Tesco chief customer officer Alessandra Bellini is stepping down from her position at the end of this month.

Having held the role for the past seven years, Bellini has described her time at the leading retailer as “intense, challenging and a lot of fun”, however added that “it’s time to refresh and take on something new”, Retail Week reported.

Before joining Tesco in 2017, she worked in a variety of marketing and food related roles at consumer goods giant Unilever.

It is understood that under the leadership of chief commercial officer Ashwin Prasad, Tesco will be joining its customer and product teams instead of finding a new chief customer officer to replace Bellini.

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In an email sent to Tesco staff today (20 September), chief executive Ken Murphy said: “Ale has made an immense contribution to our business, transforming the group customer function so it is now recognised as best in class amongst global FMCG.

“She has turned around the Tesco brand, creating distinctive propositions including Food Love Stories and Aldi Price Match, as well as some of the best Christmas campaigns in recent memory.”

He added: “She has also driven an increase in Clubcard penetration through digitisation and personalisation. As a result, we have improved our NPS, sales and reputation, and won numerous awards for our customer marketing including a personal recognition for Ale as the UK’s Marketer of the Year 2020. She has also championed diversity and inclusion for our business.”

Speaking of her departure, Bellini said: “I want to thank the customer team for their passion, creativity and dedication, and my colleagues on the executive team for their partnership. I wish you all continued success.”