Meet our new Country Manager for the UK

With lots of retail experience and a great sense of purpose, David Ashton is looking to create growth for JYSK in the United Kingdom

When a recruiter rang David Ashton and suggested he apply for a job at JYSK, his first response was: “JYSK, what’s that?”

However, David’s initial response quickly turned into curiosity as he learned more about JYSK’s business in the United Kingdom and successes across Europe.

On February 1st 2017, David will get a first-hand opportunity to answer the question of what JYSK is and should be in the future, when he assumes his new position as Country Manager for JYSK in the UK.

“This is an excellent opportunity for me to combine my retail operations experience and success with strategic work. My role is to guide the business, stores and online, focused on growth. I love face-to-face contact with our teams and customers, and I cannot wait to get myself into stores to coach and develop our existing team into world beaters,” says David, who turns 29 in February and is relocating back home to Manchester where he grew up close to JYSK’s UK head office.

Distinguish JYSK from competitors

Previously, David has been working as Area Manager and most recently Divisional Manager at Farmfoods with responsibility for 38 stores. He was also District Manager in the UK branch of Lidl.

As Country Manager in JYSK, David will be in charge of 15 stores and around 150 employees.

“The fact that we’ve got only 15 stores means we can focus on developing the business. Right now, JYSK doesn’t have a presence or brand recognition in the UK. We need to distinguish ourselves from competitors by actually getting people to come to the stores and understand that we offer extremely good products at extremely fair prices,” says David.

Family acted as mystery shoppers

One of the first things David did after landing his new job was to ask his parents, who didn’t know JYSK either, to go on a mystery shopping trip to their local store.

Although they didn’t know what to expect, they left the store with several products and spent £60 in the store, which obviously pleased the soon-to-be Country Manager.

“The store experience means everything, and the best ideas come from the sales business and the people who are serving our customers every single day. My job is to create a system where that information can flow back and be used to strengthen our business,” says David.

The new Country Manager has now visited most of the UK stores himself, some of them multiple times.

“I’ve seen a lot from the customer’s perspective and look forward to seeing it from the Country Manager’s perspective and spend detailed time with the branches. I want to be approachable, so if I walk into a JYSK store, please do come and speak to me. You never know where that market-changing golden idea will come from,” says David.