Secret Sales prepares for next expansion push with new CDO and CMO appointments

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Nov 20, 2023

Secret Sales has been busy filling two new key executive positions as the premium off-price fashion and beauty marketplace heads into its next expansion phase. 

Chris Lacey has been appointed to the new role of Chief Digital Officer (CDO) of the business and Alex Adamson moves up from SVP of digital marketing to join the executive board as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).

Headline news is Lacey’s arrival, hailed by Secret Sales as an “exciting new leadership expansion [that] marks a new chapter of growth for the business”.

He joins just five months after the digital retailer name highly-rated fashion industry tech exec Leon Shepherd as its new Chief Technology Officer.

A month earlier, the business also secured $10 million in new funding so Lacey joins as the retailer “aggressively accelerates its European expansion strategy” with the new CDO  “responsible for driving Secret Sales’ platform growth and international expansion”.

The company also said he will be directly involved in its “merger and acquisition strategy”.

And Lacey is certainly well versed in online fashion retail. He joins from Matalan, “where he successfully delivered a large-scale digital transformation programme” as its Director of E-commerce. 

Prior to this, he served as Digital Director and part of the executive team at Superdry. Over a nine-year period, “he built Superdry’s entire e-commerce platform and operation and played a pivotal role in growing its online proposition across North America, Europe and Asia, including China.”

Lacey will work closely with all departments “to optimise the e-commerce platform to drive digital revenue, enhance the customer experience and advance operations”. He will report to CEO Chris Griffin.

Griffin said: “As we enter 2024, it’s critical for us to move quickly to keep pace with the strong appetite we’re seeing for off-price from our retailer and brand partners so we can help them expand into new European territories. This is why the time is right to strengthen our leadership team to help us deliver on our vision to positively disrupt the world of off-price.”

Lacey added: “In today’s challenging retail climate, Secret Sales’ unique, stockless off-price model is changing the game by putting excess stock sustainably into the hands of consumers. The business is at a pivotal growth point and I’m excited to bring my e-commerce experience to the table and support the team in driving new growth across Europe, while creating new value for customers.”

Adamson, meanwhile, takes up his new post of CMO tasked with “building out a wider marketing and digital strategy”, working closely with Lacey to support those growth ambitions.

He previously worked for THG and AllSaints and added: “It's an extremely exciting opportunity to step into the CMO role. The company's distinctive market position and trajectory offer a unique opportunity for a marketer. The particularly intriguing aspect lies in the ambitious yet attainable international expansion plan for the business, in which the new executive positions play a pivotal role.”