Woolworths Group has appointed Scott Davidson as BWS General Manager.
Davidson has spent two years as GM of buying and merchandising at Countdown Supermarkets in New Zealand and will take up the new role in January 2020.
Davidson has been with Woolworths Group for almost 15 years, with experience in merchandising across fresh food, grocery food and liquor.
Endeavour Drinks has been seeking a new BWS General Manager since Guy Brent was appointed as managing director of FoodCo and Metro in July.
As BWS General Manager, Davidson will focus on driving ultra-convenience and customer-first ranging and renewals across the 1300+ store network.
Steve Donohue, Managing Director of Endeavour Drinks, said: ” Scott is an authentic leader who enables his teams to achieve outstanding results.
“The team at BWS has worked hard to set new standards in convenience and service to meet changing customer needs over recent years.
“We’re delighted to have a leader of Scott’s calibre join BWS to help us continue raising the bar for our customers.”
Dan Murphy’s appoints new Managing Director
Davidson’s appointment follows Alex Freudmann being announced as Dan Murphy’s new Managing Director in May.
Freudmann has 20 years experience in the retail industry, having led customer-focused change in both the Australian and the UK markets. He has worked for Coles for the last 10 years, and for Tesco in the UK for six years before that.
He was appointed to his most recent role as Director of Fresh Food at Coles in March 2018, as the company prepared to demerge from Wesfarmers. Over the past year he has overseen the development of new store formats, tailored ranges and new operating models.
Endeavour Drinks MD Steve Donohue (below) said: “The team at Dan Murphy’s has been working exceptionally hard at re-establishing sales momentum while also strengthening key foundational areas to better serve changing customer needs in a challenging market.
“The business has a long history of success with strong customer loyalty, however rapid market changes require us to transform Dan Murphy’s for sustainable long-term growth. For this reason, we’ve taken the time to conduct a thorough search for the right person to help us lead Dan Murphy’s into the future.
“Alex has expertise in leading initiatives that have delivered significant improvement in customer experience and he has a proven track record for responding to market disruption and changing customer preferences.
Freudmann is responsible for driving Dan Murphy’s F20 strategy.
According to Donohue, this will include re-establishing Dan Murphy’s differentiated customer value proposition in the drinks market, focused on value, range, discovery, convenience and personalisation.
“He will lead Dan Murphy’s transformation from being a store-led to digitally-led organisation, with a lean and flexible operating model,” Donohue said.
