Holland & Barrett has poached Starbucks’ vice-president of technology Mark Fabes for a brand new chief information officer role.
According to Retail Week, Fabes has joined the health and wellbeing retailer and his role would comprise of driving customer, brand and business insights across Holland & Barrett’s stores, website and loyalty scheme.
The high street chain told Retail Week that Fabes’ role was created “to better analyse customer information and shopping habits” so as to create “hyper-targeted” promotions and communications both online and in-store.
Fabes spent the last two years or so at technology vice president for Starbucks’ EMEA division, which saw him responsible for the coffee chain’s technology strategy in 39 countries and over 2500 cafes.
Prior to that, he was the UK IT director at McDonald for almost six years.
He will report to Holland & Barrett chief executive Peter Aldis in his new role.
“One of the biggest areas of focus in retail in the next couple of years will be about having a comprehensive 360 degree view of your customer,” Fabes told Retail Week.
“The overarching aim is to leverage deeper knowledge of how their customers engage with their business across all touch points, helping them reach decisions that create a truly blended experience across all channels.
“I was impressed by Holland & Barrett’s commitment to leverage data as part of a broader ambition to become the trusted partner for their customers in their purchasing decisions.”
Holland & Barrett was acquired by investment vehicle L1 for £1.77 billion in June, and the appointment of Fabes marks the retailer’s first major hire under its new owners.