Monsoon in hunt for head of marketing

Monsoon, the women’s high-street fashion chain, is to appoint its first marketing director in an effort to rejuvenate the brand.

The retailer, which owns the Accessorize chain, does not advertise.

The company refused to elaborate on its search for a marketing chief, apart from saying that the appointee will report to chairman Peter Simon.

The marketing chief will develop above- and below-the-line work and oversee the company’s Websites. It is not known if an ad agency will be appointed.

Monsoon launched an Accessorize Website in December, and will launch a Monsoon site this month. Both will offer e-commerce facilities.

Monsoon launched a Home Collection range of bed and table linen and china last year (MW 15 April), while Accessorize recently launched a new range of gifts.

Last week, Monsoon reported better than expected results, with pre-tax profits for the six months to November 27 up eight per cent to &£12.8m from &£11.8m for the same period in 1998. Sales were up 13 per cent to &£74.6m.

Monsoon has 128 wholly-owned stores in the UK and Jersey, plus 116 Accessorize outlets. The company plans to increase this to 134 Monsoon and 125 Accessorize stores by the end of May.