AHAlife Holdings Limited (ASX:AHL), a curated online marketplace for consumers of unique and designer items, has announced the appointment of Sebastian Kaufmann as the company’s CEO effectively immediately.
The appointment of Kaufmann, who has been chief curation officer of AHAlife since the company acquired Kaufmann Mercantile in 2016, comes after Shauna Mei (CEO and Founder) and Sachin Devand (CTO and Co-Founder) have mutually agreed with the board to pursue other endeavours and cease being executives of the company.
AHAlife said both Shauna and Sachin have al agreed to resign as directors effective immediately.
Stuart Halls will continue in his role as CFO & COO. Both Stuart and Sebastian are supported by the board, which includes Christopher Colfer, former Chief Executive of Alfred Dunhill and NED of NETA-PORTER and current NED of LYST.
READ ALSO:
Metro Retail Stores Group Raises Php3.61 Billion in Philippine IPO
Singapore Exchange Welcomes Aspial Treasury’s Retail Bonds
The change in management follows a strategic review of the Company’s performance by the non-executive members of the board.
The management changes coincide with a strategy to refocus the company on delivering on its long-term opportunity as a leading luxury on-line marketplace,
while also further reducing its cost structure.
“Our goal is to improve our customer’s experience and implement a cohesive merchandising plan that builds on the key elements that make AHA an attractive operating model, namely the combined strengths in the merchandise and brand strategies of Kaufmann Mercantile and AHAlife’s high-end technology, drop-ship model,” Mike Hill, AHAlife’s Chairman, said.
The attractive underlying metrics of the business which has high margins, high order values and highly curated items, will remain.
The changes to management and the cost base is expected to allow the Company to operate with a more efficient and leaner organisational structure with reduced operating expenditure.
Under new leadership, the Company’s merchandise strategy will work hand-in-hand with marketing to improve customer retention, attract audiences with a high Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and enhance our website engagement and conversion.
Returning its focus on a clearly defined customer, AHAlife will execute on a strategy centered on its original ethos of offering hard to find luxury items.
READ ALSO:
Hong Kong’s Retail Sales Expected to Fall
Bossini Announces 2016/17 Interim Results
Our marketing activities aim to activate increased revenue from unpaid channels, with a particular focus on SEO and partnerships, whilst increasing the Company’s potential to take advantage of ongoing developments in data analytics, automation and personalisation. These initiatives are targeted to increase retention and customer conversion.
“I’m delighted to be appointed as AHAlife’s CEO. I have always believed in a curated marketplace of hard to find, interesting and unique products. My aim, as CEO, is to bring focus to the platform we have already, with over 4,000 vendors and 60,000 customers, to provide quality products that our customers build an emotional connection to for themselves or as a gift,” Kaufmann said. – BusinessNewsAsia.com