From adversity to opportunity, Chris Peczalski, Channel Sales Manager at Imperial Brands Australia, has had a few, but always maintains a positive outlook. This is his story…
I was born in Wroclaw, Poland, and my early years were spent in a cramped, two-room flat, which wasn’t exactly spacious. When I say two-room, I mean it comprised of a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. I shared this tight space with my parents, grandparents, and my aunt.
When I was quite young, my parents decided to move to Australia, initially settling in Sydney before moving to Queanbeyan, NSW, and finally to Canberra, ACT. Canberra is where I spent the majority of my childhood and early adulthood.
I attended a local public school and, like many kids, tried my hand at various sports, including basketball and tennis. However, it wasn’t until high school that I discovered my true passion: motor racing. From the ages of 14 to 19, I raced karts around NSW, participating in both state and national championships. This experience ignited a lifelong love for motorsport.
My first job, outside of pretending to help out at my parents’ Polish smallgoods shop, was as a busboy at the Sizzler restaurant in Tuggeranong, ACT. This role taught me the value of hard work and the importance of customer service, lessons that have stayed with me throughout my career.
With a family spread across different continents, my wife and I have travelled extensively. We’ve made numerous trips to Europe to visit family and spent a short stint in Germany for work. Our travels have also taken us to Southern Africa and Vietnam to visit friends, both of which were incredible experiences. One of the highlights of our travels was spending a couple of weeks volunteering at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand. More recently, I was fortunate enough to participate in the AACS International Study Tour, which took me to Zurich and Barcelona. Both cities are remarkable, and the experience was made even better by the amazing group of people I travelled with.
Currently, I work as the Channel Sales Manager – Organised at Imperial Brands. My career path has been diverse, starting in data and insights at companies like GfK and Circana (then known as Aztec). My experience in consulting for various suppliers motivated me to transition from agencies to a senior category role at Johnson & Johnson Consumer. From there, I moved into a National Business Manager role at Woolworths and later into a Sales Strategy position. These roles ultimately led me to my current position.
Reflecting on my career, two highlights stand out. The first is the impact I’ve had on my team members. I have always had a passion for helping my team members to succeed and grow and one of my proudest career moments came when I caught up with my former team for dinner. One of the more senior team members pulled me aside and said, “You know, you’ve really built something special here.” This really cemented for me the impact that I can make on individuals in my team as well as the value of investing into people.
The second highlight, though not a traditional one but extremely impactful, was my battle with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2018. Almost overnight, I went from being Chris the corporate guy to Chris the cancer patient. It reframed my entire view of who I was and where I invested my energy, resulting in a much healthier balance between work and personal life.
In my spare time, I watch far too much sports on TV and am consumed by tackling house renovation projects. To counterbalance the time I spend in front of spreadsheets at work, I host trivia nights every Thursday at a local pub. Give me a microphone and an audience, and I’m in my happy place.
Today, my family consists of my wonderful wife, our rescue dog Nacho, and a budgie. Nacho, who we adopted from the RSPCA, has become the primary beneficiary of my wife and I’s salaries!
My advice to retailers would be to leverage the wealth of data at your disposal. Sales, transactions, shopper behaviour, and profiles, when combined with the power of AI, can drive more effective decisions and help carve out a unique market position aligned with shopper preferences.
For suppliers, it’s too easy to get caught up in the four-walls of the head office, especially with the ever-increasing information and time demands inherent in working for a global FMCG organisation. Get every function in your organisation out and into your customer’s stores, talk to the staff and observe their shoppers. Not only will you get some of the best insights into the dynamics of your category, but it will also bring to life the plethora of data that we all have access to.
Looking ahead, I hope to continue broadening my experience in various markets, embracing the challenges and opportunities that the petrol and convenience (P&C) channel presents.
This article was originally published in the August/September issue of Convenience and Impulse Retailing magazine.
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