House of Fraser hires former Government digital director to help spearhead online plans
House of Fraser has turned to ex-Ministry of Justice advisor Mark Madden to help guide it through the next phase of growth online, appointing him as director of digital products.
Madden’s hire comes after online became House of Fraser's most profitable channel for first time to account for 15.4 per cent of total sales.
It is now looking to experiment with the medium, recently revealing that it will be trailing shoppable windows this Christmas.
Driving the next phase of this growth, Madden will oversee the digital product, project and customer experience for the retailer.
He joins House of Fraser after a year spent within the Ministry of Justice where he oversaw the government department’s internal and external digital offering and has also consulted for Boots, TalkTalk, Sky and Yahoo. His last permanent position was two years spent with British Gas where he was head of customer experience.
The retailer’s online drive has predominantly focused on driving use of its mobile app and website. Most recently it introduced a raft of changes to its iPhone app to focus more on personalisation and speedier check outs.
However, internal data shows that 70 per cent of customers still only shop in-store, while 25 per cent shop across channels.
In an effort to connect the digital and physical experience it was the first to test beacon enabled mannequins in its Aberdeen store but has not rolled it out wider.