Hugo Boss hires sales chief for online push

Hugo Boss has named Oliver Timm as chief sales officer, effective from 1 January 2021.

He will join from his current position as chief commercial officer at rival fashion group PVH - which owns the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands - taking on responsibility for Hugo Boss’s global retail, wholesale and e-commerce operations.

Hermann Waldemer, chairman of Hugo Boss, said: “The depth and breadth of his expertise in retail, wholesale and e-commerce make him the perfect candidate for a position of this significance at Hugo Boss.”

Chief executive Mark Langer will now take up a consultative role earlier than planned, on 16 July 16, while also stepping down from the board. Langer’s responsibilities are already being transferred to the remaining members of the managing board.

Hugo Boss' online expansion is one of its key growth drivers, with the plan that by 2022 it will generate online sales of more than €400 million through its own and third-party websites. In 2019, e-commerce accounted for €151 million of its sales.

"The growing importance of online has become even more evident in 2020, as our industry continues to face an unprecedented situation and consumer behaviour increasingly shifts from offline to online," noted Matthew Dean, director for global e-commerce at Hugo Boss.

"We are therefore accelerating the international rollout of our online store, thereby making further, systematic headway with the digitalisation of our business model."

Hugo Boss added 22 e-commerce markets in June - including in Australia, Poland, and Portugal - with Canada and Mexico due to get their own versions of Hugoboss.com in August.

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