CEO of kids’ footwear brand Bobux to step down New Zealand’s kids’ shoe brand Bobux is on the lookout for a new CEO, as current CEO Andrew Sharp announced he will be stepping down at the end of the month to build his own electronics business. Sharp, who was at the helm of Bobux for nearly six years, has built and led a team that accelerated Bobux International’s growth, outpacing growth rates by ten times year-on-year in the global space. “What has been most important has been to build
to build a phenomenal team that is able to understand our customers’ needs, then implement our strategy to such a high standard – that is what I am most proud of from the past five and a half years,” Sharp said.
Bobux founders Colleen and Chris Bennett, the board and the Bobux team announced they are excited to see Sharp take on his new venture and wished him well.
Matt Smith, the company’s chief financial officer, will assume acting CEO responsibilities while the board searches for a new chief executive.
According to the company, it has recently undergone a significant digital transformation, evolved its product and distribution offering to a rapidly changing consumer landscape and navigated the global pandemic: coming out stronger than when the company went in.
Founded in New Zealand in 1991, Bobux will celebrate its 30th anniversary this year.
Boohoo appoints new fashion director for acquired brands
Online fashion group Boohoo has hired former Topshop Topman creative consultant Lizzie Dawson as its new fashion director for its recently acquired brands Karen Millen, Coast, Oasis and Warehouse.
Jane Eskriett, Karen Millen, Coast, and Oasis and Warehouse managing director, said they are delighted that Dawson has joined the team as her creative and design talent will be very useful as they rebuild the four brands, according to an article on Fashion United UK.
“As the boohoo group ownership of Karen Millen and Coast approaches the two-year mark and we celebrate the one year anniversary of Warehouse and Oasis, Lizzie’s expertise and experience will help us to accelerate our journey to disrupt the mid-market fashion sector, creating beautiful products at affordable price,” Eskriett said.
Dawson was with Topshop and Topman as global creative design director consultant and before that, she spent more than five years at Urban Outfitters, most recently as design director.
Boohoo acquired the Karen Millen and Coast brands in 2019 and snapped up Oasis and Warehouse a year later.
Booktopia restructures marketing team
Online book retailer Booktopia has expanded and restructured its marketing team to reach a broadening audience.
In the last few years, Booktopia has picked up academic and tertiary book business The Co-op to expand into the education space, while also launching its distribution and publishing arms, Booktopia Publisher Services and Booktopia Publishing, respectively.
The company is looking to acquire new businesses moving forward.
With this change to its marketing team, the business hopes to better reach its now-varying customer types.
“It creates a stronger foundation to stay relevant to our broadening customer mix and supports the diverse and growing business units within Booktopia Group,” said CMO Steffen Daleng.
“At its core, it puts our incredibly talented people into the right positions with the right mandates to continue [our] growth trajectory.”
Moving forward, the business’ marketing team will be organised in to a number of separate streams: Partnerships, led by Trish Whitton; Trade Marketing, led by Thomas Ott; Campaigns, led by Samantha Joice; Performance Marketing, led by Jeremy Decker; Brand and Communication, led by Mark Harding; and Creative, which the business will be hiring for.