Justin King, chief executive officer of Sainsburys, is set to step down in July after ten years at the helm.
The current group commercial director, Mike Coupe, will take over from July 9th this year.
Sainsbury’s shares fell more than two per cent after the news was announced.
Mr King said it “was not an easy decision” to make and he was “incredibly proud” of the achievements the store had made in the last ten years.
The current chairman, David Tyler, called Mr King a “truly exceptional leader”.
He also said there was no one who knew the industry or the store better than Mr Coupe, who has a proven track record of success.
Mr Coupe said it was an “absolute honour” to be given the post, especially because the retailer has been consistently “outperforming the market”.
In the last ten years under Mr King’s leadership, Sainsbury’s has seen ten million additional customers a week and is currently the supermarket of the year, having won the award six times in the last eight years, as voted by the Retail Industry Awards.
