Morrisons group marketing director Claire Farrant is to leave just months after joining the supermarket.
Farrant joined Morrisons from BP in June, but stepped down last month, The Grocer can reveal. Her decision is due to a change in her personal family circumstances, and she remains highly thought of within the business, The Grocer understands.
Group data and media director Matt McLellan, who also joined Morrisons earlier this year from Asda, will take over Farrant’s responsibilities, as part of a newly expanded job title of group customer, data & media director.
“After much careful consideration, last month Claire Farrant made the difficult decision to leave the business for personal family reasons,” a Morrisons spokesman told The Grocer.
“We thank Claire for her contribution and wish her all the best for the future – she will continue to be a friend of Morrisons.”
Farrant was appointed in May to replace Morrisons’ outgoing marketing head Rachel Eyre, who has joined Asda. Prior to her spell leading BP’s European mobility and convenience business, Farrant was Lidl’s UK marketing director for over eight years. She left Tesco in 2015, after a decade in a number of senior marketing roles.
Latest leadership change in Baitiéh’s turnaround plan
Her departure is the latest change to Rami Baitiéh’s senior team, as he looks to reinvigorate his turnaround plan, following the departure of Morrisons head of property David Smith in July, after eight years.
Despite showing early gains, Morrisons’ performance has stuttered of late, with The Grocer revealing last month that Lidl had overtaken Morrisons as the UK’s fifth-biggest supermarket in food and drink sales in July.
Earlier this week Morrisons fired the starting gun on a pre-Christmas price war, with a sweeping programme of price cuts across hundreds of everyday staples in a bid to boost volumes as it enters the golden quarter.
The supermarket is set to publish interim sales results later this month.
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