BIRKENSTOCK has appointed Evelyn Chua as Managing Director for South-East Asia and Down Under, effective July 1, 2024. In this newly created position, Chua will lead, from the company’s regional headquarters in Singapore, a region which includes Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand. She reports to Klaus Baumann, Chief Sales Officer, BIRKENSTOCK Group. With this high-profile recruitment, the inventor of the footbed aims to further deepen its footprint within this dynamic region, elevate BIRKENSTOCK’s positioning across all channels and push innovative retail formats.
With over 15 years’ experience in the retail industry, spanning across multiple categories in Fashion, Beauty, Wines, Spirits, Watches and Jewelry, and across offline and online channels, Evelyn Chua is an expert in developing strong relationships with all distributors and Retail-Store partners, identifying opportunities, planning and executing concrete plans, and managing talents.
After studying in Singapore and Sweden, Chua has worked 6 years for DFS Venture, the well-known Hong Kong-based travel retailer of luxury goods, where she led the Singapore and Myanmar region. With her team, she managed a very diverse retail business which includes duty-free shops at Changi Airport and Singapore Cruise Centers but also Downtown stores, Online Retail and Wholesale business.
In 2022, she joined Synagie which runs over 1000 e-stores in 7 markets in South-East Asia, for 600 brand partners, including Nike, Estee Lauder, and L’Oréal. As Chief Commercial Officer, she was responsible for 6 countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam) and the online business across categories (Premium/Mass Beauty, FMCG, Fashion), as well as managing 400 stores on Marketplaces and .coms.
As BIRKENSTOCK’s Managing Director for South-East Asia and Down Under, she aims to develop the company’s multi-channel strategy and grow the APMA region. “While expanding our presence online, I want to maintain a strong relationship with our distributors, who have been instrumental in our growth. We can help them to develop their assortment strategy, but we want, as well, to accelerate our own business by opening new stores. We also need to ensure that our stores offer the same experience to our clients. The devil often hides in the details, and we need to make sure that we propose the same level of service throughout the customer journey. I’ve always been a firm believer of the footbed. In my university days, I only wore my two pairs of Madrid and my Mayari. Our brand enjoys a strong awareness in the region. I am convinced that its margin for growth is still enormous.”
Klaus Baumann, Chief Sales Officer of the BIRKENSTOCK Group, could not agree more: “South-East Asia is a region with a huge growth potential. With the additional capacity that we can allocate since the go-live of our new plant in Pasewalk in September 2023, we are now able to meet the needs of the Asian customers for our products. With a very strong online and offline retail experience, I am convinced that Evelyn Chua is the perfect leader to manage our presence in this very important region. Welcome aboard!”
