House of Fraser is set to benefit from the appointment of former M&S digital director David Walmsley, who replaces Andy Harding.
Walmsley’s CV is an enviable one, indicative of a man who is unafraid to take on a challenge. His experience at large legacy retailers such as John Lewis, Dixons and Marks & Spencer appears to have filled House of Fraser, which has already made strides in its ecommerce offer, with confidence.
The retailer appointed Walmsley to the role of chief customer officer this week.
That role had been held by Andy Harding, who is well-regarded in the industry, and was ranked 81st in Retail Week’s Power List 2015.
Harding’s surprise departure has come during a period of change at House of Fraser. Its head of home, food, and beauty, Ysanne Jenkins, also left the group this year, along with its director of global multichannel trading Martin Francis and clothing and accessories boss Jackie Hay.
House of Fraser said it is restructuring the business to make it “fit for the future” and has since made a string of new appointments, including former Asos executive Maria Hollins.
Walmsley too was caught up in a reshuffle. He was one of a slew of high-profile individuals who exited M&S in the wake of an internal shake-up by new chief executive Steve Rowe in April.
But with Harding’s shoes to fill, will Walmsley be up to the job of chief customer officer?
Good news for House of Fraser
Verdict retail analyst Nivindya Sharma says that House of Fraser has “benefited from Steve Rowe’s decision”.
“House of Fraser is a business in good shape. Ecommerce sales made up 18.9% of its total sales last year, which is a significant increase, but it is still quite far behind the likes of John Lewis,” she says.
“Walmsley might be able to align this for them however and push the multichannel aspect of the business one step further.”
As Sharma observes, most department stores are in the process of overhauling their store portfolios, and House of Fraser is no exception.
“Ecommerce has long been top of the agenda for House of Fraser so his masses of experience in digital is a great advantage.
“But in his new role, Walmsley will have influence in numerous aspects of the business. He will be heavily involved in the future of House of Fraser, what it will look like and how it will communicate with its customers.”
The new role
At House of Fraser, Walmsley will take over Harding’s remit of brand development, unifying the online and in-store channels.
When his appointment was unveiled Walmsley said: “[House of Fraser’s] multichannel offer is already second to none, placing the customer at the heart of its strategy and execution. I am looking forward to working with the team to further enhance and develop the brand and online business, as well as continue to improve the customer’s journey, taking House of Fraser through its next stages of growth.”
Walmsley’s official start date is yet to be confirmed, but he will take over from Harding’s interim replacement Alison Lancaster and report to chief executive Nigel Oddy.
A wealth of retail experience
Walmsley has been working in “the digital space” for over 20 years. He built his first website in 1994 and admits that he still enjoys “fiddling with code”.
He was director of Marks & Spencer’s digital business for five years, responsible for a team of 700 people across the UK and India and working on digital development, engineering, product management, supply chain, in-store, analytics and site merchandising.
Perhaps his most significant project was the relaunch of M&S.com in 2014, taking it from an Amazon platform to its own infrastructure and multichannel platform. However, the site initially experienced a number of teething problems. Some users found they could not get to the checkout page and others had items disappear from their shopping basket.
Prior to this Walmsley was director of ecommerce at Dixons for two years, where he overhauled the digital team. His responsibilities included business transformation, trading, commercial operations and customer experience both online and offline.
Walmsley also had a two-year stint at John Lewis between 2007 and 2009. As head of web selling and customer services, he launched its online fashion offering and developed its next-day click-and-collect proposition.
Outside of his full-time roles, he has been a governor on the board of the Fashion Retail Academy since 2012.
But fashion isn’t his only love. Walmsley started off as a historian, collecting a BA Hons in history from the University of Cambridge in 1993, where he even dabbled in theatre direction.
Customer-centric or corporate?
A source close to both M&S and House of Fraser has raised questions about Walmsley’s move from a “corporate, political M&S environment” to the “more entrepreneurial and fast-moving House of Fraser”.
The source says: “My instinct is that Walmsley is less customer-centric than Harding, but that he will thrive in the new role and enjoy the opportunity to be part of a more agile, nimble, innovative business, where he will be able to make things happen quickly.
“Walmsley has kept a comparatively low profile but he’s a good guy with a great track record. It will be interesting to see how he responds in his new, more agile environment and learn more about his leadership style as he settles into the role.”
Perhaps moving from a corporate environment at M&S to an entrepreneurial one like House of Fraser may yet bring theatre-loving Walmsley out of his shell.
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