ASOS appoints Robert Birge as Chief Growth Officer
Newly-created role is first in a series of hires that will strengthen executive team
London, 25th November 2019: ASOS, the global destination for fashion-loving twenty-somethings, today announces the appointment of Robert Birge as its first Chief Growth Officer. Birge, a seasoned e-commerce and marketing executive, joins the company on 3rd December and will report to CEO, Nick Beighton.
Birge's role is the first in a series of appointments that will strengthen the executive team at ASOS and ensure the business is well organised for the next phase of its growth. Birge will be responsible for driving profitable growth and integrating the company's marketing efforts with strategic planning, analytics and customer experience. He will lead a marketing function of 170 people and a customer care operation of more than 1200.
Nick Beighton, CEO, ASOS said: "Robert's proven track record in delivering high impact marketing programmes for fast-growing e-commerce businesses means he is an ideal appointment for this new role. And, with more than half of our revenue coming from international markets, his global experience will help fuel our ability to take advantage of the growth opportunities ahead of us."
Birge, 49, has recently served as an executive and adviser for various consumer e-commerce, content and ad tech startups including US online health startup, Blink Health, and online travel startup, Lola. Prior to that he held Chief Marketing Officer positions in international businesses including travel metasearch site, Kayak, and IMG, the global sports, fashion and media agency. He holds a BA in History and Government from Dartmouth College and a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Robert Birge added: "I am incredibly excited to be joining ASOS. Its world-class brand and recent infrastructure investments mean it is well placed to accelerate its global growth plans, and I can't wait to join the team and play my part."
ASOS is currently recruiting for three other executives to oversee Product, HR and Strategy. These hires, which will be announced in due course, will strengthen the operational capabilities of the senior management team, led by Nick Beighton, Chief Executive Officer and staffed by Mat Dunn, Chief Financial Officer, Mark Holland, Chief Operating Officer and Cliff Cohen, Chief Information Officer.
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Notes to editors:
For futher information
Susanna Voyle / Lindsay Dunford Tel: 020 3805 4822
Email: ldunford@headlandconsultancy.com
About ASOS:
ASOS is an online retailer for fashion-loving 20-somethings around the world, with a purpose to give its customers the confidence to be whoever they want to be. Through its market-leading app and mobile/desktop web experience, available in ten languages and in over 200 markets, ASOS customers can shop a curated edit of 85,000 products, sourced from 800 of the best global and local third-party brands and its mix of fashion-led in-house labels - ASOS Design, ASOS Edition, ASOS 4505 and Collusion. ASOS aims to give all of its customers a truly frictionless experience, with an ever-greater number of different payment methods and hundreds of local deliveries and returns options, including Next-Day and Same-Day Delivery, dispatched from state-of-the-art fulfilment centres in the UK, US and Germany.
ASOS's websites attracted 187.4m visits during August 2019 (August 2018: 157.2m) and as at 31 August 2019 had 20.3m active customers1 (31 August 2018: 18.4m), of which 6.4m were located in the UK and 13.9m were located in international territories (31 August 2018: 6.0m in the UK and 12.4m internationally).
Robert's recent career history
Blink Health
President E-Commerce
October 2017 - April 2019
Lola
Chief Marketing Officer
Sept 2015 - Sept 2017
Kayak
Chief Marketing Officer
May 2009 - May 2015
IMG
Global Chief Marketing Officer
August 2006 - April 2009
TBWA/Chiat/Day
Managing Director
April 2001 - July 2006
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