Chief executive, Kiddicare & Managing director, non-food online, Morrisons (2011 rank: 6)
Kiddicare’s transformation from a promising etailer to a multichannel force with a £200m turnover target in its sights has stepped up in the last year.
Following the baby specialist’s £70m acquisition by Morrisons in February 2011, the purchase of 10 former Best Buy stores in January sped up expansion plans. This realised Scott Weavers-Wright and his wife and brand director Elaine’s long-held ambitions to have a small but effective store estate to complement the online business.
His daughter, Sophie, is also working in the business as the family’s third generation to be part of the company.
Weavers-Wright, who heads the £50m etailer as well as Morrisons’ online division, faces a crucial year. However, he will be pleased with the six months in which he kick-started Morrisons’ ecommerce strategy, rebranded the business, opened its first store in Nottingham and relaunched its website.
He will now drive the business towards a new era, which will include opening a 55,000 sq ft flagship store in Thurrock in time for Christmas and the launch of Morrisons’ new non-food site, Morrisonscellar.com.
Kiddicare also bolstered its presence in Morrisons’ stores with kiosks and supplies products including its Buzzing Brains toy brand.
Weavers-Wright, who gives the impression he could have been a codebreaker in another life, maintains his passion for technology he and his team have built, and it is this platform that will provide the basis for both Kiddicare and Morrisons’ online businesses. He has also built a complex online fulfilment and picking system that rivals most in retail at Kiddicare’s headquarters in Peterborough.
A fan of informal workwear, Weavers-Wright recently told Retail Week he has “even convinced the Morrisons guys they can stop wearing ties at meetings”. Despite the stratospheric increase in his workload, he remains one of etail’s most likeable and important figures.
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