The appointment of John Walden to the top job at Home Retail Group may be one of the most unsurprising successions to play out in UK retail.

The appointment of John Walden to the top job at Home Retail Group may be one of the most unsurprising successions to Play out in UK retail. But for those seeking to understand the skills and experience that will be demanded of the next generation of retail chiefs it has big implications.

Walden was a relative unknown on these shores when he was drafted in by the incumbent Home Retail boss, Terry Duddy, two years ago. However, the American’s success in launching Argos into new digital territories has catapulted him into the limelight.

Such has been the scale of change at the 700-store retailer that it is easy to forget what a precarious position many felt Argos and Home Retail inhabited 24 months ago. Questions dogged Argos about its store estate and even its ongoing relevance in a digital age.

Yet Argos has now delivered six quarters of like-for-like growth. As telling as the financials have been, it’s Walden’s success in repositioning the retailer’s future prospects that’s been most striking. Nomura this week declared it believes “Argos has a business model relevant to the changing nature of retail”.

The variety of experience on Walden’s CV is an indication of his ability to think differently about the challenges faced by UK retailers. Time spent at US electricals giant Best Buy is allied to experience at online grocer Peapod and running his own consultancy. And he’s brought that knowledge and those traits to bear on Argos.

The bold hire from outside retail of the charismatic Bertrand Bodson, formerly of EMI, to act as digital director is a case in point. But Walden has also initiated a pace of change in Argos’ digital capabilities that has forced the sector to take note, led by upgrades to technology and the launch of new apps. Calls, meanwhile, for a cull of Argos stores have quietened as the industry takes stock of a raft of digital initiatives that rethink the role of the estate and attempt to leverage it as an advantage over pure-play rivals such as Amazon.

Undoubtedly this journey has only just begun and the new group role will test aspects of Walden’s leadership that are thus far unproven, but he has demonstrated the kind of vision that characterises the best retail chiefs.

What sets him apart is that he’s risen to the top job on the back of his digital acumen and a track record in that space. As the industry reflects on how modern forces are changing the DNA of retail’s future store chiefs, Milton Keynes is as good a place to start as any.