The hires form part of wider changes introduced earlier this year by Matalan's executive chair Karl-Heinz Holland and the leadership team.

These changes saw the product, customer and commercial functions combined into a single department under chief product, brand and commercial officer Sarah Welsh.

Matalan has hired Jo Bennett as director of Buying & Design where she will oversee product and design strategy.

Meanwhile, Jon Williams has assumed the new position of Director of Trading, Planning and Merchandising at Matalan. Williams is expected to leverage over two decades of expertise in multichannel retail from his tenure at John Lewis, Tesco, and Primark.

Matalan stated that Eilidh MacAskill has joined as director of marketing. She had previously worked with Ocado, Asda, and Monsoon Accessorize, with experience in retail and fashion journalism.

Another notable appointment is that of Andreas Nicolaides as director of digital. He has experience from N Brown, John Lewis, and various digital media agencies in the UK.

These hires add to Matalan’s existing resources in sourcing, quality control, customer insight and data management.

The company aims for these appointments to contribute to its objective of increasing market share, especially in womenswear.

The announcement comes after Matalan confirmed a major investment programme for its store network and supply chain earlier this year.

Karl-Heinz Holland said: “We are making strong progress on our transformation plan. Combining product, brand and commercial capabilities has enabled us to put customers at the heart of everything we do and deliver on our promise to provide excellent quality, value and style.

“With fresh investment, a modernised store estate, invigorated product and the right talent across the business, we have both the strategy and means to grow our market share, attract new customers and deliver sustainable, profitable growth.”