Vice President of European Retail and Wholesale Export
Amsterdam, The Netherlands ■ January 2000 – December 2006
Annual Sales: $325M ■ Region: Europe + Middle East + India
Channels: 60 Direct Stores + 90 Franchise Stores; Full Price & Factory Outlet
Responsibilities and Key Accomplishments
Provided strong leadership while engaging and mobilizing all parts of the Tommy Hilfiger organization to establish and rapidly grow branded retail as a profitable new distribution channel in Europe.
Channel Management and Optimization
• Responsibility for full P&L accountability of all directly operated retail stores in Europe and wholesale commercial activities for distributor and franchise partners across 25 countries in Russia, Turkey, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and India.
• Managed all strategic and operational functions for the direct-to-consumer business, including retail development, field and store operations, financial planning, buying & merchandising, marketing, visual merchandising, and human resources.
• Managed all go-to-market activities and seasonal wholesale campaigns for 7 product divisions while overseeing commercial relationships with licensees, distributors, agents, franchise partners, and wholesale customers.
International Market Development
• Analyzed channels, and qualified opportunities, identified distribution partners, and made investment cases to launch Tommy Hilfiger in new markets, including Russia, Turkey, Eastern Europe, India, and the Middle East.
• Identified business model to maximize profitability, emphasizing direct, joint venture, and franchising by selecting the appropriate combination based on individual geographies with corresponding regulatory, financial, and market realities.
• Developed new store concepts and opened over 150 directly operated and franchise points-of-sale locations in Berlin, Köln, Munich, Hamburg, Zurich, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Moscow, Athens, Istanbul, Mumbai, and Dubai.
• 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 • Developed “best practice” for policies, procedures, and guidelines in all functional areas of operations and development required to support rapid growth and ensure that stores were operated efficiently, consistently, and profitably.
• Implemented a new SAP Retail operating platform and ePOS system supporting the directly operated stores.