Today in Retail: Wiggle’s new boss gears up to take over

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Wiggle’s incoming boss Will Kernan joins the specialist retailer after a five-year stint at The White Company.

To some onlookers, going from running a homewares retailer to a tri-sports pure play business may seem like a leap.

However, Kernan – who has previously worked at retailers including New Look, Burton and Arcadia – has shown that he is adept at switching gears in his career to date.

The incoming boss will take over from Stefan Barden, who has been at the helm of the specialist etailer since 2013. It’s not known whether Barden has a new role lined up.

Kernan will hope to keep up momentum at the online retailer, which acquired rival business Chain Reaction Cycles last June, when he steps into his new role next month.

While Kernan warms up for Wiggle, Boots’ omnichannel boss Robin Phillips steps down after two years with the retailer.

There was some good news for strained department store retailer House of Fraser, which unveiled plans to develop a new £300m retail complex in Chester.

And it was a mixed bag for single-price retailer Poundland, which launched its first Pep & Co shop-in-shop, but pulled the plug on its etail arm to focus on its core business, as revealed by Retail Week.

Quote of the day

“The amount of customers wasn’t that great that were using it [the website] as a proposition, and the amount of returning customers wasn’t as high as we would have liked to have seen”

– Poundland’s trading director Barry Williams on the retailer’s decision to scrap its transactional website.