Hamleys appoints marketing head after exit of director

Hamleys, the toy retailer, has appointed Matt Webb as its head of marketing, following the departure of its marketing director Stella Hartley after two years.

Webb joined the retailer last week, and it is understood that he will be the company’s chief marketer.

Hamleys confirmed his appointment, but declined to give further details of his responsibilities.

A Hamleys spokeswoman says/ “Webb is very new to the company and it is too early to comment on the role. We will announce our marketing roadmap for 2009 and our advertising strategies in the coming months.”

Hartley, who is also a former Sears marketer, left the company in August after two years, as the company prepared to make job cuts at its head office (MW.co.uk, August 11).

It is thought she did not have a job to go to, but was planning to do consultancy work.

At the time of her departure, the retailer confirmed that it was planning to make redundancies as part of a cost-cutting exercise, although Hartley claimed that reports of up to 20 job losses in the marketing department were inaccurate. It is still not clear how many jobs have been cut.

Despite the restructure, the retailer is pushing ahead with plans to open more international stores. It is due to open a store in Dubai in December, and franchise stores are planned for Russia, China, India and Turkey.