Sainsbury’s has revamped its non-food management team in preparation for a massive sales push.
The retailer, which launched a non-food website this July featuring 4,000 lines, hopes to grow its total floor space by 5% by the end of the financial year and dedicate half of it to non-food.
Sainsbury’s non-food managing director Luke Jensen has shuffled the top team and created new roles in order to meet the target.
Director of clothing, Adrian Mountford, under whom Tu has grown into one of the top ten clothing brands in the UK with a £500m turnover, has moved to the broader role of director of general merchandise. Sara Bradley, who is currently head of buying for Tu, will replace Mountford.
Claire Sollis, head of buying for general merchandise, is moving to the new role of head of non-food product technology development and supplier compliance. She will oversee Sainsbury’s non-food product provenance, including technology, packaging, development, sourcing and corporate responsibility.
Jat Sahota, previously head of corporate responsibility, is moving to the new role of head of non-food marketing.
John Cooper, previously head of general merchandise, becomes head of non-food trading and merchandising support. In the new role he will have responsibility for driving improvements across the division.
The new position of head of the non-food field team will be filled by Caroline Bartlett, who previously managed the clothing field team.
“Our non-food is growing fast, with an increasing amount of shop floor space and the recent launch of our non-food website,” said Jensen. “The new roles play to the strengths of the individuals involved and I’m sure they will play a crucial role in the success of the division.”
Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s is seeking a new regional managing director for convenience stores in the north of England and Scotland after Kevin Plant left to become retail operations director at high street chemist Semichem.
1 Readers' comment