Head of Product

FashionTrade is an Amsterdam-based start-up, providing the traditional fashion industry’s digital transition with a boost. In January 2017, the first version of the online platform was launched which enables fashion brands and retailers to connect and discover new sales channels or collections. An online platform designed to make both buying and selling easier, more transparent and more efficient. The Head of Product is responsible for taking this platform even further and developing it into the one-stop marketplace for fashion brands and retailers.

FashionTrade.com

FashionTrade was founded in early 2016. Before FashionTrade, brands and retailers predominantly met offline, mainly at fairs, making the purchasing process very time-consuming. FashionTrade changes this. They have developed a unique platform combining the characteristic qualities of an online (social) marketplace with the commercial functionalities of a B2B-tool.

FashionTrade’s ambitions

FashionTrade has ambitious plans. With the financial backing and industry know-how of Anders Holch Povlsen, owner of Bestseller.com, the future is exceedingly promising. Currently, FashionTrade is live in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany with the next step: Scandinavia and the Southern European markets. Another pillar of growth is the expansion on category-level. The concept has proven its worth in the children’s wear category and starting in the summer of 2017, FashionTrade will expand to include men’s and ladies’ fashion. Furthermore, there are two important add-ons that turn this into an essential tool for its end-users. Firstly, the ‘connecting’ functionality: through the use of rich content profiles, retailers and brands can decide who they match with. Secondly, the data insights: currently there is a lack of insight into the data of the entire fashion industry. FashionTrade will make this a reality, making purchasing based on gut feelings a thing of the past. Summing up: the business model is solid, the first brands and retailers have set up profiles and conducted transactions, the funding is in place, there is an abundance of expertise and the goals for the coming year have been set. What’s missing? A Head of Product that will prepare the platform for the future.

Organization

FashionTrade is a start-up. Ideally, within a year, the organization will be structured as follows: one CEO with a Head of Technology, Head of Sales, Head of Operations and a Head of Product. Most of these positions are being filled and/or will be filled through internal growth. The same principle will apply for the Head of Product: this person will start in the position of Product Manager and will report to the Head of Operations. When FashionTrade matures, the Product Manager will develop as well and they will grow into the role of Head of Product. The Head of Product manages two SCRUM teams in which various disciplines and levels of experience will come together. The team consists of Devops Engineers, Backend Developers, Frontend Developers, Mobile Developers and UX Designers. The Head of Product is closely involved with the business teams in order to translate the users’ wishes properly into new features on the website.

Vacancy for a Head of Product

The MVP (minimum viable product) for fashiontrade.com was launched in January 2017. In the meantime, the backlog for the coming months has filled up considerably. In addition to improvements to make FashionTrade the best fashion buying and selling tool there is, some of the planned features are:

• Superior search & filtering. Search should be simple, but at FashionTrade they know how much effort it takes to achieve that.
• Product recommendations. FashionTrade wants to go beyond the ‘someone like you also bought’ recommendations. They want to provide retailers with useful suggestions throughout the platform, based on past buying, current stock, local trends and input from the brands.
• Connection recommendations. Based on currently connected brands, style interests and Instagram likes, FashionTrade will recommend brands and retailers as potential partners, to do business.
• Image recognition will assist product search

The team has a strong data science background – and are further expanding that. FashionTrade wants to take the inspirational ambiance of the fashion fair where brands and retailers connect into the 21^st century by providing the team with an innovative online platform. This means an optimization of the social aspect of the platform FashionTrade.com. In this process, the Head of Product plays a key role. Meanwhile, the first feedback loops are starting to materialize, indicating the current functionalities can be optimized even further. Together with the UX Designers, the Head of Product organizes live testing with FashionTrade’s users enabling them to constantly improve the platform. This demands a very structured approach.
Personality

• Energetic
• Strong communication skills
• Sensitive
• Confident

Experience

• A minimum of 7 years in online, of which 3 years as Product Manager or Product Owner
• Experience in working according to SCRUM methodology
• End-to-end processes (concept, requirements, development, testing, launch)
• Basic knowledge in micro-services architecture, Google Cloud, JAVA backend
• Used to fast-paced, dynamic start-up culture
• Knowledge in fashion industry would be an advantage