Former Carphone Warehouse director Anthony Hemmerdinger has rejoined Sainsbury’s as business development director.

Hemmerdinger left Carphone Warehouse in July just over a year after joining the mobiles specialist from Sainsbury’s, and will take up his new role at the grocer on January 1, 2013.

Hemmerdinger was director for retail, direct and contact centres at Carphone and was succeeded by its online solutions managing director Sam Tyrer.

Previously at Sainsbury’s he was most recently zone managing director for London and the South, responsible for 135 stores.

He will report to Sainsbury’s group development director Luke Jensen in his new role.

A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “He brings a unique combination of knowledge of mobile, Sainsbury’s and retail more broadly across food and non-food.

“This experience will be highly valuable as we explore options for the future of our business and key new business development areas.”

Sainsbury’s has strong trading momentum at present. Kantar Worldpanel data released this week showed the grocer notched up growth of 3.8% in the 12 weeks to September 2, ahead of wider grocery market growth of 3.3%.

Sainsbury’s boss Justin King said this week that the grocer’s sponsorship of the Paralympic Games, which concluded on Sunday, had “particularly resonated with customers and colleagues alike”.

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