Jabong restructuring: CXOs exit post acquisition by Flipkart

Priyanka Sahay

Moneycontrol

In a heavy restructuring, e-commerce firm Jabong has witnessed the exit of two of its senior level executives -- Chief Marketplace Officer (CMO), Ranjan Kant and HR Head Deepa Chadha.

The move comes barely three months after its acquisition by Flipkart, which had acquired Jabong via its fashion e-commerce unit Myntra for about USD 70 million in July, this year.

In a letter addressed to the employees, chief executive officer of Jabong and Myntra, Ananth Narayanan said that there is a new organisation construct that is being put into place, "which will ensure we continue and further accelerate, the progress we have been making at Jabong".  The letter has been reviewed by Moneycontrol.com.

Post the restructuring, the operations, and HR teams will report to Chief Operating Officer, Muralikrishnan B, who will also continue to lead product and technology, the letter said.

"The last few months have clearly proven to us the value and strength of the Jabong brand and our people. We have had multiple successes - reviving our revenue run-rate, achieving a GP (gross profits) positive month for the first time in Jabong’s history, resolving several of operational challenges and a great festive season. The changes we are making to our organisation construct will help us continue our growth trajectory and grow the Jabong brand further," the letter mentioned.

According to two senior executives at Jabong who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the plan is to integrate the technology and marketing teams of the two companies in an effort of reduce cost and bring in more efficiency. It is however likely that the two brands will continue to exist.

"Brands will be live. There is a small set of consumer overlap. However if you shut one of them, the loyal set of customer for one portal may get lost," said one of the person quoted above.

The seller acquisition will now be merged with the marketplace team under Kalyan Kumar while seller experience will continue to sit with operations under Muralikrishnan.

The changes will be implemented in the next two weeks.

Kant joined the company in January from Snapdeal after working for an year with Snapdeal, as its Head of Strategy. Chadha came to Jabong in February. She has earlier worked with telecom firm Airtel.

Chadha will be replaced by Parul Gupta who will be joining Jabong soon. "Parul brings over 15 plus years of progressive HR experience with Citibank in India and the UK and we are very excited for her to be joining the Jabong Leadership team," the letter said. She will report to Murali.

Kant was hired by Jabong in its effort to focus on marketplace model against the company’s cash heavy inventory-led model.

Myntra acquired Jabong this year beating the other suiters such as e-commerce firms Snapdeal and Aditya Birla Group owned-Abof. The USD 70 million deal was much lower compared to Jabong's valuation of USD 508 million in 2013.

Post the acquisition, Sanjeev Mohanty who was brought in as the chief executive of Jabong, also left the company in July to join Levi Strauss & Co. as its managing director for South Asia operations."Chief Marketplace Officer, Ranjan Kant and HR Head Deepa Chadha have both decided to pursue other career opportunities," a Jabong spokesperson said in an e-mail confirmation to Moneycontrol.

"We have realigned our organisation to further accelerate the progress we have been making at Jabong.  We have consolidated the revenue and demand, supply chain and logistics, engineering and product organizations to help us unlock the efficiencies and enhance collaboration to meet our customers fashion and lifestyle needs," the spokesperson added.

The mail further said that the company will continue to invest in Jabong as a brand across all functions.

priyanka.sahay@network18online.com