John Lewis has poached CollectPlus chief executive Mark Lewis to become its first online director as the department store group expands its rapidly growing online business.

Lewis, who will join the department store group’s board, will start the role on March 4. He will report into managing director Andy Street.

He will be in charge of the online team and will lead the omni-channel development team. The role takes over some of the responsibilities held by commercial director Andrea O’Donnell, who left the company in July to join Hong Kong-based Lane Crawford.

Prior to CollectPlus, Lewis has worked as UK managing director and European marketplaces director at eBay.

Street said: “Mark is ideally placed to continue the growth and development of our online business. He brings insight and experience of the retail sector, and will be driving further innovation across both our website and omni-channel offer.”

CollectPlus has appointed Neil Ashworth to replace the chief executive role left open by Lewis. Ashworth, who has previously held supply chain roles at Woolworths and Tesco, joins the delivery service company on February 11.