Online shopping giant the Very Group has appointed a new group head of data as new owner the Carlyle Group, which bought the business in November last year, strengthens its commitment to drive innovation and leverage technology and data to improve its customer offering.
Andrew Ford has taken up the role with immediate effect, joining from AO, where he held the same role for just under two years. Prior to that, Ford held senior roles at commercial property giant CBRE, Amazon Web Services, Hitachi Vantara and Manchester Airport Group.
He succeeds Rob McCormick who this week revealed on LinkedIn that he had stepped down after an eight-year spell, insisting “the time has come for me to move on. I’ve loved every minute of it”.
The Very Group’s data and AI strategy focuses on profitability over sheer sales volume, heavily investing in automation, hyper-personalisation, and data democratisation.
In July this year, the group launched a major three-year partnership with UiPath to integrate Agentic AI into its pricing systems.
With over 90% of its online customers holding a flexible credit account, the group treats its vast combined financial services and retail data as its number one investment priority.
It also partners with tech platforms like Constructor to deliver AI-driven search, browse, and automated interactive quiz functionalities that adapt instantly to anonymous and collaborative customer behaviours.
Meanwhile, through an expanded collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the group runs a dedicated Gen AI Innovation Lab. This lab powers customer-facing digital features and supports internal operations like HelloStudio, the in-house creative agency launched last April.
The company also recently rolled out retail media division Very Media Group, backed by SMG.
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