Lloyds dials up Deliveroo to fill top customer loyalty role

Lloyds Banking Group is counting on retail technology experience to keep customers coming back for more, appointing a senior Deliveroo executive and former Tesco Labs chief to take up the role of customer rewards and loyalty director.

Paul Wilkinson has spent the past three years at Deliveroo, leading the product team focused on grocery partners, including its Picking App, API integrations and the systems for Deliveroo Hop, the rapid grocery service from delivery-only stores.

Wilkinson also spent just over two years at Amazon, where he helped launch Alexa Shopping in 22 countries and laid the groundwork for future country expansion.

Prior to that he worked at Tesco for nearly a decade, having joined as part of the technology graduate scheme.

Over this time, he was instrumental in the creation of Tesco Labs and a key part of the leadership team that built the division from 6 to almost 30 people.

He was also head of product for space, range and merchandising, where he transformed the previous manual processes to be more automated and data driven and introduced a product management approach to the department.

In a LinkedIn post, Wilkinson said: “After almost three years it’s time for me to move on from Deliveroo and I’m very excited to say that I’m starting a new role at Lloyds Banking Group this week.

“In my time at Deliveroo we’ve continuously innovated for customers and enabled partners to provide the best possible service by transforming the tools available to them. I’ve every confidence the team will keep up the amazing pace of change in an area that is also growing so fast as more and more customers want to get groceries quickly (or flowers, paint, Lego etc).”

“Looking forward I’m excited to bring my experience to retail banking which for me is a new sector away from groceries. It’s a huge part of everyday life for millions of customers and I’m looking forward to building tools that make their lives easier.”

Of Lloyds’ 26 million customers, over 18 million are online, making it one of the largest digital banks in the UK. As part of its ongoing digital transformation, the company has shown a keen interest in facilitating innovation in the industry, joining as a partner on FinTech Action Labs (a fintech accelerator programme) to bring its industry expertise to early-stage FinTechs.

As well as investment in digital transformation and AI, the company is expanding its partnerships with digital banking companies.

One recent example of its tech strategy is the revamped mobile banking app, which is being promoted as part of the multichannel “The Power To Do It All” campaign.

Created by Adam & Eve DDB, the activity highlights the ease of requesting money from family and friends (pictured).

Based on the insight that British people tend to feel a bit awkward having conversations around money that they are owed, “The Best Grandparents”, directed by Gary Freedman, shows an extended family enjoying a holiday together, culminating in the grandfather sending out a request for the money on the flight home, to recoup all he has spent on everyone while on holiday.