Thanks once again for all the generous support and suggestions you brilliant retailers and my lovely friends have so kindly given. Thanks especially on this edition for the help and direct support of Emily, Rocky, Graeme, Kevin, Hugo and Helen. Thanks for the inspiration provided by my incredible retail undergraduates at the University of Westminster. And thanks for the distractions and beer regularly provided by Jim, John, Jason and again Rocky and Graeme.

A career in retail has taken me away from family and friends for big chunks of time, so to be a retailer would be impossible without the patience of the people we love. I have been so lucky to have a wonderful family to support me in the twists and turns of my life in retail. To my children Rosy, Isabella, Arthur and to our new baby Ezra, to my amazing partner and editor Emily and to my inspirational boy Ptolemy – thanks for being the best, kindest people I know.

Special thanks are due to those retailers who were there at the start – the people from whom I have learnt the most important early lessons: Umesh Vadodaria, Mahendra Patel, Steve Smith and Glyn Moser – all who put people first and proved that great retail is about fun and passion, creativity and teamwork, and that customers are the beginning and end of everything.

Thanks to Rachael Stock at Pearson for making the original edition better than I imagined it ever could be. Thanks to Eloise Cook, my current publisher, who has proven to be the most patient client I’ve ever had, for which I am incredibly grateful. I’m also grateful for the insight, challenge and knowledge she has applied to making this the best edition so far.

Thanks also to the dozens of retailers who gave up time, advice and ideas for Smart Retail – you know who you are and you are all superstars.

Finally, all the effort, sacrifice, setbacks and challenges have been worth it. Retail is the best life in the world.