. “I left the business because I felt it was drifting in the wrong direction but now feel we have a real chance to make it special again. The new team has already started to improve product and value and I am looking forward to working with them,” he told The Guardian. Between his previous stint and Tesco he was managing director of BHS and also spent six years at Next earlier in his career. Price is a more orthodox choice for the role than his predecessor Jill McDonald, a former boss of Halfords and McDonald’s, who was sacked in July. McDonald had no experience in clothing retail. ASOS creates role to spark growth UK online fashion and cosmetics retailer ASOS has appointed Robert Birge to the newly created role of chief growth officer, marking the first in a series of appointments to strengthen its executive team, Retail Gazette reports. Birge joined ASOS this week and reports to CEO Nick Beighton. He will be responsible for driving profitable growth and integrating the fashion retailer’s marketing efforts with strategic planning, analytics and customer experience. He will also lead a marketing function of 170 people and a customer care operation of more than 1200. Birge recently served as an executive and adviser for various consumer e-commerce, content and ad tech firms including US online health startup Blink Health, and online travel startup Lola. Prior to that he held chief marketing officer positions in international businesses including travel metasearch site Kayak, and sports, fashion and media agency IMG. ASOS said it was also seeking three other executives to oversee product, HR and strategy. Asics picks new EMEA chief Asics has appointed Carsten Unbehaun as the new chief executive of the EMEA region, replacing Alistair Cameron, who has been in charge of the region for the past 10 years. The Japanese sportswear retailer aims to bolster its leadership team and grow its business with the new appointment, Retail Gazette reports. In May, Asics recorded a drop in consolidated net sales across the European market during its first quarter despite an uptick in sales from its retail and online channels. Unbehaun has held senior management roles at Asics since 2002 including managing director of central Europe and marketing director of EMEA. Most recently he has been the chief executive of Swedish outdoor retailer Haglöfs, which is owned by Asics. While holding the new position, he will also remain as chief executive of Haglöfs until a successor is found. Asics has also drafted in Masashi Abe as new executive vice-president at Asics EMEA. He has worked with Asics since 2001.