Coty appoints new global chief supply officer after 2018 disruptions

Coty signs new talent to try to solve the problems in its supply chain. The cosmetics giant has signed Richard Jones, from the Keurig coffee company, as its new global chief supply officer to support its ongoing turnaround plan and future growth, and the strengthening of its leadership organization for its supply chain, stated the company in a press release. 

Jones will be based in Amsterdam and report directly to chief executive officer Pierre Laubies. In a statement, Coty has underlined Jones’ extensive international experience in operations and supply chain, mostly in beauty and luxury goods industry.

With a thirty years’ career, the executive held until now the same position in Keurig, where he was also part of the executive committee. Jones began his career at Unilever and, before signing for Keurig, worked for eighteen years at L'Oréal.

Coty estimated costs of 60 million dollars in just one quarter due to problems in the ‘supply chain’

In the first phase, the executive will be in charge of “stabilizing” Coty’s supply chain and “immediately putting in place” the necessary corrections to solve the problems that the company faced in 2018. 

The executive will replace Luc Volatier, who left Coty last September just one year after his appointment. During 2018, problems in the supply chain had a strong impact on Coty’s sales and revenue. The company has failed to successfully integrate the forty brands it bought from Procter&Gamble in 2016, which has caused disruptions in its distribution centers in Europe and the United States.

Also, the company was affected by Hurricane Florence, which interrupted shipping to retailers during the third quarter of 2018, and suffered problems in the supplying of packaging. In its first quarter of 2019 (ended in September 2018) Coty estimated a cost of 60 million dollars due to these disruptions. Sales in that period fell 10% in Europe and 14% in North America, which led to a 22% drop in its shares on the day of the presentation of the quarterly results.