Marketing and ecommerce director, HMV Group

Previously digital and financial services director at Asda, Mark Hodgkinson went back to his musical roots with the move to HMV Group in October this year.

Previously president for business development at EMI, he has a track record in the music industry and strong views on how retailers can harness digital business models rather than bury their heads in the sand when it comes to piracy and file-sharing.

It’s just as well. As HMV will need a radical thinker if it is to overcome the structural shift in how shoppers purchase and consume music and other media. In its latest quarterly results, HMV suffered a 15.1% drop in its like-for-like sales, and has recently ramped up its technology offer in stores in recognition of haemorrhaging CD sales.

Speaking at the Internet Retailing conference, only his second day in his new job, Hodgkinson said companies who become defensive and internally focused lose sight of their customers. In the next 12 months, Hodgkinson must prove that HMV can still connect with music lovers.