Adam Dury, the man behind Tesco’s overhaul of its greeting card offer with Hallmark, has left the supermarket giant to join Card Factory. He takes up the post of chief commercial officer on August 26, reporting to Karen Hubbard as ceo.
During his 14 years with Tesco, he was category director for its Papershop & Seasonal area as well as latterly, category director of Home, Seasonal & Design in the UK and Central Europe for the grocer. Prior to this Adam worked for M&S and was head of merchandising for homeware for Marks & Spencer and was well aware of the retailer’s greeting card business which was run in conjunction with Hallmark on an own brand basis.
Adam freely admits that he has been tracking Card Factory’s growth and enviably vertically-integrated business model for some time.
“I have been watching and admiring from afar as the business has delivered growth year after year while remaining true to its core mission of being trusted for quality and value,” said Adam, who also joins the company’s executive board and will be responsible for Card Factory’s commercial strategy.
Commenting on the strengthening of the senior management team, Karen Hubbard, ceo of Card Factory summarising Adam’s strengths said: “He has an excellent understanding of what customers want and a proven track record of delivering it commercially. He brings with him a wealth of valuable experience which will benefit us as we continue to improve the range and quality of our card and non-card options and grow Card Factory’s market leading position.”
Card Factory continues to grow through both opening additional sites, both in the UK and Ireland as well as through prudent concessions and business partnerships. These currently include a few concessions in Matalan, franchises in the Channel Islands, trials in Aldi and with The Reject Shop in Australia.
Top: Card Factory is now trading from almost 1,000 stores.