The directors understand and appreciate their duty under s172 of the Companies Act 2006 to act in the way in which they consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the group and company for the benefit of its shareholders as a whole. In order to do so, the group and company has a corporate governance framework in place which facilitates a detailed review and challenge prior to board decisions in order to ensure the long-term success of the group and company. The group and company recognises the significance of effective decision making by the board of directors in fulfilling their fiduciary duties. These decisions influence the strategic direction, risk management approach and engagement with stakeholders, which in turn influences financial performance, corporate governance and the wider socio-economic environment in which the group and company operates.
In the period under review, such principal decisions were made to focus the group and company on driving towards profitability. The group and company created a new code of conduct and responsible sourcing policy as well as relaunched the company committees with a renewed focus on ESG.
The group and company’s primary asset is its people and it has a commitment to attracting, developing and retaining highly skilled employees who are experts in their field. A high trust and high performance culture built on a robust employee value proposition has made the group and company a highly attractive destination for top quality and ambitious talent. The people strategy and initiatives are directly influenced by the business strategy, of which continuous employee feedback is a key component. Regular company wide meetings are also held where employees have the opportunity to ask questions to leadership in an open forum, alongside several representative committees to hear the employee voice. Employee safety and wellbeing is a key priority and the group and company has endeavoured to provide a supportive environment for its staff. The group and company opts to disclose its gender pay gap internally. The group and company also provides training to employees on ESG policies and issues as well as the group and company’s initiatives to address them.
The group and company’s customers are one of its most important stakeholders. It provides access to one of the world’s largest fashion inventories with over 8 million items from over 15 thousand brands. By aggregating such a large supply it offers customers both breadth and depth of fashion assortment, from which it is committed to continuously improving a personalised customer experience. Leveraging best in class machine learning, employees leverage artificial intelligence to improve the customer experience, focusing on personalisation for each customer journey. Customers are able to engage with the group and company across its website and iOS and Android apps, with its internal customer value proposition guiding its product development cycles.
Partner relationships are one of the group and company’s strongest assets, with an internal framework guiding how it delivers value to its partners. This proposition includes connecting its partners with over 150 million fashion users; by being on the Lyst platform the partners gain immediate access to this fashion audience. The large scale of partners onboarded on Lyst also brings more choice to customers, thereby driving more customers to the platform and increasing the potential sales for partners. The proposition for partners also includes control over pricing, merchandising and fulfilment, alongside opportunities to directly target their marketing messages to Lyst’s extensive fashion user base. The group and company has a dedicated team who foster strong relationships with key partners, offering strategic account management to unlock value for its partners.
The group and company recognises the importance of building strong and sustainable relationships with its suppliers, on whom it relies on to provide the products and services that enable the group and company to operate. Suppliers form the foundation of the supply chain and directly impact the ability to deliver quality products and services to its customers. As a responsible and ethical organisation, the group and company strives to establish collaborative partnerships based on trust, transparency and mutual benefit. By engaging in open dialogue and fair negotiations, it aims to create long-term value for both parties, ensuring a stable and reliable supply of goods and services while minimising risks associated with disruptions or inadequate quality. Through continuous evaluation and improvement of its supplier relationships, the group and company seeks to optimize efficiency, enhance resilience and contribute to the overall success and sustainability of our business.
Communities and the wider public expect the group and company to act in a responsible way. It focuses on ensuring that it has a diverse and inclusive environment empowering all employees to excel; making the most of their unique backgrounds and experience to drive exceptional impact. The group and company is working with organisations and charities who are focused on underrepresented groups to build an inclusive environment and also contributes to charities.
The group and company has ongoing internal climate initiatives, as it seeks to reduce its carbon emissions as a part of its ESG strategy. Total emissions have continued to reduce, decreasing -12% against prior year. This is in comparison to the annual -5.9% reduction required to align to the 2015 Paris Agreement.
This statement has been approved on behalf of the Board of Directors of Lyst Ltd.