Studio appoints director of data to spearhead new team

Online value retailer Studio.co.uk has appointed Gareth Powell as its director of data to spearhead a new data team.

Powell, who joined Studio in June as head of enterprise data products and insight, has been named the online retailer’s new director of data and tasked with bringing together Studio’s analytics, data governance, data engineering and architecture talents.

In his new role, Powell will implement a data programme, including a target operating model, a data governance framework, an approach for data integrity, and introduce cloud data platforms Snowflake and Microsoft Azure.

He will also oversee Studio’s new data team, which brings together Studio’s analytics, data governance, data engineering and architecture talents. The team will expand to 35 members, with Powell having onboarded 10 new members of staff.

Studio states that Powell was chosen for the role due to his “wealth of data experience across retail and telecoms sectors,” with previous roles including director of data science at N Brown and insight and analytics director at TalkTalk.

Online value retailer Studio.co.uk accelerating digital transformation with new data division

Commenting on his new role, Powell said in a statement: “My vision is to make data and insights easy to access for our employees. A positive customer experience is underpinned by easy-to-access and good quality insight.

“We have successfully embedded a hub and spoke model for analytics which ensures we have close insight partnerships with our customer and digital, trading and customer experience teams, ensuring we utilise data in the most efficient way possible.”

Paul Kendrick, chief executive of Studio Retail Group, added: “Gareth has a proven track record in data management, his skills are therefore pivotal to our ambitious plans to utilise data to grow and expand the business.

“We have already seen fantastic results from Gareth and look forward to seeing what he brings to an already strong leadership team on the challenging journey we have ahead of us.”

The online value retailer recently reported having over two million active customers, a 79 percent increase over the last five years. With Studio adding that its digital transformation plans were accelerated by lockdown, and its app has achieved more than 1.2 million users, representing 32 percent of sales and a 25 percent increase year-on-year.

Studio.co.uk is part of Studio Retail Group and sells discounted clothing and footwear from top brands such as Adidas, Nike, Timberland, Skechers, Ugg, Diesel, Emporio Armani and Puma.