Les Harvison

Source: J W Filshill

Harvison has been tasked with ramping up click and collect to 10% of the overall business by next year

Wholesaler JW Filshill has appointed Les Harvison in the newly created role of area development manager for its click and collect operation.

Click and collect has grown from 5% to 7% of Filshill’s overall business during the coronavirus crisis and Harvison has been tasked with ramping this up to 10% by next year.

He joins from Booker where he was a retail development manager in Ayrshire and previously worked for Bestway Wholesale. He also spent 17 years at Diageo. He will report into chief sales and marketing officer Craig Brown.

Also reporting into Brown is Elaine Feeney who joins as regional development manager covering the West and South of Scotland.

Feeney spent the last 17 years with Sainsbury’s, most recently in the position of retail commercial support manager.

“We’re very much in a phase of growth just now and have welcomed a large number of new customers to the KeyStore family during the lockdown months so bringing in new talent will help us continue on that growth trajectory,” said Brown. “Elaine and Les bring a combined wealth of retail and wholesale experience to the business along with a ‘can do’ attitude and desire to get results. As an experience retail operator with an outstanding track record focused around customer service, Elaine is ideally placed to help us achieve ambitious goals to grow the business. Both will have an important role to play as we work in partnership with independent retailers to stimulate growth and increase profitability in a competitive convenience marketplace.”

Harvison said: “For me, this is an excellent opportunity to join a forward-thinking wholesaler that is going places and has its customers at the core of everything it does. My broad-ranging experience with different companies over the years will put me in good stead as I work towards developing Filshill’s Click & Collect operation.”

Feeney added: “I’ve been aware of Filshill’s reputation for customer service and its innovative use of technology for a long time. It’s an ambitious business and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to be part of its future growth plans.”