Global Chief Retail Officer
London, U.K. ■ January 2007 – March 2009
Annual Sales: $350M ■ Region: Global
Channels: 350 Direct Stores + 700 Franchise Stores, Full Price & Factory Outlet
Responsibilities and Key Accomplishments
Created and implemented integrated regional strategies that delivered the “vision for Samsonite retail” in the worldwide marketplace that drove top-line sales increases, gross margin improvements, cost reductions, and EBITDA growth.
Channel Management and Optimization
• Held full P&L global accountability for retail and commercial activities across all distribution channels (full-price retail, factory outlets, store concessions, and airport duty-free) in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
• Managed all strategic and operational functions for the direct-to-consumer business, including retail development, field and store operations, planning, buying & merchandising, marketing, visual merchandising, and human resources.
• Operated within a matrix structure in 40 countries while overseeing the global business restructuring that involved turning five independent business units into a strategically aligned, results-oriented team.
International Market Development
• Successfully managed the international market expansion initiative by rolling out and optimizing the full-price and factory outlet retail concepts, thus enabling the company to achieve financial goals and increase global presence.
• Analyzed international markets, determined entry strategies by country, identified local ownership models, and created the organizational structure to provide a platform for profitable retail growth.
• Developed new branded store concepts for Samsonite Black Label and Samsonite Classic. Over 150 directly operated and franchise points-of-sale locations opened, including New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Moscow, and Istanbul.
• Managed store opening processes, including location search/selection, lease negotiation, store design, build-out, staff recruitment, training, operational set-up, local marketing activities, and visual merchandising.
Operational Best Practice
• Revamped multiple business processes and implemented performance benchmarking following best practices to ensure stores were operated efficiently, consistently, and profitably.
• Dramatically improved the consumer experience and store environment by introducing a new consumer-centric service model, KPI-based incentive schemes, enhanced visual merchandising standards, improved product assortments, and conversion-focused operational activities.