Tesco’s top marketer Alessandra Bellini to leave

Alessandra Bellini is leaving her role as chief customer officer at Tesco after nearly seven years.

The supermarket announced today (20 Sept) that Bellini will leave her post at the end of September in an internal memo to staff sent from its CEO Ken Murphy shared with Marketing Week.

Tesco will not replace the chief customer officer role and will instead bring its customer and product teams together with a remit for customer products and propositions to life. The new unit will be overseen by group chief commercial officer Ashwin Prasad, who will be responsible for delivering product and customer strategy.

In the memo, Murphy praised Bellini for her “immense contribution” to the business in helping to transform the group customer function at Tesco to what he believes is now recognised as “best in class”. He also singled out her work on distinctive brand propositions, including Food Love Stories and Aldi Price Match, as well as her work on its Christmas campaigns.

It was her efforts on the business’s successful Clubcard scheme that drew the most praise, however, with Murphy saying: “She has also driven an increase in Clubcard penetration through digitisation and personalisation. As a result, we have improved our NPS, sales and reputation and won numerous awards for our customer marketing.”

He noted, too, the personal recognition for Bellini as Marketing Week’s Marketer of the Year in 2020.

Tesco’s CMO on making Clubcard stand out in a sea of loyalty schemesBellini shared a message with her colleagues where she described her time at Tesco as “intense, challenging and a lot of fun”.

She continued: “I’m proud that we’ve delivered a successful turnaround and growth strategy but after nearly seven years it’s time to refresh and take on something new. I want to thank the customer team for their passion, creativity and dedication, and my colleagues on the executive team for their partnership. I wish you all continued success.”

Bellini joined Tesco in 2017 after spending most of her career at Unilever where she eventually rose up to be the VP North American food and marketing director for its USA division. She also serves as the chair of the board of trustees for Teens Unite Fighting Cancer and is the president of the Advertising Association. There is no indication as to where she will move next.