Currently an executive at Boots, Guy Farmer will join Shop Direct in September this year.

Guy Farmer has been appointed by Shop Direct as its new group trading director. He will join the company, which owns online retailers Very and Littlewoods, in September and report to retail managing director Sam Perkins.

He is currently vice president and global retail own brand director at Walgreens Boots Alliance, where he is responsible for all Boots-branded products worldwide. During eight years at the alliance, he led a 155-strong multi functional team and set up a global centre of excellence for the development of its own-brand business.

At Shop Direct, he will work with category directors and the director of the company’s global sourcing operation to oversee multi functional teams including buying, merchandising, design, sourcing, data intelligence, finance and trading. The amalgamation of these previously separate functions into category teams represents a new approach to the online retailer’s end-to-end customer experience and supply chain.

It began last year with the appointment of fashion, home, electrical and developing category directors and Shop Direct said this was already generating strong results, pointing to the peak Christmas period which saw revenue rise 3.7% year-on-year for the seven weeks ending December 28th.

Shop Direct’s retail team has also consolidated marketing activity under chief marketing officer Carly O’Brien, who joined the firm in early 2019.

Sam Perkins, retail managing direct at Shop Direct, said: “Guy’s and Carly’s expertise will allow us to make big steps forward in our mission to give customers the best products and online journey, whilst helping them spread the cost. Guy’s outstanding trading and product experience means he’s ideally placed to cement our category management approach and even further improve the speed and quality of our commercial and customer decisions.”