Ex-Debenhams chief Sergio Bucher joins Germany's Otto

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jan 7, 2020

Following his exit as chief executive of Debenhams in April, Sergio Bucher is swapping the UK retail market for Germany to join Hamburg-based fashion group Otto.

His appointment as executive board member, brands and retail comes just months after Bucher was forced to leave the helm at Debenhams amid a boardroom battle with its largest shareholder, Sports Direct.

Bucher stepped down from his role just a week after the department store chain fell into administration.

His new appointment will see him become responsible for Otto’s multichannel operations including brands such as Crate & Barrel and Freemans Grattan. He is expected to start in early February.

Otto started life as a mail order company in 1949, and is currently one of Germany’s biggest e-commerce companies. It employs nearly 50,000 people, and generates online revenues of about €7.7bn.

Commenting on Bucher’s appointment, Otto Group supervisory board chair Michael Otto said: “In Sergio Bucher, the Otto Group is gaining an outstanding and internationally highly experienced retail manager, whose comprehensive expertise is a perfect fit with our group of companies’ multichannel activities. I look forward to a fruitful cooperation.” 

Sergio Bucher added: “The Otto Group shows how an internationally established group of companies can master the massive challenges of the digital transformation with great success. I am very much looking forward to being part of this in these exciting times.”

Before Debenhams, Bucher held positions at companies including Puma, Nike, Inditex and Cortefiel. He also served as vice president of Amazon Fashion Europe between 2013 and 2016.