Boots has poached an Asda exec for chief retail role

Simon Gregg has taken on a new role at Boots starting from January 20, following an eight-year stint at Asda.

His former roles at the supermarket included vice president of ecommerce and online grocery home shopping, where he led the shopping channel. He later became chief ecommerce and retail officer in September 2021.

Gregg started out his career at Tesco, holding various roles at the grocer for over 30 years, including online director of Tesco.com, Tesco Direct and the clothing channel F&F.

The news of his appointment arrives following Asda’s Christmas trading results, which saw it record its poorest festive sales since 2015, as sales fell 5.8%.

Boots, meanwhile, recorded an “exceptional” Black Friday period with digital sales growing 23% and total comparable retail sales up 8.1%.

A Boots spokesperson told Retail Week: “We are delighted to confirm that Simon Gregg has been appointed as chief retail officer and will join us on 20^th January to take up the role of leading our talented stores, central operations and logistics teams across the UK. Simon will report to managing director Anthony Hemmerdinger and be a member of our executive team.

“Simon has a huge amount of retail experience from multiple executive leadership roles at Tesco and Asda. His superb know-how in leading big teams across expansive store estates, connecting physical and digital worlds to enhance the customer and colleague experience and passion for brilliant service will be invaluable as we enter the next stage of our ambitious transformation journey. We look forward to welcoming him to the business.”