Bjoern Behlau

Overseeing and managing Merchandising, Brand & Product Development, Omni-Channel, Planning & Sales, Channel Management & BI, Marketing, Creation and On Air Talent. As of March 2017 responsible for the entire commercial value chain overseeing additional critical functions as Merchandising, Brand & Product Development. Transformed entire structure into a matrix and customer centric organization with focus on shopping through community improving the customer experience. Overall responsible for 95 internal FTE’s and more than 100 external contractors.  

Accomplished true transformation into an analogue and digital omni-channel experience leveraging increasing web and omni-channel customers by 50%.
Strategically onboarding of brands like Laura Biagiotti, Peroni, premium brands via off price channel and Romina Power as celebrity.
Increased the brand portfolio by 50% with Focus on Italian fast forward Fashion, Shoes, Beauty and Home to leverage KPI’s as gross margin, price point and turn over.
Based on assortment and category mix paired with campaigns and merchandise distribution ARPU increased by 15%.
Improved Gross Profit by 6%p.P. driven by lowering COGS and introduced better vendor contracts and negotiations (return rights, additional contributions, year end fee, etc.).
Clear business and development plan structure for each category with full 360 degree value chain approach to market and direct competition

Responsible for all E-Commerce/Web, TV Planning, Programming and Analytic activities. Reporting directly to CEO and General Manager (EVP) International Business Development. 

As of beginning 2016 additional responsibility in managing the E-commerce platform and as of August 2016 the Marketing department with an overall FTE count of 50. Focus on increasing web sales and leveraging omni-channel structure. Increase awareness and reach on all social media channels with doubling active fan base. Increase of combined Web / TV campaigns of 250%. 

E-commerce sales outgrew company growth YOY significantly with a plus of 50% in turn over.
Restructuring of assortment/brand mix, highlight campaigns, key items and merchandise categories increasing the assortment while creating traffic through TV & social commerce.

Generated a Web session increase of 40% leveraging higher conversion rate resulting in higher basket size.
Introduced agile marketing with significantly reducing time to market for new initiatives (speed boat approach).
Increased new customer generation by another 15% YOY while active customer base increased by 20% reducing also churn rate.

Responsible for all TV Planning, Programming, Campaign & Events as well as Analytic Activities. Reporting directly to CEO and EVP International Business Development. 
 
Transition phase from the USA to Italy with direct impact on sales growth of 25% YOY in first year. Structure and process were redesigned with positive effect on all major KPI’s. Improved Business Intelligence capabilities to maximize categories and campaigns with seasonal planning. Adjusted merchandise mix to balance new customers, high sales velocity, gross margins and net sales as well as price points, frequency and basket size. 

Increased motivation and coaching of staff were key to success for induction year.
Redesign of areas and responsibilities with focus in Business, Organization, Process and Infrastructure.
Implemented best industry practices with adjusting to Italian retail landscape.

Creation of new promotional tools to increase frequency and basket size.
Increased active customer base by 30% with leveraging ARPU of Repeat and Core and acceleration of New Customer generation by 16%.

Leading all divisions including Watches, Jewelry, Beauty/Health, Ready to Wear, Home and Consumer Electronics including Support Planning with a total staff of up to 30 employees and an annual sales volume of $560M. 

Management and responsibility of sales, margin, new customer assortment/acquisition, inventory, forecasts and replenishment. 
Steering all companywide promotions, campaigns, events and sales accelerator.
Responsible for category mix and pricing structure.
Maximizing Auto Delivery / Shipment sales accounting for 5% of annual turnover.
Introducing and maximizing Up Selling / Cross Selling activities to increase basked size and annual ARPU by 15%, outperforming all other strategies.
Reporting directly to the President and CEO. 
Responsible for departmental budget.

Responsible for the Jewelry, Beauty/Health and Ready to Wear department with an annual sales volume of $205M. Drove all promotional and sales maximization efforts within a 360 degree approach. 

Created key sales initiatives to turn company around generating positive EBITDA. 
Created and implemented a new sub department “Support Planning” including all structure and processes to streamline the workflow and gain more efficiency. 
Managed a total of 17 employees.

Transition phase to the USA managing the Jewelry and Beauty/Health department with 12 employees generating $174M. Strategically rebuilt the Jewelry department by liquidating more than 60% of the Jewelry inventory (problem merchandise) within 3 months only. Built up a strong omni-channel oriented promotional calendar and replenishment business which secured high margin and a stable, good quality inventory flow. Restructured both divisions from the airtime mix, web share and allocation perspective. 

Accomplished Jewelry productivity grew by 23% and margin sales by 26%. Beauty/Health grew by 60% in net sales, 53% in margin sales and 22% in productivity (all sales metrics by far exceeding company average).
Developed and introduced a complete new team with 12 employees including structure, process, selection and training. Company-wide implementation self-developed sales reporting and analysis tool.

Managed the entire Home/Hardgoods department with 10 employees accounting for more than 50% of the revenues with high focus on e-commerce share.

Annual sales of €365M while managing an average inventory volume of €125M.
Responsible for 50% of the airtime/business mix at QVC Germany. 
Sales growth acceleration of the Home department outperforming company average through detailed category and lifecycle planning. 

Successful planning and executing the Xmas strategies for 2007 and 2008 incl. merchandise mix/assortment, all events, anchor gift programming and multichannel approach. Sales (+23%) and productivity (+29%) grew significantly compared to 2007 assuring overall growth for the year.
Sales maximization and assortment strategy of the biggest on air promotions (Kitchen Event, Living Ambiente Event). Total sales in 2008 have been worth €22.4M resulting in an increase of €4.6M (25.8%) compared to prior year (€17.8M).

Managed the Beauty/Health, Lifestyle and Apparel department with a team of 6 employees generating over €190M in sales annually.

Restructured the Beauty department to secure future growth and margin sales by strategically reassigning the airtime. Implementation of new rotation of vertical and horizontal Fashion & Lifestyle events which allowed maximizing sales and assuring correct inventory levels. 
From 2006 till 2007 the Apparel sales grew by more than 40% while maintaining stable inventory levels. Built the Beauty and Lifestyle department to the main sales and growth driver of QVC.
Being responsible for the 1Q maximization in 2007 which had been a 1 year long countdown strategy to QVC’s 10th Anniversary in Germany and generated an incremental €38M in revenues.

Developed, managed and maximized product, brand & category life cycles including inventory responsibility. Prepared and presented sales & airtime strategies. Developed and held coaching seminars (Q-College) for best in class inductions of new hires.

Trading of various financial instruments, such as futures, options and stocks on an intraday and mid-term basis, with the goal of making short-term profits. Managed an annual trading volume of €250M with up to 50 transactions per day.

The RMS is a cargo and shipping company operating Short Sea traffic routes across Europe which focuses on providing sea/river services. It also functions as broker, port agent and buyer/seller of vessels.