Director, Harrods Direct

Former Debenhams head of Direct Worby made a high class move to Harrods at the start of this year to head up the iconic luxury department’s online division, Harrods Direct.

He was at Debenhams when it reported a 31% rise in sales to £55.1m at its online arm. During the year to August 29 2009, visitors to Debenhams Direct also soared 36.8%.

As luxury purchases online become more and more popular and Selfridges entered the online space, Harrods has been ramping up its online offer. One new initiative has been Harrods Launches, a platform for new design talent.

The company is also planning a complete web overhaul next year that will be led by Worby, who will be hoping to impress the new Harrods owners, the Qatari royal family, who bought the business for £1.5bn in May.

Net-a-Porter still leads the way in luxury fashion online, but Harrods has a great opportunity with such a famous name worldwide to lead the way in other product categories and be able to sell to its overseas customers all year round.

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