Calvin Klein’s former marketing boss has become the latest appointee to the board of Asos.
Marie Gulin-Merle will join as a non-executive director of the online clothing brand from the start of February next year, where she will serve on its remuneration committee, among other positions.
The Paris-born executive is currently the global vice-president of advertising marketing at Google, a position she joined three years ago following an 18-month spell at Calvin Klein.
New appointment: ASOS has announced that Marie Gulin-Merle, the global vice-president of advertising marketing at Google, will become a non-executive director in February
Prior to that, she spent more than a decade at L’Oreal, the world’s biggest cosmetics business, eventually rising to become the company’s senior marketing officer in the United States.
Jørgen Lindemann, the chairman of Asos, said:’Marie joins us with a depth of relevant industry knowledge across international ecommerce, marketing, beauty and brands.’
Her appointment comes a week after Asos announced that Wei Gao, the chief operating officer of teleconferencing platform Hopin, would also become a non-executive director of the apparel seller.
Gao is a former long-time executive at retail behemoth Amazon, once holding the position of ‘shadow’ adviser to Jeff Bezos, a highly-influential role that involved accompanying the tycoon everywhere he went.
Such a job has often been considered a springboard to attaining more senior business roles. Andy Jassy, the current chief executive of Amazon, previously occupied the post.
After Gao stepped down as a shadow adviser, she spent time as the retailer’s vice president of grocery tech, product and supply chain, a period that coincided with the first half of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Troubled times: The Topshop owner recently plummeted to its first annual loss in two decades as the cost-of-living crisis led consumers to cut back on apparel spending
During this time, Amazon’s total sales skyrocketed, while profits and shares reached record levels as tough lockdown restrictions drove customers to make a larger share of their purchases online.
Asos also saw a surge in trade and earnings due to the temporary closure of clothing shops across multiple countries, including the UK.
Pre-tax profits more than quadrupled to £142.1million in 2020 and grew by another 25 per cent to £177.1million the following year as shoppers swallowed up a lot more activewear and casual clothing.
In the year to August 2022, however, the FTSE 250 group plummeted to its first annual loss in two decades as the cost-of-living crisis led consumers to cut back on apparel spending.
Trading was further impacted by the firm selling more inventory at discounted prices and an increase in people returning items they had bought.
Amidst the downturn in sales, the fast-fashion seller is being investigated by regulators over the ‘eco-friendly and sustainability claims’ of its products.
Its cash flow has also come under greater strain after credit insurer Allianz decided to reduce cover for its suppliers by more than half.
And three weeks ago, chief financial officer Katy Mecklenburgh announced that she would be moving to computer and software reseller Softcat in six months’ time, even though she just joined the company in November.
These problems have sent ASOS shares tumbling by over three-quarters in the past 12 months. On Thursday morning, they were 1.3 per cent lower at 507p.
