Coles confirmed today its chief customer officer Amanda McVay is leaving the business in a sweeping overhaul to bring instore retail, Coles 360 retail media, digital – including online commerce - and customer together. 

Coles Liquor CEO Michael Courtney has been handpicked to head the new mega unit. His current remit, which he’s held since 2023, has seen him overseeing a transformation of a three-banner strategy across liquor’s 1000-store network into a single Liquorland brand.

In his stead, EGM of supermarket operations, Claire Lauber has been promoted to chief executive of liquor. She’s currently overseeing operations across 850 supermarkets and nearly 100,000 team members. Her retail-laden resume also includes stints with Boost Juice, Jo Mercer, Woolworths and Treasury Wine Estates.  

Coles confirmed the changes in a statement to Mi3. A spokesperson told Mi3 the structural overhaul reflected an “increasing focus on omnichannel, bringing retail, customer and digital experience together”.

Courtney will have general managers across marketing, digital, CX and Coles 360 retail media unit reporting to him. The remit includes ecommerce, digital product, loyalty, marketing and customer insights.

“It’s a big portfolio but the right thing for the business,” the spokesperson said. However, Coles does also maintain a Chief Operations and Supply Chain executive, who oversees operational aspect of online deliveries such as customer fulfilment centres.

Prior to joining Coles seven-and-a-half years ago, Courtney held senior roles including VP of equity research at Bank of America and ANZ. Since joining the Coles Group as head of business development in 2015, he’s held a variety of roles covering ecommerce, operations, finance, business development, investor relations and property portfolios. These include EGM of Coles Express (2019 – 2023), and EGM of omnichannel operations and innovations for the Coles Group (2022-2023).

“Michael and Claire are accomplished executives who are having a strong impact in the Coles Group,” Coles chief executive Leah Weckert said. “Michael’s appointment reflects his deep understanding of our business and broad career experience. He has consistently shown he can lead through change, build strong teams and deliver for our customers.

“Claire is an empowering leader who has driven record team engagement levels in supermarkets. She knows our team and customers deeply, with a proven focus on culture, team capability and operational improvement. She will be an exceptional addition to our executive team.”

McVay exits two years after relocating to Australia from the US to take up the newly created chief customer officer role. Prior to the move, she was group vice president, head of marketing, digital, customer strategy & own brand at US retailer Meijer where she spent more than a decade.

The Coles customer and marketing restructure comes as Woolworths continues its pursuit to fill the yawning gap left by longstanding CMO, Andrew Hicks, who finishes up full-time at the end of June. As reported by Mi3, Hicks formally announced his intention to step down as CMO in February after five years as CMO and 16 years with the Woolworths Group.

Mi3 understands Woolworths has been working to clarify the scope of the next-gen CMO role, which could look quite different to that overseen by Hicks given the broader structural changes and review being undertaken by Woolworths CEO, Amanda Bardwell. 

Woolworths commenced the restructure earlier this year, a move which saw former chief supply chain officer, Annette Karantoni, elevated to MD of Woolworths Retail, a new-look division that includes the supermarket chain and Metro stores plus its home-branded products. She reports directly to Bardwell.

In her half-yearly financial presentation, Bardwell flagged an ongoing review of its operating model as well as a request for more team members to return to the office “to improve collaboration”. This includes simplification of the store support office to realise $400 million in gross cost savings by the end of calendar 2025. It came off the back of a below-expected performance in the half-yearly results, impacted by industrial action in Victoria at its distribution centres plus ongoing cost-of-living pressures.