Congratulations to everyone who has made it into this year’s Retail Week Etail Power List – and especially to those that continue to rise within the rankings.

Congratulations to everyone who has made it into this year’s Retail Week Etail Power List – and especially to those that continue to rise within the rankings.

There are 10 new entries in the main list this year. The number is not as high as last year, but as the importance of etail grows year on year within the wider retail industry, many of those listed have an unassailable profile of expertise and experience, setting the bar for new entrants particularly high.

Most noticeably, the top spot this year is occupied by Amazon UK’s Chris North. No one would dispute that Asos’ Nick Robertson continues to oversee a hugely successful and ambitious business set for impressive international growth. But after much debate about our top trio, Amazon’s dominance and march into new categories and innovations such as collection lockers swung the votes. Since taking on his role nearly two years ago, North has devised and implemented Amazon’s strategy in what has been a smooth transition.

Once again, there has been significant movement of people in the sector, highlighting the speed at which talent moves up the etail rungs of power. Over the past year the former head of Amazon UK was revealed as the new chairman of Asos, eBay poached Sainsbury’s digital boss, and Debenhams’ head of online is going to rival Selfridges.

The list also reflects the growing importance of the etail power-team. Marks & Spencer, Asos and eBay are among those that have more than one individual on the list, all having attracted impressive ecommerce veterans to bolster growth. In many cases this expansion of the multichannel team has a direct impact on the wider corporate structure, another indicator of how seriously retailers now view multichannel development.

The industry continues to move at a furious pace.

With retailers focused on the development of customer engagement across all channels, the remits of individuals on our list will continue to evolve and grow, and their relevance and influence on the wider industry – particularly at board level – will become increasingly apparent.

We are as ever expecting to receive a few phone calls and emails when this list comes out. We always welcome your feedback and look forward to tracking – and reporting on – any moves the people in these pages make over the coming year.