Matalan boosts leadership team to drive market share and transformation
Matalan, the prominent UK and international fashion and homewares retailer, has recently announced a series of significant senior leadership appointments within its crucial product, brand, and commercial teams. These strategic hires are set to refresh Matalan’s overall offering, focusing on delivering everyday style, quality, and value to customers. The company's objective is to significantly boost its market share and accelerate its ongoing business transformation, enhancing expertise across core areas such as buying and design, trading and merchandising, customer and loyalty, and e-commerce.
Among the key newcomers is Jo Bennett, who assumes the role of Director of Buying & Design. Bennett will be responsible for spearheading Matalan’s product and design strategy, bringing extensive experience from her previous leadership roles at Tu clothing and John Lewis, where she led the Womenswear & Accessories division. Jon Williams joins as the Director of Trading, Planning and Merchandising, a newly created position. With over two decades of multichannel retail experience from notable brands including John Lewis, Tesco, and Primark, Williams is poised to optimize Matalan's trading operations. Eilidh MacAskill has been appointed Director of Marketing, leveraging her senior experience in both retail and fashion journalism from companies such as Ocado, Asda, and Monsoon Accessorize. Furthermore, Andreas Nicolaides steps in as Director of Digital, tasked with driving Matalan’s omnichannel strategy. Nicolaides’ vast experience spans N Brown, John Lewis, and various digital media agencies across the UK, providing a robust foundation for digital growth.
These new appointments are designed to complement Matalan’s existing strengths in areas such as sourcing, quality assurance, customer insight, and data analytics. This integrated approach aims to forge a leadership team with the precise expertise required to initiate a significant step-change and capture greater market share, particularly within the competitive womenswear sector. The restructuring follows the earlier arrival of Sarah Welsh, who took on the newly created role of Chief Product, Brand and Commercial Officer. Welsh's appointment was instrumental in consolidating product, brand, and commercial capabilities under a unified team, fostering a more cohesive and focused strategy.
Sarah Welsh expressed her enthusiasm for the new team, stating, “Bringing together product, brand and commercial under one structure gives us the focus we need to relentlessly deliver the everyday style, quality and value our customer deserves. I am delighted to welcome the new team and look forward to inspiring our customer, innovating within our product and marketing and building our share in the market.” Her comments underscore the strategic intent behind these leadership changes and the commitment to customer-centric innovation.
These organizational enhancements are part of a broader, comprehensive transformation plan. They build upon the earlier announcement of a substantial investment program dedicated to modernizing Matalan’s store estate and supply chain infrastructure. This ambitious program is significantly underpinned by the £25 million in additional funding secured from its anchor investors earlier this year, signaling strong confidence in the company's future direction and growth potential.
Karl-Heinz Holland, Executive Chair of Matalan, commented on the extensive progress, stating, “We are making strong progress on our transformation plan. Combining product, brand and commercial capabilities has enabled us to put customers at the heart of everything we do and deliver on our promise to provide excellent quality, value and style. With fresh investment, a modernised store estate, invigorated product and the right talent across the business, we have both the strategy and means to grow our market share, attract new customers and deliver sustainable, profitable growth. I am proud of everything we’ve achieved so far on this journey.” His statement highlights the company's holistic approach to revitalization, emphasizing both strategic direction and the necessary resources to achieve sustained success.
