Physical & wholesale
International distribution, key accounts, own stores, concessions, franchise and licensed brands.
General Management · International Growth · P&L
Building profitable growth through transformation.
I have run P&Ls in fashion, professional beauty and B2B SaaS, and led international business through distributors, partners and teams across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. For me transformation starts with the customer problem the offer solves, then changes how the business sells, the business model underneath, and the people, processes and systems behind it, while the business keeps running. I have done that from wholesale to omnichannel, from linear sales to platforms and SaaS, and now towards AI-mediated commerce.
Growth has to come with margin, not instead of it.
Top 5profit centre at Thalia, built from the Digital Retail Solutions unit
125m+visits on the Douglas Shopping App in 2024
200+global brands integrated into the Otto Group platform service
EUR 10minvestment secured as managing director and shareholder of Nicowa
Selected experience
Led businesses through change, with results.
REVIDERM AG
Professional skincare, devices and training. Led the international business across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas, reporting to the CEO, with eight direct reports and a 20-person international sales organisation across distributor markets. Introduced quarterly business reviews, a rolling forecast and payment rules for distributors.
Thalia Bücher GmbH
Rebuilt the unit into one of Thalia’s top five profit centres, growing revenue by more than 20% a year. Ran strategy and delivery workstreams for the Douglas Shopping App, which grew into the main digital purchase channel: more than a third of digital orders and over 125m visits in 2024. Built personalisation and retention on data and machine learning, measured on customer lifetime value. Six direct reports; the Berlin unit ran around 50 people on Douglas and 30 on Thalia projects.
Cint AB
Grew the client base by 30% and built four accounts to over EUR 1m each, ahead of target. Moved the business from managed services to an automated self-serve SaaS model. Integrated Gapfish and supported workstreams for the USD 1.1bn acquisition of Lucid.
True Fit Corporation
Built out the Central Europe go-to-market and won Popken Fashion Group, Otto Group, adidas and H&M as clients. Repositioned the offer from a point solution to a platform and rebuilt the sales process around SPIN and MEDDPICC.
Independent advisor and interim executive
Transformation and organisational programme at a retailer of around EUR 500m turnover, merging a start-up-led online unit with a large physical retail organisation; delivered the transformation steps alongside the programme lead.
Otto Group / Zitra GmbH
Built the sales organisation of the group’s internal start-up to 40 people worldwide and integrated more than 200 global brands into the platform service model. Introduced CRM, pipeline and forecast governance. Prepared the M&A process ahead of the JD.com investment.
Nicowa GmbH
Ran a premium fashion business with 75 staff across 15 stores and 30 concessions plus franchise and wholesale. Doubled revenue and raised the margin, secured a EUR 10m investment, and led the asset deal and exit.
Earlier: European distribution and licensed brands (OshKosh B’Gosh, Liberty of London) at SR Gent International; DACH market build for Falmer Jeans. Founder of ebodity AG (1999), working on the returns problem in distance retail; interim CEO of Falcon Internet (Team Europe), co-founder of Youbl.
A recurring theme
From one commercial model to the next.
Digital & omnichannel
Fit personalisation for distance retail, patented in 1999 (DE19956574A1). Later app, personalisation and retention work for Thalia and Douglas.
Platforms & SaaS
Marketplace services at Otto Group, enterprise SaaS at True Fit, self-serve SaaS at Cint.
AI-mediated commerce
Discovery, recommendation and parts of the buying decision increasingly pre-filtered by software. The shift I am working on next.
I have worked through each of these transitions as operator, general manager, commercial leader and founder. Each started with the same question, which customer problem the offer solves, and each needed a different organisation, not only a new channel.
How I work
One question per layer, a proven method behind each.
Offer
Golden Circle, Value Proposition Canvas, Jobs to be Done.
Business model
Business Model Canvas, Blue Ocean with the ERRC grid.
Sales
SPIN, MEDDPICC, Challenger, account-based marketing, quarterly business reviews and a rolling forecast.
People
Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions, Working Genius, Tuckman.
Processes & systems
Value stream mapping, Kanban, OKR, and AI where it removes manual work from the process.
Finance
Order-to-cash and payment terms, margin bridge and pricing, working capital, investment and deal structures.
Stress test
Kill Your Own Company and pre-mortem workshops before committing to a plan.
Current perspective
The next shift is not another channel.
How will AI agents change product discovery, recommendation and brand preference?
Who owns the customer relationship when commerce moves outside the traditional storefront?
Which customer moments should be automated, and which should become deliberately more human?
Which capabilities should a company own, partner or automate as its operating model changes?
Omnichannel connected touchpoints. AI changes where the decision is made. For management that means linking brand, customer experience, data, sales, processes and operating model, without confusing technical possibility with economic value. I have no finished answers here; I work the questions through with customer journey and service blueprints, capability maps (own, partner, automate) and scenario planning.
Executive learning
Formal learning, applied in practice.
Harvard Business School Online
Certificate of Specialization in Leadership & Management: Leadership Principles, Organizational Leadership, Strategy Execution.
London School of Economics
Data Analysis for Management.
MBA
Anglia Ruskin University / London School of Commerce, with a case study on retail transformation, brand equity, platform strategy and international growth.
Contact
Open to general management and international commercial leadership roles.
Premium consumer, retail and B2B SaaS. Based in the Munich area, open to international roles, Barcelona possible.
German (native), English (executive level), Spanish (conversational).
nikolaus@meyden.deLinkedIn