BP appoints David Phillpot as European convenience trading director

BP has announced the appointment of David Phillpot as convenience trading director, Europe. Phillpot joins the firm from M&S and brings over 25 years of experience in diverse food retail roles. In his most recent role as franchise director, he led relationships and commercial plans with all of the M&S franchise partners, including BP. Previously, Phillpot held the position of trading director of convenience food at M&S, successfully overseeing key categories including ready meals, food on the move and desserts. In his newly created role, he will report to Jo Hayward, BP’s VP for convenience in Europe who is also responsible for global proposition development. He will play a “pivotal role” in driving performance and convenience retail growth across BP’s European network of over 3,000 company owned stores, as well as maximising bp’s strategic grocery partnerships with retailers like Albert Heijn in the Netherlands, Auchan in Poland, REWE in Germany and M&S in the UK. Hayward said: “We are delighted to welcome David to BP as we continue to deliver our exciting growth ambitions for our convenience retail business. With a proven track record of delivering outstanding results at M&S, David brings valuable expertise to our team. I cannot wait for him to get started.” Phillpot added: “BP’s emphasis on supporting its customers through the energy transition, by providing the fuels they need today and tomorrow, underscores the pivotal role of convenience in bp’s offer. With ambitious growth plans in convenience retailing and EV charging across Europe, joining the business at such a transformative phase promises an exciting opportunity to drive growth and performance in the rapidly evolving mobility and convenience sector. I am excited to begin this next chapter of my career, meeting teams, partners, and customers across Europe.” Convenience is one of BPs five transition growth engines, along with EV charging, hydrogen, bioenergy, and renewables and power. By 2030, BP aims to double its convenience gross margin, targeting 10% year-on-year growth, and increase its number of strategic convenience sites globally to more than 3,500. BP said it is investing in retail capability to deliver its strategic convenience growth plans with Phillpot being the latest in a number of recent hires from the retail sector, including Claire Farrant as VP marketing from Lidl, Joanne Hall as UK retail operations director from Sainsbury's and Doris Beger as senior trading manager, Germany with experience at Fresh Solutions, REWE and Walmart.