MVC marketer nets V Shop post

Virgin has appointed Zoë Bartels to the new position of head of product marketing for its V Shop and Our Price retail chains.

Bartels joins V Shop from MVC, where she was marketing manager for music, video and new media. She has previously held marketing roles at Superdrug, where she co-ordinated the company’s move into the cosmetics market, and at Martin Dawes Telecommunications.

Bartels will oversee the development of a product marketing strategy at V Shop, which sells a range of entertainment goods as well as branded Virgin products such as mobile phones. She will also be in charge of developing new products and entertainment services, such as SMS, which may take the form of strategic alliances with third parties.

V Shop is the first retailer to give people without credit cards access to goods sold over the Internet, by allowing them to log on to Virgin’s Web portal Virgin.com and order items that can be paid for in store.

Bartels appointment follows a recent restructure to increase the company’s focus on the V Shop brand, which split the marketing function into product and brand marketing.

Both Bartels and the head of brand marketing, who has yet to be appointed, will report to V Shop trading director Doug Morton.

There are 98 V Shops across the UK, all of which were originally Our Price outlets, and Virgin plans to open another two next month. The company has started a review of both brands, which could result in the scrapping of the Our Price brand.