Marks & Spencer and Waitrose may be slugging it out this Christmas, with James Norton taking on Keira Knightley for a larger share of upmarket festive spend, but M&S is aiming to get one over on its rival by appointing a man who spent over two decades leading customer experience and transformation at the supermarket.
Alan Hoe joins in a newly created role as new head of CX and operations from agency CLX, where he has been working as a consultant since February this year.
However, it is his 21 years at Waitrose that will be top of mind for M&S bosses as the retailer continues to invest in improving its stores, CX and operational efficiency as part of its wider transformation strategy.
Having started his career on the shopfloor at Waitrose as a supermarket assistant, Hoe quickly moved up the ranks to the top floor, first as a section manager, then a department manager and by 2016 had become a branch manager.
By 2021, he had become regional shop leadership transformation lead, then senior implementation and insight manager before taking on responsibility for a multi-million pound budget to deliver new service standards to a combined 40,000 employees and leaders across customer facing roles. He left in 2025 to set up his own retail consultancy.
M&S has also been accelerating investment in its store estate, completing 18 new, extended or renewed stores during the first half as it looks to improve the shopping experience and drive further growth.
The company’s well-documented goal is to reshape itself into an agile, data-driven retailer where digital capabilities are at the heart of both customer experience and internal operations.
In recent months M&S has recruited former Lloyds Banking Group, E.On and VW chief Nathan Davies as its first head of data and AI delivery, hired Morrisons chief customer officer and group customer, data and marketing director Matt McLellan as head of loyalty, and drafted in new chief digital and technology officer John Hunt from Woolworths in Australia.
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