BackJabong’s chief technology officer Sumit Jain quits
Sumit Jain was hired by Jabong as part of its efforts to turn around its business
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New Delhi: Jabong’s chief technology officer Sumit Jain has quit the online fashion retailer, a month after it was acquired by Flipkart, two people aware of the development said.
Jain had joined Jabong in October. Before Jabong, he was the chief technology officer of HT Media Ltd’s digital business.
Jain was hired by the company as part of its efforts to turn around its business. Last year, the company had hired a new senior management team including a new chief executive, Sanjeev Mohanty, from Benetton India.
Mohanty quit the company to join Levi Strauss & Co. as managing director of the firm’s South Asia operations, Mint reported on Wednesday.
Flipkart Ltd acquired Jabong through its unit Myntra for $70 million in July in an attempt to preserve its position as the country’s number one e-commerce marketplace in the face of an onslaught by Amazon India.
Global Fashion Group, which owned Jabong, had been looking for a buyer for Jabong for more than a year. GFG held discussions with several firms, including Snapdeal, Future Group, Aditya Birla Group and Amazon for this deal.
The sale marked one of the most dramatic declines in India’s online retail business. At the end of 2013, Jabong was worth as much as €388 million (about $508 million).
In that fiscal (the year ended March 2014) Jabong reported sales of ₹ 438 crore. Even though its sales increased to ₹ 869 crore in the last fiscal, Jabong’s value collapsed because of a combination of leadership issues, market share losses and a funding crunch. Even before it got acquired, the firm saw several senior-level exits.
Chief product officer Saurabh Goel left in June to launch his own venture in the financial technology space.
In February, Saurabh Srivastava, the chief marketing officer who was also hired last year, too quit the company. Srivastava was brought in from mobile wallet firm Mobikwik.
Jabong did not immediately respond to an email. Jain did not respond to a message.
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