In addition, the supermarket has promoted its current director of direct channels, Tanya Lawler, to the role of Sainsbury's director of digital. Lawler was previously responsible for all the channels, including online, but the new appointments represent the creation of two roles.

Reporting into Mike Coupe, the group's commercial director, Rudoe will join Sainsbury's on 11 July from online grocery retailer Ocado, where he was responsible for marketing, the website and products. Prior to this, he worked in venture capital and in consulting for Bain.

As Sainsbury's director of online, Rudoe will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the company's online grocery and non-food business.

Lawler, meanwhile, will be responsible for developing and implementing Sainsbury's digital and cross-channel strategy across the business. She joined Sainsbury's in 2007 and was previously VP of retail at Capgemini, as well as Argos Retail Group's group commercial director.

Sainsbury's has more than 120,000 online grocery orders each week. Furthermore, the company recently announced plans for developing its digital and cross-channel strategy, which includes expanding its Click & Collect service to more than 800 stores by December. This service allows customers to buy online or via kiosks in-store, and have products delivered to a shop convenient to them.