During his time with the retailer Lowthorpe worked on the relaunch of the Nectar loyalty card and helped drive wider use of the data within the business and among the chain’s suppliers.

Before taking up the insight role at Sainsbury’s he was part of the firm’s corporate strategy team and before that worked as a management consultant with Coopers & Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouse Coopers).

At Emnos Lowthorpe will support existing clients such as Sportingbet and develop the firm’s consulting and analytics offering.

Bob Willmott, director of Emnos UK, said: “We are delighted to welcome Alan onto the UK board, bringing excellent consulting credentials, retail experience and customer insight expertise. With the UK business set to double in size this year, Alan will play a key role in leading clients and setting Emnos’ direction.”