Ocado has poached Simon Belsham from Tesco to head up non-food as it seeks to ramp up its non-grocery offer.

Belsham was group multichannel development director at Tesco, and will become head of non-food at Ocado.

He will sit on Ocado’s management committee and report to the executive board.

Tim Steiner, chief executive officer of Ocado said: “Ocado is entering the next exciting stage of its development and part of that involves expanding our range of products significantly in the coming years. Simon will lead the team to develop a compelling non-food offer for Ocado. He brings with him key retail development and operations experience, having helped develop another leading non-food customer proposition. We all look forward to working with him.”

At Tesco, Belsham developed the retailer’s customer offer, including a focus on non-food. Prior to that he was UK operations development director.

Prior to Tesco, he also worked for Capgemini.

Belsham said: “This is an extremely exciting opportunity to be part of the team shaping the future of a fast-growing retail business.  Ocado is broadening, significantly, its grocery range and now there is a clear opportunity to grow non-food and further develop the Ocado service to customers.”

Ocado reported gross sales up 24.7% in the 12 weeks to February 20. It started in non-food in 2008 and sells a modest range including tableware, toys and flowers.