Amazon Appoints Tesco Veteran To Run Brick And Mortar Business

Amazon is hiring Tesco Veteran Tony Hoggett to run its physical stores.

Hoggett began his career with the supermarket chain at the age of 16 as a trolley boy, but over the years climbed the corporate ladder to become the CEO of the company’s Asia business and then the chief operating officer. Since April this year, Hoggett has been serving as the chief strategy and innovation officer at Tesco.

Hoggett is expected to join Amazon’s Seattle office in January 2022 as the company’s senior vice president of physical stores. He will be reporting to Dave Clark, Amazon’s chief executive of worldwide consumer business.

“It was a big decision to move on from Tesco, but after meeting members of the Amazon leadership team and hearing the ambitions for the business and physical stores, I know it’s a journey and an opportunity that I want to be part of,” said Hoggett. Hoggett’s decision to leave the company after his 31-year long tenure marks the first high-profile departure from Tesco since Ken Murphy became the company’s CEO in October last year, Reuters reported.

Amazon’s effort to build out its executive team for its brick and mortar business comes at a time when the company is reportedly exploring an acquisition of Morrisons, a smaller rival of Tesco.

The eCommerce giant opened its first Amazon Fresh store in London in March this year, marking its first outside the U.S. The company now operates five such stores in the country.

Originally published at https://retailbum.com on July 12, 2021.