Tesco culls senior management team

Retail Week can reveal that around 50 staff across all departments and particularly in the marketing division of its Cheshunt headquarters and Welwyn Garden City offices, will be departing.

Staff in consultation or departing are at levels three, four and five, which is just below board level. The departures include Tesco Clubcard marketing director Ian Crook and Tesco Mobile chief executive Roger Fogg.

Sources indicated that job losses could run into the hundreds, however Tesco insisted that the number was far fewer.

Clarke is attempting to turnaround the UK’s largest retailer’s fortunes through his Building a Better Tesco plan after profits plummeted last year.

He has made a number of changes to its senior team this year poaching group multichannel director Robin Terrell from House of Fraser, Blinkboxmusic boss Mark Bennett from Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer head of merchandising Paul Solly for its home business, Facebook executive Gavin Sathianathan to lead Blinkboxbooks and Notcutts Garden Centres chief executive Andy King to become Dobbies managing director.

Earlier this month, Clarke said in an exclusive column for Retail Week that Tesco is reshaping the organisation to become a “multichannel leader”.

Clarke wrote: “A lot of retailers claim it, but creating individually perfect shopping experiences, however a customer shops, is difficult to achieve. Becoming a multichannel leader is about more than just putting iPads in stores.

“It needs investment in new types of skills and not just in the IT department.

“From marketing, finance and operations through to commercial and corporate affairs, the skillsets required by retail leaders are changing. That means bringing in outstanding talent with these new skills to work alongside the best of Tesco.”