M&S poaches Next's head of digital

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M&S poaches Next's head of digital

By Peter Walker

02/10/20

Marks and Spencer has hired Next's head of digital trading Gemma Lumsden in the newly created role of head of optimisation and analytics.

Retail Week reported that she will now report into Stephen Langford, who joined the business as online director in May.

Lumsden will be responsible for leading the analytics, website optimisation and search engine optimisation teams.

She has been Next’s head of digital trading since February 2019, following three years in a similar role for Holland & Barrett. Prior to that, Lumsden spent almost five years working for George at Asda.

M&S' partnership with Ocado, which went live in August, has already driven online sales, with the retailer's Never the Same Again turnaround strategy also featuring a renewed focus on e-commerce.

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