BP has announced the hire of M&S franchise director David Phillpot as its new convenience trading director for Europe.

The newly created role will see Phillpot charged with driving performance and convenience retail growth across bp’s European network of over 3,000 company owned stores, as well as maximising bp’s strategic grocery partnerships with retailers including Albert Heijn in the Netherlands, Auchan in Poland, REWE in Germany and M&S in the UK.

In his most recent role as franchise director at M&S, Phillpot led relationships and commercial plans with all of the supermarket’s franchise partners, including BP. He previously held the position of trading director of convenience food at M&S, successfully overseeing key categories including ready meals, food on the move and desserts

Phillpot will report to Jo Hayward, VP convenience, Europe at BP, who said: “We are delighted to welcome David to BP as we continue to deliver our exciting growth ambitions for our convenience retail business. With a proven track record of delivering outstanding results at M&S, David brings valuable expertise to our team. I cannot wait for him to get started.”

Phillpot commented: “BP’s emphasis on supporting its customers through the energy transition, by providing the fuels they need today and tomorrow, underscores the pivotal role of convenience in BP’s offer.

“With ambitious growth plans in convenience retailing and EV charging across Europe, joining the business at such a transformative phase promises an exciting opportunity to drive growth and performance in the rapidly evolving mobility and convenience sector.”

BP described convenience as one of its five ‘transition growth engines’, with plans to double its convenience gross margin and increase its convenience sites globally to more than 3.500 by 2030.

The company has made a number of high-profile retail hires, including poaching Lid’s Claire Farrant as VP marketing, and Sansbury’s Joanne Hall as UK retail operations director.

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