Jewell leaves Sainsbury's

Published: 23 July, 2008

Just one week since it took the IWC Supermarket of the Year crown, the Sainsbury's wine team has announced that it is to lose its second buyer in the space of a month.

The latest buyer to depart the team is Laura Jewell MW, who is set to join Stansted-based agency business HwCg as an account director at the end of October. Jewell follows Justin Howard-Sneyd MW, who will be starting at Waitrose at the beginning of October.

Jewell told Harpers: The last five years at Sainsbury's have been challenging, fun and educational. I have learnt a great deal about the retail wine trade which will stand me in good stead for the move back to the supplier side. I am delighted that the team won the IWC Supermarket of the Year and to have been a part of that winning team. I shall miss working with them and am looking forward to my new role with HwCg.'

Jewell's departure is in line with current trends in retail/supplier dynamics, with a number of high-profile buyers - including Waitrose's Simon Thorpe MW (now at Western) and Tesco's Lindsay Talas (now at Thierry's) swapping buying for supplying in the past year.

HwCg's marketing director, Helen Munday, herself a former retailer at the Thresher Group, commented: We're delighted that Laura's coming to join us with her wine and marketing knowledge, to work on brand building with our suppliers. More and more suppliers are looking to provide a more rounded package for retailers, which is why we are looking to people like Laura with excellent retailing experience.'

At Sainsbury's it appears unlikely that like-for-like replacements will be found for both Jewell and Howard-Sneyd. As reported in Harpers last week (16 September), the company has already elevated former graduate trainee Helen McEvoy to take over some of Howard-Sneyd's responsibilities.

Printer friendly version