Amazon Retail Exec Jumps To Zulily As President

Seattle-based retail giant Zulily has a new president: former Amazon executive and Shopbop CEO Jeff Yurcisin.

Yurcisin will begin his new position on August 15 and will be based in Seattle. He will replace longtime CEO Darrell Cavens, who left the company in October to lead new ventures for QVC’s Qurate Retail Group.  QVC bought Zulily for $2.9 billion in 2015.

Yurcisin joins Zulily after 13 years with Amazon, where he most recently served as vice president leading Amazon Fashion’s private brands business. He has helped launch dozens of brands across women’s, men’s and children’s categories, including Amazon Essentials, Lark & Ro, Core 10, Spotted Zebra and others. Previously, as vice president of Amazon Fashion, he led teams across men’s, women’s and kids/baby categories.

In addition, Yurcisin spent seven years as the CEO of  Shopbop, which Amazon bought in 2006.

“Jeff has a strong track record of inspiring his teams to defy convention, find new ways to delight customers and drive growth,” Qurate Retail CEO Mike George said in a press release. “With his passion for innovation in retail, Jeff is an ideal executive to build on Zulily’s momentum. In addition, Jeff will help us nurture and leverage the entrepreneurial spirit that makes Zulily such an asset for the entire Qurate Retail Group.”

Lori Twomey, who is currently serving as interim president of Zulily, will continue as chief merchant at Zulily, after Jeff’s arrival in August. Lori has served as chief merchant since she joined Zulily in November 2009, prior to the launch of zulily.com.

“I would like to thank Lori for serving as interim president, in addition to her responsibilities as chief merchant, as she and the Zulily leadership team continued to drive the business forward and grow by 17 percent during Q1,” George said.

Zulily’s business model is based on offering heavy discounts on merchandise by limiting its inventory, buying stock directly from vendors after receiving orders and providing delivery in two to three weeks. According to GeekWire, in the first quarter of 2018, its revenue increased 17 percent and its customer base grew 24 percent to 6.1 million users on top of significant growth in 2017.