John Lewis goes on senior hiring spree in push to modernise brand
John Lewis has made three new senior hires to support its plans to transform and grow the business after a tough year.
The new hires will focus on developing John Lewis’s online store, the retailer’s physical estates and branding.
Steve Masterton will become director of online trade. He joins the partnership from Dunelm, where he was digital director.
The retail giant plans to invest £50m on its website this year, and Masterton will be responsible for ensuring growth of online across all categories and services.
Stephen Spencer, who is currently director of real estate, store development and strategic sales at Lululemon has been made director of store of the future for John Lewis, a role he will take on in July.
Spencer’s role will involve working on rebalance the retailer’s estates, including where to open new, more local shops.
Rosie Hanley will join John Lewis in July from eBay, and become head of brand marketing, responsible for leading the brand strategy at the retailer.
Pippa Wicks, partner and executive director for John Lewis said: “They bring with them an enormous amount of talent and experience; and will all play critical, leadership roles in delivering our turnaround strategy as we invest to accelerate our online business, make our existing and future new format shops extraordinary destinations and modernise our brand.
“These appointments build on recent momentum in John Lewis, driven by the launch of our new ANYDAY range, which offers John Lewis quality and style at everyday prices, and the reopening of our Edinburgh shop after its three year refurbishment.”
Like many retailers, John Lewis faced big setbacks in the last year as coronavirus restrictions saw stores closed for months at a time.
In March, the partnership announced it would not open eight stores after lockdown restrictions were eased, putting some 1,500 jobs at risk.