Argos appoints Ladbrokes’ Stephen Vowles as marketing director
Argos is hiring Stephen Vowles as its new marketing head with a remit to make the firm more consumer centric as it focuses on digital retail.
By Sarah Vizard
He will join Argos on September 30, reporting to managing director John Walden and becoming a member of the executive board.
His responsibilities include heading up Argos’ efforts in marketing and brand strategy, planning, communication, promotions, consumer insight and analytics, personalised marketing, own brand management and customer experience management.
Vowles joins Argos from Ladbrokes, where he was customer experience director and chief marketer. While there he was responsible for building up a marketing strategy across traditional and digital channels and for forging a partnership with Playtech, an online gambling software firm.
He replaces Steve Foulser, who was a caretaker in the role after Karen MacLachlan left Argos back in May to pursue other interests.
Walden says: “Vowles will play a pivotal role within the leadership team as the ‘voice of the customer’ within Argos, leading the drive to become a more consumer centric company and the repositioning of the brand and customer experience to be a universally appealing digital retail leader.”
Vowles’ appointment comes as Argos ups its focus on multi-channel retail amid growing competition from the likes of Amazon. The retailer announced a new strategic vision in October last year that included plans to close or move 75 stores and invest £100m in its IT operations to develop its online, mobile and tablet channels.
