Furniture retailer Dwell has appointed Peter McKenna as its first director of multichannel.

McKenna has joined Dwell from home shopping channel Bid TV, where he was director of ecommerce.

Before that he was director of direct sales at The White Company.  He has also worked at Artigiano Fashion and MFI. 

Dwell managing director Aamir Ahmad said the appointment helps the retailer bolster its multichannel offer.

He said Dwell, which started out as a mail order catalogue, has always been “ahead of the curve in multichannel”.

Ahmad said: “We’re a very multichannel business. We always have been, it’s a core part of our DNA and it’s important we keep investing.”

Dwell is expanding its product range online from 2,000 SKUs to 4,000. It is also installing kiosks in stores so customers can shop from the whole range, while staff will also carry round iPads to look up products on the shopfloor.

McKenna will be responsible for multichannel, customer relationship management, direct mail, and “anything to do with data as well as the website”, according to Ahmad.

McKenna said: “Dwell is a hugely exciting brand, with a great team behind it. I love the product and the theatre in the stores, and I’m really excited to be joining during this period of growth. 

“My job here is to keep on moving forward, no retailer can afford to ignore that customers are shopping the brand in every channel simultaneously, particularly in furniture and home.”

Dwell is also about to open one of its largest stores to date at Lakeside Retail Park, Essex at 15,000 sq ft. The store, which will take the retailer’s estate up to 22, will open on August 24, in time for the bank holiday weekend.

Ahmad said trading was going well, but added that the Olympics was “really rubbish for us”.

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