Weckert,who joined Coles in 2011,had been mooted for the role after being appointed chief executive,commercial and express,last April,making her responsible for business units including grocery,non-food,dairy,fresh produce and meat and deli,as well as Coles’ own brand,its food manufacturing facilities and Coles Express shops.
She said many exciting projects were on the horizon for the grocery giant,which is making major automation investments at its distribution centres along the east coast.
“I’m really looking forward to working with our 130,000 team members to deliver,” she said.
‘We expect headline inflation to moderate throughout the remainder of the[June] half,particularly in relation to anything from farms.’
Coles outgoing chief executive Steven Cain
Presenting his last set of results on Tuesday,Cain said own-brand sales jumped 12 per cent in the December quarter and kept increasing. But the business was catering well for households under pressure as well as those who hadn’t yet changed spending habits but may in the coming months struggle after more rate rises.
He said trading conditions were showing the resilience of the supermarket business model.