Amazon India's fashion & lifestyle head Vikas Purohit quits

NEW DELHI: Vikas Purohit, the man widely considered as one of the four pillars of Amazon India as he was handling the key fashion and lifestyle category at the company, has quit.

"Vikas Purohit has moved on from Amazon.in for personal reasons," a spokesperson said in an email, responding to a query seeking confirmation about his resignation. "Vikas built a strong fashion business for Amazon.in from scratch. Since the launch of the fashion category in September 2013, the fashion store has emerged as one of the top three stores on Amazon.-in, both in terms of volume and value." The fashion business has grown nine-fold in the past one year, the company spokesperson said.

Susan Saideman, VP, global vendor management, will lead the fashion category in the interim "till we identify a new leader for the business", the spokesperson said. Purohit spearheaded the firm’s fashion and lifestyle business, a category considered to be one of the best possible growth engines for ecommerce companies in India.

In an interview with ETin September last year, Amazon founder and Chief Executive Jeff Bezos listed fashion as one of the biggest potentials for the US-based company in India. Amazon was playing catch up after Myntra – which was last year acquired by Flipkart – and Jabong took a lead in online fashion. Prior to Amazon, Purohit worked for Indian and foreign brands in India in various roles. He was retail head for Tommy Hilfiger, business head for Diesel at Reliance Brands, and had served at Madura Garments and Planet Retail, among others.