The Jarrold Group is a privately owned business based in the historic St James Mill near the centre of Norwich. It’s made up of property, business services, training and retail businesses, including the much-loved Jarrolds’ store on London Street in Norwich (one of the most well-known landmarks in the city). The company was founded in 1770 in Woodbridge in Suffolk.

The challenge

Jarrolds were looking for a new Head of Own Brand. It was a completely new role for the company, part of their drive to design and market products under their own brand name.

‘Introducing our first own brand is a special thing,’ says Laura London, Director of People and Culture at Jarrolds. ‘It’s really nice to have something that’s ours, and we were excited to put our own stamp on products.

The Head of Own Brand is an integral part of bringing Jarrolds’ plans to life. They knew they’d need some external help to find someone with the product development skillset they were looking for.

Becky Wilson, Business Director here at Pure, had previously worked with Jarrolds. She introduced them to Emily Colby, a Senior Consultant at Pure Norwich. When they sat down for a chat about the role and what they were looking for, it became clear that it was a complicated brief, and one that continued to evolve.

‘That initial conversation led Jarrolds to redefine what the job would look like,’ Emily tells us. ‘Their key priorities were to find someone with a lot of experience and knowledge in own brand, as well as great interpersonal skills. The right person would have to tick a lot of boxes.’

The solution

Emily spent a lot of time getting to know Jarrolds to find out what makes the business tick. She was particularly keen to meet the team the new person would be working with. That was so she could understand the type of person who’d be able to come in and gel with colleagues who’d been with the business for a long time.

‘With Pure, there’s always a personal touch,’ says Laura. ‘They’re genuinely interested in the businesses they’re working with. And Emily wanted to make sure she understood our people and the team. That was a stand-out thing for us.’

Because Jarrolds is so well-established in Norfolk, a lot of people want to work there. That meant Emily had a lot of applications to review, many from people who just didn’t have the right experience. But the time she’d spent getting to know the company meant that when she saw Sarah Horsnell’s CV, she knew she’d found someone special.

Sarah had everything Jarrolds were looking for, including buying and relationship skills, and own-brand experience. She was also an award-winning Head of Innovation, with experience of managing all buying, merchandising and design functions.

‘Sarah had managed a wide range of retail projects in the artisan food and gift sector, from concept to reality,’ Laura says. ‘And she had a thorough understanding and passion for retail. She also understood the importance of retail theatre – how to create an engaging, immersive and visually appealing shopping experience for our new brand.’

Jarrolds had recently changed offices, bringing in more collaborative spaces to help people work better together. Sarah came straight into one of these, working closely with six other people.

Laura says: ‘After six weeks, it feels like she’s always been here. She has incredible knowledge around own brands – what will work and what won’t. Having her on board has helped us make great progress with our own brand, bringing it to life and understanding how to use it to take our business forward. Sarah’s helping us stand out, and make the most of every opportunity.’

How did Pure make a difference?

Laura puts it very succinctly: ‘I didn’t think you’d find the right person for the role.’ She goes on: ‘Emily’s dedication to the project and hard work is why we have Sarah. It’s down to her that we’re able to make our strategic vision for our own brand into an exciting new reality.’

Jarrolds were particularly pleased with the way Emily always kept them up to date on the search. ‘We knew finding the right person would take time, but we also wanted them to start yesterday! So having regular updates about the search was really helpful.’

They were also very impressed with Emily’s knowledge of the retail sector. ‘You can tell that Emily loves the industry,’ Laura tells us. ‘She’s so passionate about what she does – it really gave us confidence that we’d chosen the right agency to work with. She understood what a buyer does, what own brand is and the high stakes involved for us as a business. She knew she really had to make it work for us. And we felt very safe in her hands.’

Can we help you?

If you’re looking to recruit new staff at any level, temporary or permanent, get in touch with your local Pure team to see what we can do for you.