Ocado Retail announces new CEO – How did the grocer perform under the role’s previous occupant?

Ocado Retail has promoted its Chief Product Officer, Hannah Gibson, to the Chief Executive role after its former occupant Mel Smith - who had joined in 2019 - stepped down from the position earlier this year. Gibson, will replace deputy CEO Lawrence Hence, who had stood in for Smith on an interim basis.

But how did the online grocer perform under Smith?

According to YouGov BrandIndex - which tracks consumer sentiment towards thousands of brands daily – Ocado’s brand health grew under Smith’s watch. The retailer’s Index metric - which is an overall measure of brand health, made up of General Impression, Customer Satisfaction, Quality, Value, Corporate Reputation and Recommendation – grew from a net score of 6.3 on 1 August 2019, to 7.9 on 31 August 2022.

Ocado’s Consideration – which indicates the proportion of consumers considering purchasing from the brand, when next in market – also made significant gains throughout the period. It went from 4.9% to 5.5%. Similarly, Ocado's Impression scores grew through the period – from an 8.2 net score to 9.6

But while the metric scores seemed to have held strong during Smith’s tenure, incoming CEO Gibson has her task cut out for her. Ocado has slashed its growth forecast after sales fell following the end of lockdowns. The company will also have to contend with a looming cost-of-living crisis in the UK.

Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Ocado’s Impression score is based on the question: Overall, of which of the following supermarkets do you have a positive impression? Now which of the following supermarkets do you have an overall negative impression? and delivered as net scores between –100 and +100. Ocado’s Consideration score is based on the question: When you are in the market next to purchase groceries, from which of the following would you consider purchasing? And delivers as a percentage. Ocado’s Index score is based on the average of General Impression, Customer Satisfaction, Quality, Value, Corporate Reputation, Recommendation scores and delivered as net scores between –100 and +100. Scores are based on an average daily sample size of 7037 GB adults between 1 August 2019 and 7 September 2022. Figures are based on a 12- week moving average. Learn more about BrandIndex.

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