Bensons for Beds has appointed Emma Forbes as director of owned brands, further strengthening its senior leadership team.
Emma brings more than 15 years' international experience across consumer healthcare and retail, working for Boots and Aldi in brand and commercial leadership. Emma has extensive experience in P&L management, private-label development and category growth across the UK, APAC and international markets.
In her new role, Emma will lead the continued development of Bensons for Beds' owned brand portfolio including Slumberland, Staples & Co, eve Sleep and Simply by Bensons.
The appointment comes as Bensons continues to invest in product innovation, customer experience and its vertically integrated manufacturing capability. It says its owned brands play a central role in this strategy, "combining product expertise, quality, value and heritage. This includes Staples & Co, a brand with roots dating back to 1895 and more than 125 years of sleep innovation, which has been brought into the modern Bensons portfolio as a distinctive premium sleep brand".
CEO Nick Collard says: "Emma joins us at an important moment as we look to sharpen how our own brands work harder for customers and for the business. There is a real opportunity to create clearer choices across the portfolio, strengthen the role each brand plays, and use our scale, insight and manufacturing capability to create products that are more distinctive, more relevant and easier for customers to buy with confidence.
"Emma's blend of commercial, brand and category experience will help us accelerate that work and bring even greater focus to one of the most important growth areas for Bensons."
Emma adds: "What attracted me to Bensons is the depth of opportunity within the portfolio. There are brands with real history and credibility, alongside propositions that can be developed for how customers shop today.
"My focus will be on making the portfolio easier to understand, more compelling in-store and online, and more closely connected to the sleep needs, style preferences and life stages of our customers. I'm excited to get started and work with the team to build the next chapter."
