The product director is leaving Zalando after four years.
Dusseldorf Berlin Zalando’s product director Jim Freeman will leave the Dax group. This was confirmed to the Handelsblatt by Europe’s largest fashion platform. The American’s contract expires at the end of March 2023 and will therefore not be extended. The Handelsblatt reported on this for the first time in mid-October.
Freeman’s task was to make the organization more customer-centric. Therefore, many employees reported to him. The company said its mission has now been accomplished. As a spokeswoman for the company explained, the teams located below the board of directors, for example on site in 25 countries, would be strengthened. They were given more responsibility to adapt better to the respective national customers.
In addition, Freeman should simplify shopping across different categories such as fashion and cosmetics. His responsibilities would now be distributed among the other board members and members of the top management team.
Contract with COO-Schröder is extended
Since his position will not be filled again, the Zalando board will be reduced again. The Zalando management had long been criticized for the fact that the board was too small. In the meantime there were six members with Freeman, in the future there will be five.
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The 50-year-old had already been hired by Zalando six years ago and left after a few months. In 2018 he returned to the management team and in spring 2019 he was promoted to Chief Technology Officer and two years later to Chief Business & Product Officer at Zalando.
At the same time, the company announced that acting Chief Operating Officer David Schröder would receive a four-year contract extension. He was only promoted to this position in March 2022, with Sandra Dembeck taking over his position as Chief Financial Officer. Schröder has been an integral part of the management team since 2010.
Zalando share price above 30 euros again
Zalando is currently in a consolidation phase. After the sales records during the pandemic, the company had to record a drop in sales in the first quarter of 2022 in the company’s 14-year history and report a loss.
After a recovery in the second quarter, including a profit of 14 million euros, Zalando reported a net loss of around 35 million euros in the third quarter. Sales, which now have 50 million customers in Europe, fell to 2.35 billion euros, after 2.6 billion euros in the previous quarter.
After the highs in 2021 and a sustained downward trend in 2022, the share price has recently recovered above the 30 euro mark. On Monday, the share gained 3.8 percent by noon and rose to more than 32 euros.
More: These are the problems of the Dax company