really hard one for me. Because there's so many that I that I love. I would have to say my most recent experience that really was a wow was Eden on on Celebrity. Just a beautiful, beautiful location. The open bar concept. I haven't seen anything like that at sea. The food was fantastic. And just the overall. Yeah, just the whole overall experience on each brand. I could pick a favorite specialty restaurant, because I love to eat but that was probably my most recent that was a the true really incredible experience.

Nadine Heubel: 00:18:35

And last question, which retail operation of a competitor on board which ship Have you always wanted to visit?

Lisa Bauer: 00:18:42

I personally for a while haven't sailed on MSC but I think it would be interesting just because it's such a different model than others just to really experience that. So I'm gonna have to talk to Adrian and make that happen one of these days.

Nadine Heubel: 00:18:56

Yes. Exactly. Great. Lisa, thank you so much. It was a pleasure having you and I really learned a lot. So thank you so much and have a great day.

Lisa Bauer: 00:19:06

Thank you. Nadine appreicate it look forward to following up on what we can do to support Seatrade.

Nadine Heubel: 00:19:11

Perfect, I will do this. Thank you.