BackJabong names Benetton’s Sanjeev Mohanty as CEO
Jabong seeks to revive its struggling business and regain ground lost to rivals such as Flipkart, Myntra and Amazon India
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New Delhi: Online fashion retailer Jabong, owned by Global Fashion Group (GFG), named Benetton’s Sanjeev Mohanty as the new chief executive officer and managing director effective early December, the company said in a statement on Saturday.
Mint reported on Wednesday that Jabong is close to naming Mohanty as the new CEO and has already hired a senior management team as it seeks to revive its struggling business and regain ground lost to rivals such as Flipkart, Myntra and Amazon India.
Jabong, run by Jade e-services private ltd after seeing a massive churn at the senior leadership level over the past year brought Nils Chrestin, chief financial officer at GFG to act as the interim CEO at Jabong. Chrestin was spearheading the restructuring and hiring process.
Mint reported in September that the online fashion retailer was searching for a new CEO as co-founders Praveen Sinha and Arun Chandra Mohan were leaving the company.
“India is a hugely exciting market and GFG’s shareholders and management remain committed to building Jabong to the benefit of its customers, employees and partners. We look forward to supporting Sanjeev as the company starts a new chapter this Diwali," said Lorenzo Grabau, chairman of GFG and chief executive of Investment AB Kinnevik, the largest shareholder of GFG.
GFG is looking to pump in fresh capital into Jabong as it bets on the new team to turn around the India business. In an interview with Mint on Wednesday, Chrestin said that with the new team in place and fresh capital from GFG, “Jabong will be among the first Indian e-commerce firms to turn profitable".
Mohanty comes with over 20 years of experience in the fashion industry, primarily at Benetton India where he worked for over 11 years including 8 years as the managing director.
Prior to his role at Benetton India Mohanty served Madura Garments as its general manager and brand head for SF Jeans and at Levi Strauss as product manager for the top wear category.
Mohanty holds a degree in Apparel Marketing & Merchandising, Fashion & Retail Marketing from the National Institute of Fashion Technology.
“We are delighted to have Sanjeev spearhead the development of Jabong as CEO. His strong leadership skills and deep understanding of fashion and the Indian consumer, coupled with the continued commitment from GFG’s shareholders, will allow Jabong to further strengthen its position as the leading online fashion destination in India," said Romain Voog, chief executive of Global Fashion Group.
The company has also hired former Gaana.com product head Saurabh Goel as chief product officer; Sumit Jain, the former chief technology officer of HT Media Ltd’s digital business, as the chief technology officer; and Saurabh Srivastava from MobiKwik as the chief marketing officer.
“I am excited to enter the rapidly growing online commerce sector, and there could be no better opportunity than Jabong given its scale and consumer brand recognition. The company is uniquely positioned as India’s only large and independent online fashion marketplace, and we have identified a number of growth drivers that will allow us to deliver an unparalleled experience to delight our customers and suppliers," said Mohanty.
Global Fashion Group has raised about US$1.5 billion in capital since 2011 and is backed by a number of large shareholders including AB Kinnevik and Germany’s Rocket Internet.
GFG operates across four continents and 28 countries, employing over 9,500 people. With a focus on emerging markets, GFG targets a EUR 300 billion fashion market and over 2.5 billion people.
Global Fashion Group was founded in 2011 by Swedish Investment AB Kinnevik and German Rocket Internet SE.
Gurgaon-based Jabong was founded in 2011and currently offers over 350,000 products across its footwear, apparel, jewellery and accessories categories. It employs around 800 people.
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