Argos to get rid of its most senior marketing role

Argos’s most senior marketer Bertrand Bodson is to leave the retailer less than a year after its acquisition by Sainsbury’s.

Bodson held the role chief digital and marketing officer and has played a key role in Argos’s digital transformation. He has led projects including the introduction of tablets at its stores and helped it become the first multichannel UK retailer to surpass £1bn in mobile sales. He will leave at the end of September.

However, Argos has confirmed it won’t be replacing its most senior marketer. Instead, marketing director Gary Kibble and digital director Mark Steel will run the brand’s marketing together, reporting directly to Argos CEO John Rogers.

This will effectively make the chief digital and marketing officer role redundant. Over the next two months, Bodson will help the leadership transition over to Kibble and Steel.

In a statement, Rogers paid tribute to Bodson’s impact on the retailer. “Bertrand has been instrumental in defining and driving forward our retail digital leadership strategy, leading the digital business which is now 55% of our sales and bringing in new expertise and ways of working including our Fast Track market-beating offer,” he says.

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“He has played a key role in bringing Sainsbury’s and Argos together and driving the integration over the past year. I would like to thank him for his outstanding contribution to our business and I wish him every success for the future.”

Over recent months, Argos has focused its marketing efforts around the speed of its delivery. In April, it claimed a “world first” with the launch of an ambitious campaign that saw it run 80 time-stamped TV campaigns across 100 days as it looked to promote the breadth of products it sells and the fact it offers same-day delivery up until 6pm.