Ocado Retail has poached Nicola Waller from John Lewis as its new trading director for fresh, chilled & frozen.
Waller was JLP’s head of customer proposition for home furnishings from 2020 until her appointment at Ocado Retail this week.
She spent four years before that at Waitrose, first as head of buying fresh produce and then head of meat, fish, poultry and dairy.
She has a career in retail spanning over 25 years, also including 10 as a category manager at M&S and senior commercial roles at Sainsbury’s and Selfridges.
Her appointment sees Simon Hinks, who was Ocado Retail’s interim director of trading for fresh, chilled & frozen, now made its product director.
Hinks will be leading on own brand, technical, sustainability & strategic sourcing functions.
The appointments follow the departure in March of former Ocado Retail trading director of fresh, chilled and frozen, Candice Ferreira, to be chief commercial officer at Flamingo Horticulture.
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“I’m really pleased to confirm Nic and Simon’s new appointments within the commercial leadership team here at Ocado Retail,” said chief commercial officer Amit Chitnis.
“Both have extensive experience and will play a pivotal role in our next phase of growth as we continue to transform the online grocery market.”
A JLP spokesperson said: “We are so grateful for everything that Nic has brought to the Partnership over the last nine years – from her first days at Waitrose through to her impressive achievements as head of home furnishings at John Lewis. We wish her the very best of luck for her future.”
Ocado Retail UK revenues increased by £11.3% to £1.31bn in the six months to 2 June 2024, driven by 9.5% volume growth, according to an interim trading update this week.
New Kantar data had the online supermarket as the fastest-growing grocer for the fifth month in a row, with sales up 10.7% year on year in the 12 weeks ending 7 July. Its market share stands at 1.8%, up from 1.7% a year ago.
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