Fashion retailer Primark has appointed Nigel Jones as chief operating officer.

Jones joins the firm from multinational hospitality business Whitbread, where he spent seven years as group operations and transformation director.

Prior to this, Jones spent over 25 years working at Tesco where he held a variety of senior roles across technology, procurement and international operations.

In his new role, Jones will have global responsibility for technology, supply chain, logistics and business transformation.

“Nigel joins us with a wealth of experience of running international operations of significant scale across multiple markets including the UK, Europe, and Southeast Asia,” said Paul Marchant, chief executive at Primark. “With Primark now established in 17 markets we stand to gain significantly from Nigel’s global expertise across the key areas of transformation, technology, supply chain and logistics.”

In April, Primark’s chief architect said that the retailer is exploring how it could use AI to address retail crime-related shrinkage.

Speaking on a panel at the Retail Technology Show in London, Paul Sims said that hike in shoplifting has been “problematic” for Primark because of its impact on both stock accuracy and the company’s bottom line.

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