M&S's womenswear boss latest to exit ailing retailer
Marks & Spencer has parted ways with its head of womenswear in the latest shakeup to its management board.
Frances Russell, who has led the womenswear business for nearly three years, left the company amidst a wider shakeup of the general merchandise team as M&S tries to revive non-food sales.
Jo Jenkins – who has been lingerie and beauty director – has been promoted into the expanded role of director of womenswear, lingerie and beauty.
It comes after John Dixon – who was head of general merchandise, which included clothing, shoes and homeware – quit last month after serving for nearly three decades to take up the chief executive role at an as yet, unnamed company.
Head of food Steve Rowe took over from Dixon as head of non-food, while Andy Adcock was named director of food.
The clothing division – until earlier this year – suffered 15 consecutive quarters of decline. Despite what seemed to be a resurgence thanks to marketing campaigns featuring model Rosie Huntington Whitley the revival was short-lived as sales of its non-food products slipped (by 0.4 per cent) once again in its latest quarter.
In contrast, food sales were up 0.3 per cent.
In a bid to turn things around, Rowe is trying to bring together all the product areas targeting female customers under one overarching strategy.