Marks & Spencer has restructured its marketing team, with the retailer seeking to end the year on a high following a relatively disappointing performance during its third quarter.
As part of the restructuring, which takes place as part of M&S' five-year transformation plan, Sharry Cramond has been appointed Marketing Director, Food & Hospitality, having joined the business from Southeastern Grocers in the US.
Cramond previously held roles with Target and Coles in Australia, as well as holding a number of senior roles at Tesco, including Proposition & Brand Marketing Director and Group Marketing Strategy & Brand Director.
Elsewhere, Nathan Ansell, the retailer's current Marketing Director, Customer & Loyalty has been appointed to the role of Marketing Director, Clothing & Home.
Finally, Rob Weston has been appointed Marketing Director, Brand & Customer, assuming responsibility for a new customer centre of excellence in addition to his current brand remit, the retailer said.
All three of the new appointments will report to Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, Executive Director, Customer, Marketing & Digital, who said that the hires were part of an ongoing programme of change at the retailer.
Transformation
"We’re changing M&S. Marketing and customer engagement will play a significant part in our transformation," he said. "The new team structure reflects this and, coupled with our one-brand approach, will ensure that we are faster, more commercial and acutely focused on our customers."
He described Cramond as a "creative firebrand" who will bring "strong food and digital experience to the team. We are looking forward to working together to drive our transformation plan with pace and clarity for our customers.”
These appointments take place on 29 January. In addition, M&S also confirmed that Victoria Self will be taking up the role of Digital Director at the retailer, commencing 25 January.
Retail Performance
The new appointments aren't the only new names to be passing through the doors of Marks & Spencer over the past few weeks - on January 10, the group announced the appointment of Humphrey Singer, the current chief financial officer at Dixons Carphone, as its new CFO.
The new arrivals follow the publishing of negative third quarter results, with the retailer posting a 1.4% decline in like-for-like sales, citing 'ongoing trading pressures'.
Food like-for-like sales were down 0.4%, while Clothing & Home was down 2.8% during the period.
While the retailer posted a positive Christmas period, the long term trend for M&S has been a somewhat negative one, which has necessitated some recent restructuring; it has announced plans to cut its annual IT bill by around £30 million by 2021/22, and recently confirmed the sale of its retail business in Hong Kong and Macau to Al-Futtaim.
In addition, chief executive Steve Rowe appears eager to speed up the group's 'accelerated transformation programme', which was announced last November. Announcing the group's third quarter figures, Rowe noted that M&S is "making further changes to get the business back on track in the year ahead."
These new appointments form a key part of that.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
