Online marketplace Fruugo has appointed a former Amazon director as chief operations officer

The appointment of Fergal Gara draws on his retail and technology experience, and forms part of Fruugo’s plan to drive global expansion.

Prior to his new role, Gara held several roles at Amazon, including director of technology and operations at Amazon Fashion, heading up internal transformation programmes, the implementation of new automation and business intelligence tools, and delivery of operational improvement programmes.

He was also IT director at the ecommerce giant.

Gara’s most recent role was chief commercial officer at specialist distributor CMS Distribution, where he led commercial strategy and operations across the UK, Europe and the US.

He has also held roles at Sony and was trading director for Asda Direct.

At Fruugo, Gara will use his knowledge to drive sales and marketing activity to build awareness and boost customer engagement.

Fruugo executive chair and co-founder Dominic Allonby said: “Fergal has extensive board-level experience with some of the biggest names in the retail sector.

“His appointment to Fruugo’s executive team is a pivotal moment in Fruugo’s history. The company has gone from strength to strength, and with his experience gained at Amazon, Sony and Asda, we can trust him to guide us and implement Fruugo’s strategic vision for 2024 and beyond.”

Gara added: “It’s a really exciting time to be joining Fruugo given its growth trajectory.

“The leadership team is ambitious, and we already have many strategic projects underway. I look forward to helping Fruugo expand in several key markets and working closely with retailers to help them achieve their sales goals and drive cross-border trade, which is vital to the wider economy.”