Simon Harrow, one of retail’s digital rising stars, is poised to leave beleaguered supermarket group Morrisons, Retail Week has learned.

Harrow, who rose through the ranks to become chief operating officer at Kiddicare, moved to Morrisons after the supermarket bought the baby equipment retailer in 2011.

He is currently head of digital development at Kiddicare, and has responsibility for digital capability and platform development across all channels at Kiddicare.

His exit comes after Morrisons last month said it was selling Kiddicare. Morrisons boss Dalton Philips described it as a “business whose performance has been disappointing and which is no longer strategic”. Rothschild is handling the process.

The Kiddicare team had originally been brought in to develop Morrisons’ online grocery offer but the supermarket instead partnered with Ocado. Morrisons has come under fire for implementing a controversial strategy for Kiddicare, which included store openings. The bricks and mortar expansion is considered one of the main reasons Kiddicare’s performance floundered.

Morrisons is losing sales to the discounters, and is struggling because of its lack of established online and convenience arms. Its share of the grocery market fell 0.5% year on year in the 12 weeks to March 30, according to figures from Kantar.

The retailer reported pre-tax losses of £176m for the year to February 2, against pre-tax profits of £879m the year before.

Morrisons confirmed Harrow is leaving the retailer.

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