Düsseldorf, Germany, 2014-10-3— /EPR Retail News/ — Effective 1 October 2014, Philippe Palazzi (43) will assume the position of the Chief Customer & Marketing Officer (CCMO) at METRO Cash & Carry and at the same time also become member of the Extended Management Board of METRO AG. He will take over from Diego Bevilacqua, CCMO since January 2010, who will be responsible for top supplier relations of the Germany-based wholesaler.
Philippe Palazzi has been serving as Managing Director of METRO Cash & Carry Italy since January 2011 where he laid the essential foundations for more customer proximity and drove the business focus on Horeca customers.
Philippe Palazzi began his career by joining METRO Cash & Carry France in 1994. In September 2002, he was appointed Senior Buyer at MAKRO Cash & Carry Greece and in August 2005 assumed the position of Director Procurement & Merchandising Food at METRO Cash & Carry Hungary. In January 2007, he was designated Head of Food Management of METRO Cash & Carry International and then took the position of Director Offer Management at METRO Cash & Carry Italy in April 2008.
“In Philippe Palazzi, we found an experienced expert of our business who, with his work in Italy, already impressively demonstrated that he knows our customers’ needs inside out. Under his leadership, our Italian business was also successfully transformed towards a customer orientated, innovative and strong performing wholesale format”, said Olaf Koch, CEO of METRO AG. “We are pleased that Philippe Palazzi will now contribute this expertise to his new position”.
The management of METRO Cash & Carry Italy will be taken over by Claude Sarraih who until now served as Director Offer Management at METRO Cash & Carry Russia.
METRO GROUP is one of the largest and most important international retailing companies. During the financial year 2012/13 (pro forma), it generated sales of about €66 billion. The company operates around 2,200 stores in 31 countries and has a headcount of around 250,000 employees. The performance of METRO GROUP is based on the strength of its sales brands that operate independently in their respective market segments: METRO/MAKRO Cash & Carry – the international leader in self-service wholesale – Media Markt and Saturn – the European market leader in consumer electronics retailing – Real hypermarkets and Galeria Kaufhof department stores.
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