As part of our Buy Into Retail campaign, we’re spotlighting the work retailers are doing when it comes to growth, people and sustainability. Today, we focus on Diversity and Inclusion, and the way in which BRC member Bravissimo have ingrained D&I into their business.
Bravissimo is an omni-channel retailer who specialises in providing their customers with an experience that leaves them feeling confident and uplifted. Whether that is through the experience they give on the phones, through live chat, their virtual fitting service or in one of their 25 UK stores, every team is committed to delivering Bravissimo’s purpose.
The pandemic hit Bravissimo hard, as it did the whole industry - and it made them re-evaluate their ways of working. They found that when working with leaner teams, they could make decisions quicker – but with all the uncertainty the pandemic created, they needed data to drive those decisions.
Bravissimo wanted to focus on understanding the make-up of their organisation, and for the first time, collect D&I data on all teams that they would report on, which would used to inform actions. Their CEO at the time, Leanne Cahill, filmed a short video that was sent to every team member. It explained the “why” behind the collection of data and explained how they would anonymise the data and protect people’s information.
They collected 44% of data at our first run. This was good, but for an organisation that gets engagement response rates of 90%, they knew they could do more. One of Bravissimo’s values is “Bravissimo is a shared experience” and they pride themselves on the connection and feedback they have with customers. They wanted their teams to feel that they understood their experience of delivering Bravissimo’s purpose to a diverse group of customers, and to do that, they needed to know more about their teams.
The People & Culture team produced the guide “Don’t be a data hater” which they engaged all managers and leaders across Bravissimo with. They talked about the importance of data, how it can drive action, and ran another annual survey to see if we could collect more.
In 2021, Bravissimo then rolled out their HR Management System out to all teams. That system provided the opportunity to create a “Logbook” where team members could add their D&I data once (and allow them to make changes should they be required). This created the opportunity to go again and really focus on collecting data from current teams, before then focusing on collecting candidate data from recruitment too.
Last year, Bravissimo’s Recruitment team took a targeted approach to engaging managers of teams that they had little data for. They discussed the importance of the data, the security of the data and the ways in which data can drive actions. Following those discussions, as of March ’25, the team now holds 81% of the D&I data for current teams. They have been able to produce reports where they have compared their statistics against the ONS and NOMIS data, to see if our teams are representative of the communities they work within.
Now, the focus is the collection of candidate data. This will enable the team to understand if there is any bias in selection and also allow them to dive deeper into the internal promotion statistics to see if they over, or under-index on recruitment of certain characteristics.
It was a journey to get to 81%, and Bravissimo don’t want to stop there – they want to be able to show their teams that they are committed to bringing the most diverse pool of people to fit together, rather than “fit-in”, to deliver an uplifting experience for their customers, however they choose to shop with them.
