Ian Bishop has joined Costcutter as project marketing manager after an acrimonious departure from Select and Save where he was retail marketing manager. Bishop left the symbol group following a difference of opinion with director Steve Jones, who will now take control of retail marketing. The former marketing manager at Booker's Premier Group was signed up to the symbol group in April last year when Jones, and his then partner Kam Sanghera, bought Select and Save from Palmer & Harvey McLane. The symbol group has since lost a number of retailers to rival symbol groups ­ reducing its core membership from 75 to 27 in the last year. Jones was reluctant to comment on Bishop's departure except to say that he was "sad to see him go" and that he felt "let down". And he said that despite this setback Select and Save has had a "very successful" Christmas period, following an intense marketing campaign in Birmingham. The group organised a series of press ads and 200,000 leaflets were distributed to independents. Jones said: "The signs so far are that independent retailers are very impressed with our marketing strategy and we are already following up a number of leads from potential members." He said he was optimistic about the future of Select and Save and expected an influx of new blood soon. "A lot of the retailers we inherited were not interested in backing group promotions or developing their business ­ but this is what Select and Save is about and we are more interested in hard core retailers that will back our promotions. This is just the beginning," he added. {{NEWS }}

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