Majestic Wine has appointed former B&Q director John Colley to the newly created position of managing director of its core retail business.
Colley will take up the role overseeing Majestic Wine Retail from October 1. He has been handed responsibility for running the retailer’s 211 stores, including its operations in Calais, France.
The group’s other businesses, Majestic Commercial, Naked Wines and Lay and Wheeler, will be run by separate managing directors.
Colley has more than 20 years of senior retail experience, most recently as chief executive of Dutch DIY chain Praxis Netherlands.
He also served as commercial and marketing director at B&Q and commercial director at Screwfix.
No change of strategy
Colley will report directly to Majestic Wines chief executive Rowan Gormley, who took the reins in April after the retailer acquired online rival Naked Wines – the business Gormley founded in December 2008.
Majestic Wine’s pre-tax profit fell 22.5% to £18.4m for the year ending March 30 and Gormley has already revealed his priorities to transform the business.
He has pledged to make the shopping experience “simpler, easier and more fun”, invest further in staff training and build “sustainable sales growth” through personalised service. Majestic Wine has already acted on that target after launching a ‘Text for Wine’ ordering service, allowing customers to submit their alcohol orders via text message.
Gormley also wants to prioritise rebuilding Majestic Wine’s supply chain, delivering “robust and scalable” IT, and will limit new store openings to 20 to 30 locations that can deliver a “good return” on investment.
Majestic Wine said there would be “no change to current strategy plans” but will provide a further update when it unveils its interim results on November 16.
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