M&S has appointed Ikea’s UK and Ireland country deputy retail manager Marsha Smith as stores director of the West division.
Set to join Marks & Spencer in September, Smith has held her current post at the Swedish furniture giant for three years, including leading its Canadian arm.
She has also been involved in driving Ikea’s expansion to new markets and leading its retail transformation agendas.
M&S operations director Sacha Berendji told Retail Week: “I’m delighted Marsha will be joining M&S. Her strong operational and leadership skills will strengthen our retail team further and help deliver our ongoing transformation.”
Smith said: ”I’m thrilled to be joining the team at M&S – an incredible brand I’ve always felt a strong affinity for. I’m looking forward to leading the team to build on the impressive performance over the last few years and ensuring customers continue to be delighted by our fantastic offer.”
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The retailer has been focusing on renewing its store estate to feature “bigger, better” branches across the UK. In May it unveiled plans to invest more than £30m into modernising and expanding its London store estate this year.
Earlier this year, it named Morrisons retail operations boss Jayne Wall as its new director of central store operations.
Wall held a range of roles at the grocer, contributing significantly to its tranformation, including the design and rollout of format and range localisation, building the Market Street offering and service, as well as being one of the team who led the company through Covid-19.
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