N Brown creates new senior role to bring CX to the fore

N Brown Group, the online shopping giant behind Simply Be, Jacamo and Figleaves, is aiming to boost its customer experience strategy by creating the new role of chief customer operations officer.

Designed to “bring responsibility for the entire customer journey under a single remit”, the company has promoted supply chain director Clare Empson to the role just a year after she joined, having spent more than 25 years at Ted Baker.

In her new role, Empson will be responsible for supply chain, customer service and customer insight, ensuring accountability for those areas that directly impact the customer experience across its retail brands.

Group CEO and interim chair Steve Johnson said: “At the heart of our strategic transformation is a commitment to aligning N Brown’s structure with our customers’ needs and elevating their experience as they interact with our brands,” he added.

Empson’s appointment comes weeks after Dene Jones, former customer director at Very, was named as CEO of retail at N Brown succeeding Sarah Welsh, who is leaving the business after five years.

Jones, who started this week, is in charge of leading the retailer’s domain and the “continued evolution of a distinct brand proposition and unique product offering” for customers across each of the group’s retail brands.

The company can trace its roots back to  1875, when James David Williams operated off the back of a two-wheeled cart in Derby and then  set up a mail order business, taking orders in the post. In 1882, he took advantage of the introduction of UK’s parcel post service, to send his company’s products direct to his customers and in 1884 moved to Manchester and launched set up JD Williams & Company.

The founder passed away in the 1920s but the business continued to operate, even through numerous recessions and N Brown became the parent organisation in 1989. And, the parent company has undergone a major digital transformation over the past decade, ditching huge printed catalogues for a digital-only business, optimising and personalising its product messages.

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