Waitrose customer chief builds team with three recruits

nathan ansell2Waitrose has made three appointments to its marketing team as customer director Nathan – the former M&S marketing chief who joined in November – builds retailer’s multichannel strategy to put lifetime loyalty at the heart of its proposition.

First up is Helen Carroll, who becomes head of brand and customer experience. She will join on October 31 from the Co-op, where has been for 21 years, nine of which as head of brand communications. Most recently Carroll was head of community strategy and engagement, leading supplier relationship management, cross-channel marketing, customer insight and customer experience.

Carroll will be joined by new head of customer planning and events Wendy Rumble. Having started her career at M&S, she worked at Anheuser-Busch, Diageo, Britvic and Johnson & Johnson. Most recently, Rumble has ran The Original Buggy Runners, a community she set up in 2015.

The supermarket has also promoted Caroline Kinsman, who will move from her role as head of digital and marketing to become its head of customer channels.

Ansell (pictured) said: “Helen and Wendy both bring substantial retail, grocery and commercial expertise into the customer leadership team and we are thrilled to have them on board. I am also delighted that Caroline Kinsman will be taking on the important role of head of customer channels.”

Last week, it emerged that, out of all the UK retailers, shoppers were most loyal to John Lewis and Waitrose, who were number one and two respectively.

Ansell continued: “We already enjoy huge brand loyalty, but by joining the brand experience and customer experience under their leadership we aim to take our relationships with customers to the next level – bringing the Waitrose brand alive in a more assertive and consistent way across the customer experience.”

Related stories
UK shoppers ‘most loyal to John Lewis and Waitrose’
Waitrose hires chief to boost lifetime customer loyalty
John Lewis strikes £100m Google deal to implement AI
John Lewis hires N Brown online chief to lead new unit
John Lewis hands advertising and loyalty brief to Saatchi