There is new leadership at the venerable two-wheeled online retailer RevZilla, though you wouldn’t know it beyond the PR-friendly Technical.ly publication where the news was published yesterday – and not on the company’s own news site.
Announcing that Ken Murphy will take over as the head of both RevZilla and Cycle Gear (technically, Murphy will become the President and CEO of Comoto Holdings, which owns both RevZilla and Cycle Gear), the news means that RevZilla co-founder Matt Kull is stepping down from the role, which he has held in an official and in an interim capacity since Anthony Bucci’s resignation from the post in late 2016.
Murphy comes from outside of the motorcycle industry, but has retail experience, working in the mattress and shoe business.
Since the beginning of this year, Murphy has been the President and CEO of EbLens – a clothing and footwear retailer.
Before that, Murphy served a long and firm campaign in the mattress-selling business, starting out as a store manager at Mattress Firm, which lead to an almost 18-year-long lofted ascension to the company’s President and CEO position.
Business Insider reports that Murphy left Mattress Firm at the beginning of last year amidst reports that there were accounting irregularities from Mattress Firm’s parent company, Steinhoff International. Business Insider notes that Murphy oversaw Steinhoff’s $3.8 billion acquisition of Mattress Firm in 2016.
Responsible for both the online sales of motorcycle gear at RevZilla, and the in-store operations of Cycle Gear, Murphy will have to manage two sizable retail brands in the motorcycle industry with his new role at Comoto Holdings, and certainly the eyes of the motorcycle industry will be upon him in this task.
For more than two years, we have been waiting to see what fruits would come from having RevZilla and Cycle Gear under one roof, and so far the only sprouting we have seen is the creation of the Reax apparel brand, which is sold at both outlets.
But as we all know, the landscape for marketplace businesses is rapidly changing, and undoubtedly Comoto sees Murphy’s retail experience as essential to honing their business model.
Of note though, when asked the most obvious question possible by Technical.ly Philly‘s staff reporter, Paige Gross, Murphy expertly dodged an inquiry into his motorcycle experience with the following excerpt:
And when we asked him what his favorite two-wheeled mode of transportation was, Murphy fessed up: He hasn’t ridden a bike since he was a kid, he said — “but, I’m committed to getting my motorcycle license by the end of the year.”
There is a large task ahead for RevZilla and Cycle Gear, and we think it will be interesting to watch their progress after this recent leadership change.
Source: Technical.ly
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