LONDON — Matchesfashion is making changes at the front and back ends of the business as it positions itself for digital and physical commerce in the wake of COVID-19.
Matches’ new chief executive officer Paolo De Cesare hasn’t been wasting any time building his management team, naming Amazon and Farfetch veteran Dave Murray chief financial officer and Prenisha Harry, formerly of Pandora and Inditex, as human resources director.
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After a two-year hiatus due to lockdown, the retailer is also resuming its partnership with Marie-Louise Sciò and taking Matches to Italy once again for a series of immersive consumer events.
Grand Tour Italy Part Two will see Matches host parties, dinners and pop-ups in Rome, Florence, Naples and Ischia, the sequel to an initiative that debuted in 2019.
Matches’ new CFO Murray hails from Farfetch where he was senior vice president of finance. He will start his new role in the autumn, succeeding Sean Glithero, who will be leaving to take a career break. Glithero had been with the business since September 2020.
Murray has 20 years of experience in the luxury and retail sectors, including three years at Farfetch, where he worked alongside the company’s CFO, with operational responsibility for all areas of finance.
Prior to Farfetch, he held senior finance positions at Amazon U.K., first as U.K. finance director for operations and then as Amazon Logistics European finance director.
De Cesare described Murray as “one of the luxury industry’s most respected finance professionals. He will provide us with invaluable e-commerce expertise.”
De Cesare said the next $100 billion of luxury market growth will come from further digital penetration, “and Dave’s vast experience in this area will be immensely valuable.”
In an interview this week, De Cesare said he’s been on a mission to attract top talent in digital, retail and fashion. The two new appointments are reflective of that.
De Cesare said Murray will be working on optimizing Matches’ supply chain, which accounts for one-third of the company’s costs in areas such as returns, duties and shipping.
De Cesare said supply chain is an area where there are “many opportunities and challenges,” and the aim is to figure out ways to serve the customer better, and save money.
Matches hired Harry, its new HR director, from Pandora. Harry has nearly 16 years of experience in HR roles at large retail companies, having started her career at Inditex, parent of brands including Zara and Massimo Dutti.