Asda has appointed a new head of ambient to replace outgoing boss Duncan Cross, who left the supermarket last week, as part of the latest shake-up of its senior commercial team. Cross had been with the supermarket for more than 30 years.
Jon Downes will be coming on board as vice president of ambient, further strengthening its commercial senior leadership team. Downes will join the business in August and will report to chief commercial officer Darren Blackhurst, Asda announced today.
He joins as an experienced and accomplished commercial leader, having worked across a number of UK retailers, including Tesco, Morrisons and, most recently, M&S, where he has been food commercial operations director since 2024.
In his new role, Jon will be responsible for leading Asda’s ambient category, with a focus on delivering strong commercial results, building collaborative supplier partnerships and supporting Asda’s continued commitment to providing great value and quality for customers.
Blackhurst said: “Jon brings a wealth of experience and a strong track record of delivering commercial outcomes that create value for customers, colleagues and suppliers alike. I’m looking forward to working with him as we continue to strengthen our commercial proposition.”
It’s the latest shake up within Asda’s commercial team, as Blackhurst pushes on with his “bay by bay” reset of the supermarket’s offer.
Earlier this month Blackhurst informed suppliers that Asda had restructured its buying team, which he said would enable a “simpler faster” approach to Asda’s commercial strategy.
Asda consolidated junior buyer and buying manager roles into a single buying manager level. It also boosted the number of trade planning managers and senior buying managers.
Eight roles were lost as result of the changes, however Asda said it would had created nine new positions.
No comments yet