Morrisons online MD Simon Thompson latest to exit supermarket
Simon Thompson, Morrisons online managing director, is set to leave the supermarket at the end of the month with marketing director Nick Collard poised to take on his responsibilities.
His departure follows hot on the heels of the sacking of chief executive Dalton Philips, who will leave the company at the end of the group's financial year this March.
Following the company’s latest trading update last week (13 January), Philips was heavily criticised for the delay in launching an online delivery service.
Morrisons said Thompson will depart with “strong levels of customer satisfaction and operational metrics that are on plan.”
Thompson added that he was proud of the service that it had built, which launched in a tie-up with Ocado last January.
“[I] would like to thank the team for their enormous effort in making it happen and our customers for trusting us with their shopping during our first year in business,” he said.
Moving forward, group customer, marketing and digital director, Nick Collard will take responsibility for the operation of Morrisons.com at board level.
Its day-to-day running will fall to Matt Kelleher, currently trading director for non-food and operations.
Meanwhile, Jamie Winter, existing trading director for Morrisons.com, will transition out of the role over the coming weeks to become trading director for operations and services.
Thompson, who joined Morrisons in September 2011, has not disclosed where he will move to but it is understood to be away from retail.
Previously, he has held roles at Apple, as online store director, Lastminute.com, and Honda.