Sainsbury's Veteran Kirstin Knight Joins Worldpanel

In the UK, Sainsbury's veteran Kirstin Knight has joined Kantar Worldpanel, to manage the Grocery Retail division.

Kantar Worldpanel provides insights into consumer purchasing and usage habits on a local and global scale, with a panel network covering sectors such as FMCG, impulse products, fashion, baby, telecommunications and entertainment. The firm has a presence in 60 countries, and in the UK taps into a syndicated, demographically-representative panel of 30,000 British households.

Knight (pictured) spent the past twenty years at Sainsbury's supermarket, most recently as Head of Own Brand Marketing. During her career with the firm, she also worked as Head of Trading Insights, responsible for delivering customer-led knowledge and insights for the commercial teams, and earlier she was a Retail Manager, a Buyer, and a Category Planner.

In the newly created role of Retail Director, Knight is tasked with building Kantar Worldpanel's portfolio of retail clients and managing its team of UK retail specialists. The company said in a statement that Knight's understanding of the UK grocery industry and strong network of contacts across UK retailers will make her central to the development of its expertise in grocery retail.

MD Tim Kidd added: 'Kirstin's appointment to the Kantar Worldpanel commercial board is a real coup for our business. For Kantar Worldpanel, the creation of this senior role reflects the importance of our grocery retail business and our commitment to our retailer clients. With Kirstin we will continue to develop our market-leading offering and ensure it remains best in class for UK retailers and manufacturers alike.'

Web site: www.kantarworldpanel.com .