Months before he is due to step down from the helm of Britain’s biggest grocer, Tesco CEO Dave Lewis was applauded for the way he has turned the business around over the last five years, hailed a ‘sustainability role model’ by judges and presented with The AlixPartners Outstanding Contribution to Retail before his peers at the 25 th annual Retail Week Awards sponsored by Salesforce in London last night.
Ocado CEO Tim Steiner was recognised as The Clarity Retail Leader of the Year with judges commenting: “Tim is the epitome of innovation in its purest. What he has achieved over the last 20 years is shape-shifting and happens just once in a generation. In terms of shaping British retail he has consistently swum against the tide, led an industry-wide transformation and shown the utmost resilience in proving the naysayers wrong.”
AO.com CEO John Roberts was awarded The Blue Yonder Retail Activist title for his social responsibility and community activism, including what judges described as ‘the Carlsberg of youth clubs’ in Bolton, which has led to a dramatic reduction in anti-social behaviour in the area, his white goods recycling programme and the introduction of a £2 per week washing machine rental for those on low incomes.
Picking up two Retail Week Awards each were Greggs, The Co-Op and Pets at Home. After a phenomenal year in the media spotlight, Greggs scooped The Salesforce Best Retailer over £250m and Best Value Retailer, with judges calling them ‘impressive, nimble, agile and customer-centric’.
The Co-Op won The Cognizant Responsible Retailer Award in recognition for its safer communities campaign introduced to keep its employees safe from knife crime. The Co-Op’s Deborah Jeyachandran also picked up Store Manager of the Year for her role at the New Eltham store.
Pets at Home’s double gong haul saw them pick up The Salesforce Speciality Retailer and Large Format Store of the Year awards.
British family-run jeweller Beaverbrooks, which is celebrating its centenary this year, won The everis Consulting Best Place to Work for the second year running.
