Waitrose has appointed Alex Lovell as its new head of loyalty, to lead the relaunch of the MyWaitrose loyalty scheme.
Lovell joined Waitrose this week from Sainsbury’s, where she was formerly head of loyalty, before a spell as customer director of its Smart Charge EV business.
She is the latest appointment following a restructure of the Waitrose and John Lewis loyalty teams ahead of the delayed launch of a new pan-partnership loyalty programme this year.
In what is a brand new role, Lovell will report into Waitrose customer director Nathan Ansell. She will be responsible for all elements of loyalty at Waitrose, which includes its revived free coffee offer and discounts in store, as well as the full rollout of more personalised offers.
“I am delighted to welcome Alex as our head of loyalty for Waitrose,” Ansell said. “She brings a wealth of experience and expertise to this role, most notably from her time as head of loyalty for Sainsbury’s and Argos where she has a track record of delivering innovative, customer and commercially led change across grocery retail.
“Alex has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities of loyalty in the grocery sector, and we’re thrilled for her to join us here at Waitrose.”
During her near 12-year spell at Sainsbury’s, Lovell also worked as head of brand growth on its now folded Future Brands programme, alongside other roles, including in customer insights and as brand strategy manager.
Sainsbury’s has been approached for comment and for confirmation as to whether it has plans to replace Lovell.
Waitrose latest loyalty relaunch delayed
Waitrose relaunched MyWaitrose in 2022. However, the new scheme was heavily criticised by customers at the time, who complained that it didn’t offer value, and lacked personalisation.
The supermarket has rolled out a series of changes in response, including improved personalisation through a new partnership with Dunnhumby, as well as an enhanced free coffee offer.
The partnership now plans to replace the currently separate MyWaitrose and MyJohn Lewis programmes with a combined loyalty programme, with benefits that work across both retailers.
The partnership has had to push back the relaunch from its original deadline of early 2024 after a series of delays, which The Grocer understands are due to the initial work on the back-end infrastructure taking longer than expected.
New JLP chairman Jason Tarry declined to confirm to The Grocer when the new scheme would launch this year. However, he pointed to the fact that MyWaitrose participation had grown 7% to 4.6 million active users in the last year.
“We are making sure we are relevant to the customers and missions within those brands and the customer need,” he said, during JLP’s annual results call last week.
“Undoubtedly there’s an opportunity for us to think about our partnership in total and leveraging across our brands. That is something we are working on now and there will be more news on that later.”
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