Shop Direct appoints group trading director

Farmer joins from Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) where he was responsible for all Boots branded products worldwide. He joined WBA in 2011 as trading director before being promoted to vice president and global category director at the end of 2015. 

Farmer previously spent 13 years at L’Oréal, progressing from marketing director to managing director and country manager for Portugal, following six years in brand and category management positions at Procter & Gamble.

At Shop Direct, he will report to managing director of retail Sam Perkins. Farmer will sit across the newly-formed category teams at Shop Direct including buying, merchandising, design, sourcing, data intelligence, finance and trading. He will work with the category directors that were appointed across fashion, home and electrical and the company’s global sourcing operation last year. 

In its most recent results, group revenue at Shop Direct was up 3.7% year on year for the seven weeks ended 28 December 2018, driven by strong clothing and footwear sales and overall growth at Very.