Barnett left Safeway within the past few weeks and is now head of visual merchandising at Sainsbury's, one of the companies to have seen its bid for Safeway referred to the competition authorities.
Barnett will play a significant role in Sainsbury's non-food launches in the autumn. Non-food forms a key element of the company's attempts to recapture ground lost to Tesco and Asda in recent years. Products will include home furnishings and electrical goods.
Sainsbury's non-food marketing team will be led by Richard Cristofoli as part of a restructure of the brand division led by brand marketing chief Jeremy Schwartz (Marketing, May 22).
Barnett's resignation follows the recent departure of Safeway marketing director Karen Bray after ten years with the company (Marketing, June 12). Bray is not thought to have another job to go to.
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