Nelson is believed to have lined up another job in the retail sector, but his departure draws another line under the troubled reign of ousted chief executive Sir Peter Davis.
Nelson had rejoined the grocer as trading director in April 2003, following a seven-year stint at drinks giant Diageo. Prior to joining Diageo, he had spent five years at Sainsbury's in various trading positions.
However, Nelson was moved sideways by Justin King soon after his arrival as chief executive in March last year. King drafted in former Asda colleague Mike Coupe for the trading director role, shunting Nelson into the marketing brief last November. Sainsbury's declined to comment on Nelson's departure.
King has brought in fresh talent since he arrived at Sainsbury's last March, drafting in Gwyn Burr as customer service director, Ken McMeikan as retail director, Jim McCarthy as managing director for convenience and Lawrence Christensen as supply chain director.
Earlier this month, Sainsbury's bolstered its ranks further with the appointment of former Kingfisher director Bob Hetherington to the newly created position of director of retail change, with responsibility for modernisingand simplifying in-store operations.
Sainsbury's has been making solid progress under King's new management team, improving availability and becoming more aggressive on price.
According to the latest TNS Superpanel data, revealed yesterday, the grocer is clawing back market share. Sainsbury's share stands at 15.9 per cent for the 12 weeks to April 24, up from 15.5 per cent. Asda's share has dropped from 16.6 per cent to 16.5 per cent while Morrisons/Safeway has fallen from 14.4 per cent a year ago to 12.2 per cent. Tesco continues to lead with its share at 29.8 per cent, up from 27.5 per cent.
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