Alessandra Bellini, the chief customer officer at Tesco who is recognised as playing a significant role in the supermarket’s recent turnaround, has announced her departure from the company.

Bellini, who was hired in 2017 by former chief executive officer Dave Lewis, oversaw a series of successful ad campaigns branded as ‘Food Love Stories’. She also championed an effective strategy around Tesco’s Clubcard Prices and a price match promise to discount grocer Aldi.

Prior to Tesco, Bellini worked at Unilever for over 20 years, eventually becoming general manager for the US.

Bellini’s decision to leave has led the supermarket to undergo a restructure of its customer and product teams, which will be brought together in a new ‘centre of excellence’ under chief commercial officer Ashwin Prasad. This unit will be responsible for delivering Tesco’s product and customer strategy under one banner.

Announcing the departure of Bellini, Tesco chief exec Ken Murphy said: “Ale has made an immense contribution to our business, transforming the group customer function so it is now recognised as best in class amongst global fmcg. She has turned around the Tesco brand, creating distinctive propositions including Food Love Stories and Aldi Price Match, as well as some of the best Christmas campaigns in recent memory.

“She has also driven an increase in Clubcard penetration through digitisation and personalisation. As a result, we have improved our NPS, sales and reputation and won numerous awards for our customer marketing including a personal recognition for Ale as the UK’s marketer of the year 2020. She has also championed diversity and inclusion for our business.

Of her exit from the business, Bellini said: “My Tesco journey has been intense, challenging and a lot of fun. I’m proud that we’ve delivered a successful turnaround and growth strategy but after nearly seven years it’s time to refresh and take on something new.

“I want to thank the customer team for their passion, creativity and dedication, and my colleagues on the executive team for their partnership. I wish you all continued success.”

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