Louis Phillippe’s Jacob John to join Lifestyle as deputy CEO

Dubai-based Landmark Group has roped in Jacob John, COO of Aditya Birla-owned Louis Philippe, as Deputy Chief Executive of Lifestyle department store chain. He will step into the position earlier held by Kabir Lumba, who is now promoted as the Head of the Landmark Group's overall business in India.

Last month, Kalyan Kumar, COO of Landmark's Splash Fashion unit put in his papers. Splash retail many known global brands including Lee Cooper, Bossini, ELLE and Being Human along with Landmark's own labels.

In India, Landmark operated several retail brands including the Max department store chain, Home Centre furnishing and home improvement stores and franchise stores of Dutch supermarket Spar. Lifestyle has been witnessing buoyant growth in India with the company now targeting for 20-25 percent year-on-year growth over the next three years. Lifestyle, which operates 44 Lifestyle stores, 20 Home Centres and 120 Max stores in India, reported a turnover of Rs 4,600 crores in the latest financial year.

The company also plans to launch its own ecommerce platform by early 2016. The company already operates Landmarkshops.com for last four years in the Middle East. Devarajan Iyer, ex-head of Home Centre, has taken over as the Head of company’s online retail venture. The site will allow users to shop for most brands that Lifestyle and Home Centre carry, apart from Max’s private labels.