Secret Sales taps former Asos senior merchandiser as head of trading

British discount fashion marketplace Secret Sales has named Peter Coombes as its new head of trading in what is the latest in a string of top hires at the business.

Coombes joins from e-tail giant Asos where he spent six years, arriving as merchandiser of the menswear outlet in 2015 before moving his way up to senior merchandiser of womenswear brands.

Prior to Asos, Coombes spent four years at TK Maxx and Homesense.

In his new role at Secret Sales, Coombes will lead the category trading team and will develop organisational capability and commercial strategies to maximise merchandise value for fashion, beauty and homeware brands.

This is the latest in a spate of hires at the company over the past year amid rapid growth at the company.

In September, Secret Sales announced six hires to newly created director-level positions.

That came after the company in June announced it had secured 10 million euros in Series A funding to help expand its UK operations and launch in new territories in 2021.

“After strengthening our leadership team earlier this autumn with newly-created roles for six accomplished retail names, we are continuing to grow,” said Secret Sales CEO Chris Griffin in a statement.

“Peter is the latest key addition to our pool of industry talent. He understands how we’re changing the fashion industry with our brand-enhancing discount marketplace model and why it is so appealing to brands and retailers.

“His expertise in non-full price merchandising at a senior level will advance our trading capabilities and bring huge benefits to our brand partners.”