It’s safe to say that Asif Aziz is one of the most recognisable and respected retail leaders within the industry. And for good reason. Since joining EE as retail director at the beginning of 2023, he’s overseen a decisive shift in how the brand approaches physical retail.
The opening of the hugely successful EE Studio in Westfield London and the rollout of Experience stores across the UK are just a few examples of the innovation happening within EE under his stewardship.
They mark a clear repositioning for the brand away from transactional telecoms retail and towards experience-led, consultative environments designed to make connectivity tangible in customers’ lives.
And now, we can confirm that for the RG Retail Excellence Awards 2026, Aziz will be among 22 incredible leaders lending their time and knowledge to choosing which retailers take the awards on the night.
Retail Gazette sits down with Aziz to dig into his own career, the lessons he’s learned along the way, and some insider knowledge on what he’ll be looking out for as entries to the awards start to roll in.
Aziz’s journey into leadership spans more than three decades in retail. Before joining EE, he spent 27 years at Boots, beginning his career as a pharmacy manager before rising through the organisation to become director of stores, managing director of Boots Travel and director of healthcare.
Over that time he played a pivotal role in shaping the retailer’s omnichannel development, as well as leading the nationwide rollout of Covid-19 testing and vaccination programmes during the pandemic, work that ultimately earned him an OBE in 2022.
But for Aziz, leadership has never been about titles or tenure. Instead, he frames it as a responsibility, and one that should ultimately leave an organisation stronger than when you arrived.
“It goes with a huge amount of responsibility,” he says. “You don’t take that lightly. When you leave an organisation, you’ll be remembered to some degree for what you delivered numerically. But it’s the legacy that really matters. Are you leaving it in a better place than where you found it? And how do you make people feel, your teams and your customers?”
That philosophy shaped his decision to move from Boots to EE. The opportunity, he says, was less about the position itself and more about the potential to build something new.
“When I came to EE just after Covid, retail had been really challenged,” he explains. “The purpose of the brand was very strong, making a difference to customers’ lives, but the way retail was set up was quite transactional. We had to change that.”
The shift required a complete rethink of the retail strategy. Aziz and his team set out to transform EE’s stores from traditional telecoms outlets into experiential spaces that showcase how connectivity fits into everyday life.
“We had to move from being transactional to being far more experiential,” he says. “We are not a phone shop. We sell experience. We’re in the business of connectivity, and we consult.”
At the heart of that transformation is a renewed focus on people. Aziz frequently returns to the same principle: relationships come before products.
“We don’t focus on the product first,” he explains. “The relationship is the first thing you focus on. Get to know your customer. We consult, we don’t sell. Relationship, relationship, relationship.”
That consultative mindset is embedded in EE’s retail model. Store colleagues (known internally as guides) focus on understanding the customer’s wider needs rather than simply selling a device.
They provide personal business cards with their names and contact details, invite customers to return with questions and encourage follow-up appointments through QR codes. Conversations often extend beyond immediate purchases to future upgrades, broadband renewals or other services.
“It’s a real personal service,” Aziz says. “Very different from what we have historically done in phone shops.”
For Aziz, the value of this approach becomes clear in the moments where retail genuinely impacts someone’s life. He recalls a visit to an EE store in Penzance where one of the team had built a relationship with an elderly customer who lived alone.
After learning about her situation, the colleague recommended an Apple Watch and explained how it could be used to contact loved ones or emergency services if something went wrong.
Later, the woman collapsed in the shower and broke a vertebra. Because she was wearing the device, she was able to call for help.
“Can you imagine what could have happened?” Aziz says. “She could have been there for hours without anyone knowing. That’s why what we do matters.”
Stories like this, he believes, reinforce the purpose behind the strategy and the importance of culture when leading large teams. Today Aziz is responsible for more than 5,000 employees across EE’s retail network, something he says requires clarity of purpose as much as operational discipline.
“I cannot be there with them every single day,” he says. “So of course we lead through strategy and operating plans. But more importantly, we lead through our culture.”
His leadership style blends big-picture thinking with close attention to operational detail. Aziz describes it as being a “helicopter leader”, someone who can move between strategic altitude and on-the-ground reality.
“You’ve got to be up there and know the big things that matter,” he says. “But you’ve also got to get into the detail and understand what’s happening on the ground. Then you go back up again.”
Equally important is giving talented people the freedom to innovate within a clear strategic framework.
“I’m a big believer in having one North Star,” he explains. “But then having great talent and letting them be who they are within that framework. Give them the freedom to trailblaze and innovate so they can make a difference towards that North Star.”
That combination of clarity and autonomy, he argues, can accelerate progress far more effectively than rigid control. “Quite often they accelerate your successes,” he says. “And when you get that right, people don’t feel like they’re working.”
As Aziz prepares to join the judging panel for the RG Retail Excellence Awards, those principles will undoubtedly shape how he evaluates entries.
When asked what advice he would offer retailers hoping to make 2026 their strongest year yet, his response is characteristically direct. “My advice would be this. Ask yourself how you’re creating a winning mindset on the big things that matter, through your people, for your customers?” he says.
Technology, he adds, will play a vital role, but only when used in the right way. “It has to work symbiotically within the ecosystem,” he explains. “You need that balance between the big strategic view and the detail on the ground.”
For retailers entering the awards, Aziz is clear that innovation alone will not be enough. What matters is the clarity of the vision, the culture behind it and the execution that brings it to life.
“I hear lots of great ideas,” Aziz says. “That’s wonderful. But ultimately, it’s the execution and the impact it has that counts.”
Click here more information on the RG Retail Excellence Awards, and enter now!
