Surf4shoes GmbH, based in Bitz in Baden-Württemberg, has expanded its management team to include Janis Salmen, who has been with the company as Chief Operating Officer (COO) since March 2021. He was appointed to the management board on December 15, 2021. Together with Surf4shoes founder Manfred Faigle, as well as Gabriele Kreis-Schiemann and Uwe Niemann, he will manage the company in the future.
Since it was founded in 2005, Surf4shoes GmbH has established itself as one of the largest players in the digital marketplace business for branded shoes. The shoe retailer, whose majority shareholder is the Osnabrück HR Group, is now represented with its range of goods on more than 25 online platforms such as Zalando, Otto and AboutYou and in over 20 European markets. In addition, he has an extensive brand portfolio.
Salmen is to set up and expand Anygate
“Online trading is developing rapidly and constantly brings new challenges with it. I am therefore pleased to have Janis Salmen, a proven expert for innovative digital business strategies and the online marketplace business, in our company,” commented Faigle in a statement.
After completing his bachelor’s degree in economics and Chinese studies in Heidelberg, Taipei and Brisbane, 37-year-old Salmen completed his master’s degree in international business at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in 2010. He then worked at Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH and most recently for Zalando SE, where he held various managerial positions over a period of six years.
There, Salmen built up the areas of supplier management and supply chain performance and was responsible for the supplier strategy in Zalando’s various business models and the pricing strategy for the marketplace business. At Surf4shoes, in addition to the operative business, Salmen will take care of the establishment and expansion of the company’s own start-up ‘Anygate’.
“I am looking forward to contributing my skills in the development and implementation of creative and sustainable online strategies in the marketplace business to Surf4shoes and especially to the ‘Anygate’ project. Using this experience and expertise to help other companies to be successful in online business will be an exciting task,” says Salmen.
‘Anygate’ is the new service division of Surf4shoes, which bundles the entire know-how from over 15 years of experience in online trading and marketplace business and offers manufacturers of shoes, fashion and accessories as a service. The core of the service is the area-wide connection to over 25 online marketplaces throughout Europe.
“With ‘Anygate’ as a partner, the manufacturers get access to the most important European online sales platforms for their products within a very short time. If desired, the start-up can also handle all of the logistics for its customers, create and maintain their online shop, and provide data analysis and strategic advice in order to achieve online goals. The extensive know-how and structures of the HR Group in offline trading can also be used. In this way, manufacturers can concentrate entirely on their products, while ‘Anygate’ develops the online marketing precisely, controls it effectively and continuously optimizes it,” explains the shoe retailer.