Amazon has named its EU fashion chief John Boumphrey as its new UK boss – and it is far from the first time that the long-standing Amazon executive has turned his hand to something new.
Boumphrey’s rise through the ranks of Amazon, where he has served as a director and later vice-president across a variety of functions over the past nine years, is no doubt precipitated in part by a flurry of executive departures across the organisation in recent months.
His predecessor Doug Gurr is taking the helm at the Natural History Museum, while former European boss Xavier Garambois is also leaving for pastures new.
Amazon has form when it comes to promoting internal candidates to its top jobs, but one retail executive and former Amazon colleague observes that Boumphrey is “one of the less tenured VPs in the organisation”, considering that the business’ senior vice presidents serve an 18-year stint on average.
So why has the online titan selected Boumphrey to lead its UK business?
Effective leader
An Oxford graduate with a degree in modern languages, Boumphrey has cut his teeth over the years combining his grounding in strategy as a former Bain consultant – where he worked from 1998 to 2006 – with hands-on retail experience. His first retail role came in 2006 as head of strategic development at Homebase, where he went on to serve as trading director until his departure to Amazon in 2011.
A former colleague of Boumphrey’s during his time at Homebase says: “He had all the things you’d expect from a strategy consultant – great drive, smart, the ability to turn his hand to different things and question things. But the thing that was different was he was smart enough and humble enough to see he needed to broaden out of strategy to be a really effective retail leader.
“His strategy background means he can see the bigger picture, which will have served him well. But he’s also got high EQ and will be able to take teams with him.”
“His teams like working for him and he will invest time thinking about how to drive up people engagement there”
Former Amazon colleague
Tony Gregg, founder of headhunting firm Anthony Gregg Partnership, concurs: “He’s incredibly bright with a tough streak, but somebody who will always make the effort to talk to people. He knows that better understanding who his team is means getting more out of them, which isn’t always a trait that we see in spades in Amazon leaders.”
A former colleague of Boumphrey’s at Amazon adds: “He has all the things you’d expect in terms of an Amazonian leader, but what makes him stand out there is he is more focused on leading and engaging with the people around him than the average Amazonian leader.
“His teams like working for him and he will invest time thinking about how to drive up people engagement there.”
Reputational challenge
Amazon has come under fire in recent months for its handling of staff safety amid the coronavirus pandemic. Senior executive Tim Bray quit earlier this year over the etail titan’s treatment of staff who protested against a lack of coronavirus safety measures in its warehouses. Bray said it was “evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture”.
Against this backdrop, appointing “people-focused leader” Boumphrey to run its UK operation could be a big step from Amazon in countering that reputation.
Despite not being a retail lifer, Wirral native and lifelong Liverpool Football Club supporter Boumphrey has ratcheted up an impressive mix of experience across different sectors over the years. Following his start in home and DIY at Homebase, Boumphrey has covered a broad church of sectors at Amazon.
He started in its entertainment division, before switching into home and leisure and later consumables. Boumphrey moved to Amazon’s HQ in Seattle to take up the latter role and became a keen follower of the NFL.
Fashion focus?
In 2018, Boumphrey was appointed as Amazon’s European head of fashion – a sector in which Amazon harbours ambitions to become a bigger player, but is yet to have made much of an impact.
Amazon’s current UK boss Gurr had a keen background in grocery, having previously served as an executive at Asda. His appointment in 2016 preceded a concerted push from Amazon into food retail in the UK, with the launch of Amazon Fresh and partnerships with Morrisons and Booths.
Could Boumphrey’s promotion to the top job be a similar signal that Amazon is about to ramp up its fashion focus? One former colleague has his reservations.
“John ticks every box – a strong grounding across the Amazon ecosystem, a broad range of experience, and knowledge of the local market”
Former colleague
“John’s appointment is unrelated to Amazon’s significant ambitions in fashion. When Amazon looks for a country leader, the top thing it is looking for is someone with a good understanding of the broader machine, and if they have a good grounding in the country in question, that’s seen as a bonus.
“The reality is there were a very small number of VPs in Europe who you could have put into the role, and John ticks every box – a strong grounding across the Amazon ecosystem, a broad range of experience, and knowledge of the local market.”
Whatever Amazon’s ambitions in the UK, Boumphrey has proved he can rise to the occasion and bring his team with him while doing so.
He will undoubtedly bring a more human touch to Amazon’s UK operations. But at a time when Amazon’s sales have soared during the coronavirus crisis, the pressure will be on Boumphrey to deliver much more than that.
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