Fashion chain Bonmarché names Geraldine Higgins as product director

Higgins will be responsible for driving and implementing the struggling retailer’s product strategy. She will also work with with the trading board on wider company strategy. Higgins started the role on January 4. 

The former Monsoon brand director has also held roles at Sainsbury’s, Etam Group and Matalan.

Higgins joins at a tough time for the over 50s fashion chain. In December, Bonmarché posted a shock profit warning, with the retailer revealing that sales, particularly since Black Friday, had been “very challenging and have not normalised”. It said profits would now be between £10.5m and £12m rather than £13.4m which had been previously forecast.

The profit warning came after Bonmarché posted a 15.6% drop in interim profits to £5.4m, despite a 2% increase in like-for-like store sales.

On the same today as issuing its profit warning, Bonmarché said its chief executive Beth Butterwick was leaving to join Karen Millen. Butterwick will remain with the retailer until a succesor is found.

On the appointment, Butterwick said: “We are delighted to welcome Geraldine to Bonmarché. Her wealth of experience means she is well-placed to support us in the development of our product modernisation process. To deliver this, she will focus on both current and new sourcing opportunities to ensure Bonmarché continues to offer customers contemporary, style-appropriate, good quality products at fantastic prices. We are looking forward to leveraging Geraldine’s knowledge and experience in this critical area of our business.”

The retailer will issue its Christmas trading update on January 15.