Loyalty Man Leaves Tesco for Sainsbury's

Andrew Mann is to join UK supermarket chain Sainbury's next month from rival Tesco, to take up the post of Director of Customer Insight and Loyalty. The move comes as Sainsbury's restructures its London head office as part of a cost-saving exercise.

As part of the re-structure, Sainsbury's has created three business units; non-food, grocery and fresh food. The changes will include a simplification of internal structures and a reduction in the duplication of roles. Sources suggest this will result in the loss of around 200 roles (5% of its London HQ staff), although the retailer hopes to redeploy as many members of staff as possible in other areas of the business.

Mann, who will take up his new role with Sainsbury's at the end of February, initially joined Tesco in 2004 as Marketing Director of its Clubcard loyalty scheme. Last year, he moved into the post of Marketing Director for Planning and Innovation to analyse how different aspects of the firm's marketing fit together strategically. Prior to this, he worked for British Gas as Head of Brand and Communications, and for the 14 years before this, he held senior brand and marketing roles at Cadbury Schweppes and Coca-Cola.

The retailer has also appointed former Boots marketer Claire Harrison-Church as Director of Brand Communications.

Sainsbury's employs 150,000 people in its 509 supermarkets, 276 convenience stores, and Sainsbury's Bank. The firm says it plans to create 5,000 new jobs through store openings this year.

Web site: www.jsainsburys.co.uk .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.