New role for Woolworths supermarkets boss Claire Peters

Woolworths’ successful supermarkets chief Claire Peters is taking on a new, more powerful position, amid executive changes.

Woolworths supermarkets boss Claire Peters is taking on a bigger, new role at the retailer. Picture: Hollie Adams

Senior executive changes at Woolworths will see successful supermarkets boss Claire Peters take up a new and more powerful position as the retailer’s head of B2B and Everyday Needs.

Ms Peters joined Woolworths three years ago to spearhead a revamp of Woolworths supermarkets after years of underperformance compared to its rival Coles.

She was formerly the chief operating officer of Tesco Thailand before coming to Australia.

Ms Peters has led a return of Woolworths as a market leader, beating Coles in same-store sales growth and improving its reputation among shoppers.

Her new role at Woolworths will put her at the head of portfolio businesses such as BIG W, Woolworths International and property, and also give her oversight of online services, technology innovation and the group’s recent $500m investment in food services company PFD.

Ms Peters’ role of managing director of supermarkets will go to Natalie Davis, currently boss of Woolworths New Zealand.

Colin Storrie, currently the managing director of Group Portfolio, will take up a new role as MD of new business and partnership.

A new Woolworths NZ boss will be announced in the next few weeks.

Woolworths said the moves were to support its evolution into a “food and everyday needs ecosystem”.

Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci said of Ms Peters: “Claire has successfully led the ongoing transformation of Woolworths supermarkets over the last three years.

“During her leadership we have seen significant increases in customer and brand metrics, implemented a new store operating model to better serve changing customer needs, implemented the foundation phases of fresh made easy, evolved our store formats and materially improved supplier engagement.

“In more recent times, Claire has played a critical role in helping the group navigate through COVID,” Mr Banducci said.

“In her new role, Claire will combine her detailed knowledge of the food and non-food retail environment to lead our important growth adjacencies. These areas of our business are critical to the next phase of our journey and we look forward to the opportunities that Claire and her team will unlock in her new leadership position.”

Mr Banducci said of Ms Davis: “In the past two years, Natalie has led the growth of Woolworths New Zealand, worked to deliver improvements across customer, brand and reputation metrics and also rapidly grown Countdown X, especially in eCommerce.

“Natalie will work in partnership with the food leadership team to continue to transform our Australian food business.”