Yesterday Ozon Holdings, one of Russia’s most established players on the Russian e-commerce scene, announced that Maëlle Gavet, its French-born CEO since 2011, is moving on from the company.
Israeli-born Danny Perekalsky, currently Ozon’s deputy CEO, has been appointed as new CEO. He will assume the new role immediately, with Gavet staying with the company for a few months to guide the transition.
Since Gavet took the company’s reins in 2011, Ozon has grown and diversified significantly, keeping its rank as a leading Russian e-commerce company. Among the company’s most significant moves over these years were the following:
- In September 2011 Ozon raised a record $100 million from a pool of Western and Russian venture funds along with Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten.
- In February 2012 Ozon acquired Sapato.ru, a leading shoes and accessories online retailer, for an undisclosed amount. However, competing with such strong players as Rocket Internet’s Lamoda.ru, Sapato seemed to lose some of its initial traction in the following years.
- In early 2013 Ozon made some of its capacities available to third party players. The offer included fulfilment and delivery services as well as web development, call center, payment and strategic consulting services provided to foreign brands considering expansion into the Russian market.
- In April 2014 Ozon secured no less than $150 million from Russian group AFK Sistema and mobile operator MTS. Not only did the transaction set a new record in Russia, it came amid a period of slowdown on the local venture market.
- In May 2014 the company acquired a stake in LitRes, the leader in Russia’s fast growing – though still embryonic – domestic e-book market. Neither the size of the stake nor the amount of the transaction were disclosed.
Taking into account all the group’s properties – from Ozon.ru and Sapato.ru, which trade physical goods, to Ozon Travel, to O’Courier – Ozon reported GMV of 32 billion rubles (approximately $850 million at the average exchange rate) and net sales to 11.08 billion (approximately $290 million) in 2014.
The company has had Western management since the early 2000s when French businessman Pascal Clément bought a controlling stake in the company, which he then sold in 2006. Clément appointed Swiss Bernard Lukey as CEO in 2005.
After six years with BCG in Russia, Europe and India, Gavet joined Ozon in early 2010 as marketing and CRM director before being appointed as CEO in 2011.
After four years at the helm, she said she “decided to leave Russia and join another company,” without providing further details.
Update June 17, 2015 – The Priceline Group, a leading global online travel and related service company, announced that Gavet will join its senior leadership team as the Executive Vice President of Global Operations starting from July 6, 2015. Gavet will be responsible for driving global operational strategy and connections across The Priceline Group and its six major brands: Booking.com, priceline.com, KAYAK, agoda.com, rentalcars.com and OpenTable, working alongside The Priceline Group leadership team and the company CEOs.
- EWDN has published an in-depth research on the Russian online retail industry, including case studies on Ozon and other significant players. To receive free insights, please contact us at [email protected].
