ASOS appoints UK Chief Commercial Officer to oversee increased growth

Online fashion giant ASOS has today announced the appointment of José Antonio Ramos Calamonte as Chief Commercial Officer for the UK.

The hire marks the latest in a series of newly created roles to strengthen the ASOS executive team and ensure the company has the “strategic capability” required for its next stage of growth.

Calamonte joins ASOS from Portuguese fashion company, Salsa Jeans, where he held the position of Chief Executive Officer for almost two years.

Prior to that, he led on commercial strategy for brands including Esprit, Carrefour Spain and Inditex during a results-driven 23-year career. He has extensive multichannel experience, having worked across both online and physical retail, with expertise in trading, merchandising, price, and promotion.

Calamonte will start his new role at ASOS on 4 January, 2021, and he will be responsible for leading and driving ASOS’ product and trading strategy globally, encompassing design, sourcing, garment technology, buying and merchandising, global trading, studios and creative.

Nick Beighton, CEO at ASOS, commented: “I’m pleased to welcome José Antonio to our expanding executive team. His extensive commercial experience overseeing a wide range of disciplines will be an indispensable asset for us, and we’re excited to have him on board as we continue the next stage of our journey.”

Calamonte added: “I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to join such a unique company in ASOS and apply my experience to an organisation that is renowned for its innovation and dynamism. The scale of the role, the quality of the team and the excitement around ASOS’ growth plans were simply unmissable.”

In the new role, Calamonte will also oversee product, category and range strategy, pricing and margin, own-label product innovation, and brand partnerships, leading a team of more than 1,000 people.

Last month, ASOS announced its results for the year ending 31 August, 2020. Over the preceding 12-month period, the company delivered a 19% year-on-year growth in revenues to £3.26bn, with profit before tax rising more than 300% to £142.1m.

These results were underpinned by strong sales growth across all geographies and an increase in active customers to 23.4m.