Ed Armitage departs Waterstones

Waterstones e-commerce director Ed Armitage has left the bookshop chain.

M.d. James Daunt said Armitage, who joined Waterstones from craft and gift retailer Hobbycraft in May last year, had left "to pursue other interests". He added: "We are grateful to him for his work over the year that he has been with us. His replacement will be announced in due course."

The e-commerce operation at Waterstones encompasses the loyalty card and social media as well as book sales. Daunt told The Bookseller the retailer was preparing for a busy period in the area, with a small internal development team focusing on improving the chain's loyalty card.

"We think we can do an awful lot more with the loyalty card and interaction with our customers," he said. "We have been strengthening the [e-commerce] team - in the great hierarchy that is Waterstones, some of our best booksellers are being directed towards it - and that will hopefully make us a lot better. We think we can improve our emails.

"We have a perfectly sensible online vehicle and it is steadily getting cleaner and more sensible, all associated with work we did about a year ago."

Asked about Armitage's likely replacement, Daunt said: "I'm a great believer that booksellers sell books best, but there is a tech side to running an e-commerce loyalty programme."