The Clare Echo has published its third episode of the Business Chamber podcast in association with Ennis Chamber of Commerce.
Joe Melody welcomes the podcast’s newest guest in episode 3, Breege O’Donoghue, former board member and group director for business development for new markets at Penneys. O’Donoghue oversaw the company’s expansion from 17 to 320 outlets amongst 11 markets and has won numerous awards, including the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2014 IMAGE Businesswoman of the Year Awards.
O’Donoghue, who worked with Penneys for 37 years until 2016, originates from Boston, in North Clare. She spoke of “rounding up and milking the goats with my sisters before going to school”, “snaring the rabbits”, “carrying water from the well”, “picking potatoes”, and “walking miles to and from school”. “Money was always put away for the rainy day”, she told Melody. However, just as she was born too late for the 19th-century hedge schools, she was too early for Donogh O’Malley’s Free Education Act 1967 and missed the school transport scheme in 1967.
Despite this, she managed to learn through the experience of travel. In 1963, O’Donoghue went to Switzerland and Germany and worked hard there for three years. She said, “It gave you a broader feeling of what life was really all about.” She told Melody that travelling gave her a love for diversity, culture, and language, and recalled how Switzerland’s rural villages reminded her of Ireland.
When talking about her experience with Penneys, she said, “Our first foray was into the Spanish market”, she recalled. All senior staff learned the language, ensuring they could conduct their business and show customers that they cared about them, their lifestyle, and their culture. Another experience O’Donoghue mentioned was “leading Primark into the US market”.
“We geared our market in each country. The colours were different, the trends were different, the seasons were different.”
Melody and O’Donoghue discussed the impact of the post-2008 recession in Ireland on the business: “I remember around the year 2000, somebody would buy something in Penneys and put it into a bag from a luxury shop. But I remember in the recession, people would buy something in a luxury shop and put it into a Penneys bag. That would say something about the habits of shoppers.”
Speaking about the future of retail, O’Donoghue told Melody about the possibilities of “trying on clothes in a virtual fitting room”, “AI will know your size, your mood, your favourite colour”, “AI will print you new shoes”, “my groceries in a vertical line will be delivered by drone”. She said, “Retail will transform into an immersive playground.”
The Business Chamber is a video and audio podcast hosted by Joe Melody available now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
