// Matalan taps former Co-op customer & community director Ali Jones for chief customer and omni-channel officer role
// Jones will focus on establishing a new customer function within the fashion business
Matalan has appointed former Co-op customer and community director Ali Jones into the new role of chief customer and omnichannel officer.
Jones, who worked with new Matalan CEO Jo Whitfield at the grocer, will join the business on April 19 with an initial focus on establishing a new customer function within Matalan which the fashion retailer said will “connect all customer touchpoints and provide further clarity and accountability for our customers.”
Jones joins Matalan with an extensive retail background, with the majority of her career spent in customer-centric strategic roles at an executive level.
Most recently, she was customer and community director at the Co-op Group from 2018 to 2022, and previously held senior brand, omni-channel and marketing roles at Debenhams, M&S, Next and Arcadia Group.
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Matalan chief executive Jo Whitfield said: “I am really excited about the opportunity that this appointment will give us, building on the great foundations and plans already in place. Working closely with Ali and her team, we will build a connected strategy and stronger brand experience, however our customers choose to shop with Matalan.”
Jones added: “I am both excited and honoured to be joining such a great brand and look forward to working again with Jo and with Karl-Heinz and the wider team at Matalan. There is no doubt that Matalan’s value proposition is ever more important to customers in the current inflationary environment, and I believe there is a great opportunity to transform the customer journey and bring more consumers to Matalan, more often, via a seamless omni-channel experience.”
Last month the retailer hired former Lidl and Co-op executives as its new chair and chief executive.
Former Lidl chief executive Karl-Heinz Holland became chair, and new chief executive, ex-Co-op food chief Jo Whitfield, took on their posts immediately.
Their appointments follow Matalan’s investors, including Invesco, Man GLG, Tresidor and Napier Park, seizing control of the business in January in a rescue deal that cut its growing debt pile.
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