1. Gareth Jones
+44 7500 813805 / garethgjones@yahoo.co.uk
A digital native leader delivering significant share growth and innovation in the online retail market.
Leading the strategy that transformed a catalogue business and created the £1.1b online success
very.co.uk, now the driving force of growth in the UK’s second largest pureplay retailer. A dynamic
achiever enthusiastically followed, empowering teams to deliver big, audacious goals.
Key Achievements
 A proven achiever acting at CEO chairing Group Operating board and regularly standing in to lead
shareholder and executive committees
 Led the strategy that delivered a £300m profit turnaround dramatically simplifying the business and its
operations whilst maintaining high service standards
 Transformed the culture of an 84-year-old catalogue business into a world class digital e-tailer now
simplified and ready for high growth
 Launched and grew very.co.uk from a 2009 start-up to become the £1.1bn 2016 growth engine of Shop
Direct, with twice the ASOS UK turnover
 Personally led very.co.uk’s 15-20% yearly compound growth, beating the online non-food market by at
least 4 points, through market leading mobile innovation
 Built the award-winning digital and data platform that is delivering world-class, easy and personalised
very.co.uk customer experiences
 Led the implementation of Artificial Intelligence and “My very virtual assistant” creating world class
mobile experiences and customer NPS scores which moved from 9 to 46 (2012-16)
 Very brand consistently compared to John Lewis and setting the tone for Christmas
 The youngest ever participant of the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard
 1st
of 15,000 applicants, winning the ‘Trouble at the Top’ 2002 BBC2 series hosted by John Caudwell
(‘The Apprentice’ forerunner)
IndustryAwards
 The only large online business to retain the Retail Week, ‘Large Pure-play etailer of the Year’ award in
2015 and 2016 beating off competition from John Lewis, AO and ASOS
 Winner of 25 awards in 2015-16 for data platform, personalisation, digital marketing, technology and
customer experience
 Recruited and developed the current Drapers ‘Online Leader of the Year’ 2016 and reigning digital team
of the year
Career History
Group Deputy CEO plus COO (Jan’15 to Mar’16) Oct’14 to date
Shop Direct 6 direct & 550 indirect staff; £1.8bn Sales
Achievements
 A proven achiever acting at CEO and primed for top position chairing Group Operating board and
regularly standing in to lead shareholder and executive committees
 Championed the strategy that delivered a £300m profit turnaround with 48 million products to 5 million
customers every year

2. Gareth Jones
 Personally delivering very.co.uk 15% yearly compound growth, beating the online non-food market
growth by at least 4 points through a 15-point lead in mobile penetration
 Created a new digital way of working and environment that fostered innovation, efficiency and a
relentless focus on the customer experience
 Launched Very Exclusive with 100+ luxury fashion and beauty brands including Marc Jacobs, McQ, Reiss
and Vivienne Westwood Anglomania
 Successfully led the end to end supply chain, warehouse and Logistics function (Additional 2000 indirect
staff) delivering 21% cost efficiency whilst improving customer NPS scores
Group Retail Director plus Strategy Director (Jan’13 to date) Apr’10 to date
Shop Direct 7 direct & 500 indirect staff; £1.8bn Sales
Achievements, Strategy Director
 Built the award-winning digital and data platform that created the world-class, easy and personal Very
customer experience
 Transformed a complex 84-year-old catalogue business into a fully-fledged, digitally focused & agile
environment, drastically simplifying the offer ready for high digital growth
 Together with the CEO of Financial Services created and delivered a 5-year vision delivering record levels
of new customers, FS income, insurance premiums and lower bad debt as well as receiving a full, clean
bill of health from the FCA in 2016
Achievements, Retail Director
 Implemented new agile teams to focus on mobile shopping changing the way our employees work,
innovate and deliver for the customer
 Led Bain project to radically simplify the business behind two power brands and one own brand
 Took the retail business fully digital by 2015 removing all catalogues and legacy processes
 Drove cash and £300m PBT turnaround through major cost efficiencies and sales growth
Brand Director, very.co.uk Oct’09 to Apr’10
Shop Direct 3 direct & 30 indirect staff
Achievements
 Launched and grew very.co.uk from a 2009 start-up to become the £1.1bn 2016 engine of Shop Direct,
with twice the ASOS UK turnover
 Delivered £150m turnover in 2010/11, smashing the £90m first year target
 Quickly fast tracked by CEO to the executive board
Managing Director, Phones4u Direct Feb’06 to Oct’09
Phones4u 460 staff; £131m Sales
Achievements
 Started and grew a new online business to £131m in a highly stores-centric company
 Grew profit margin from a negative position during start up to +30% in year 3
 Grew the team from 25 to 460 and opened two new contact centres
 Jointly with the group CEO identified and purchased Dial-a-phone, delivering £30m sales and gaining 3
further brands
Customer Excellence Director Jan’04 to Feb’06
Phones4u 26 staff; 400 Stores; £800m Sales

3. Gareth Jones
Achievements
 Delivered £72m incremental revenue by increasing the upgrade rate from 5% to 8% by direct customer
engagement
 Radically upgraded the team professionalism, creating the national academy for new recruits and future
leaders of stores
 Fundamentally changed the culture from a single sale event to dual focus on retention
 Introduced NPS score and moved it from -5 to +31
Divisional Director, South Jun’03 to Jan’04
Phones 4u
Regional Manager, London Central Dec’02 to Jun’03
Phones 4u
Store Manager, TCR Flagship Nov’01 to Nov’02
Phones 4u
Junior Trader Jan’99 to Jan’00
Bear Stearns Investment Bank
Education
BSc, Management Studies, Brunel University, London 1998 to 2002
Challenge of Leadership, INSEAD, Fontainebleau 2015
Advanced management programme, Harvard Business School, Boston Spring 2013
Personalinformation
Hobbies: Golf, football, politics and enjoying spare time with my wife and two boys aged 5 and 7