GB: Wilko brings in new CEO: What impact did the outgoing chief have on the retailer’s brand health?
British retail chain, Wilko, has appointed former Bensons for Beds boss Mark Jackson as its CEO. The incumbent chief, Jerome Saint-Marc, will step down from his role with immediate effect. The appointment comes at a time the home and garden retailer is facing supply chain disruptions, a decline in footfall, store closures and ongoing efforts to secure new credit facilities.
How did the retailer fare under Saint-Marc as its chief executive?
According to YouGov BrandIndex - which tracks consumer sentiment towards thousands of brands daily - Wilko’s Index, Current Customer and Value scores have dipped during Saint-Marc’s tenure as CEO.
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 - dropped from a net score of 30 on 1 February 2020 (when Saint-Marc took over as CEO) to two points lower at 28 on 22 December 2022. This was also the start of the pandemic.
Wilko’s Current Customer metric was at 27% at the start of February 2020. This number saw a significant decline from March 2020 onwards, touching a low of 16% on 14 July 2022. The metric has recovered since and is at around 24% on 22 December 2022.
Wilko’s Value metric - which measures whether the brand represents poor or good value for customers’ money - remained largely unchanged throughout Saint-Marc’s tenure. It went from a net score of 42 to around 40.
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Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Wilko’s Index score is an overall measure of brand health, made up of General Impression, Customer Satisfaction, Quality, Value, Corporate Reputation and Recommendation and delivered as a net score between -100 and +100. Its Current Customer score is based on the question: Have you purchased goods from any of the following retailers in the past three months? and delivered as a percentage. Its Value metric is based on the question: Which of the following retailers do you think represents good value for money? Now which of the following retailers do you think represents poor value for money? and delivered as a net score between -100 and +100. Scores are based on an average daily sample size of 1719 GB adults between 1 January 2020 and 22 December 2022. Figures are based on a four-week moving average. Learn more about BrandIndex.
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