Blooms The Chemist CMO promoted to COO
- 02 March, 2022 09:17
Blooms The Chemist has promoted its chief marketing officer to the newly created role of chief operating officer after a restructure triggered by its new CEO.
Pamela Bishop has been CMO at the chemist retailer for the past two years but with the group for a lot longer. She’s been with the business for more than 15 years, initially joining in 2006 as a retail manager before stepping up to merchandising manager then general manager of merchandising and marketing in June 2016.
The newly created COO post has a remit across end-to-end operations, with merchandise, retail operations, pharmacy operations and people and culture functions all reporting directly to the role. Bishop reports directly to Blooms the Chemist’s new CEO, Emmanuel Vavoulas, who took up the reins on 1 January after a stint as head of retail.
Bishop told CMO the COO post has been introduced to support the new CEO and strategic objectives of the business.
“I’m looking forward to working closely with my new team to align the entire company on our strategic goals, drive profitability and develop more purpose-led business activities,” she said. “I have been with Blooms The Chemist since 2006, having started out in stores and then progressing a corporate role in our support office. I’ve worked across operations, merchandise, marcomms and I’m excited to bring my extensive knowledge of the brand to the COO role.”
Bishop said her experience of both merchandising and marketing has made her very customer-centric.
“I care about addressing the pains points of our customers, which in the pharmacy industry are typically health concerns,” she commented. “As CMO, I facilitated growth and sales and I’ve always been big on prioritising initiatives that will create the greatest customer impact.
“I’m experienced in developing brand strategy, brand purpose and creating strategic roadmaps with the ability to translate into tactical plans.”
Having a strong track record of leading change management, improving business performance, driving positive impact and delivering stakeholder value are also attributes Bishop highlighted as critical to her new post.
Blooms The Chemist is now actively recruiting for a new marketing chief. At present, it’s hire Yvette Costi as senior marketing consultant in an interim capacity and to undertake a strategic review of marketing across the business. Following this review, a new structure for marketing and communications will be determined, Bishop said. Bishop and Costi both completed The Marketing Academy program in 2020.
The company has a network of nearly 110 pharmacies nationally, which are owned by locals.
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