I am always excited to meet with inspiring and successful women. I have had the pleasure of interviewing Alexandra Mills – Products CEO of AussieCommerce group. Let’s see in detail the interview with a web e-commerce expert.

Interview With Alexandra Mills AussieCommerce

Can you give us a little background on your career to date?

I used to be a professional ballerina in Europe before deciding I wanted to have a second career in the corporate world. After studying business, I moved to Australia and became a management consultant with CapGemini. A year later, I joined Rocket Internet as Head of Operations for two of its ventures, which were acquired by AussieCommerce Group in 2012. I was then appointed CEO of the two ventures, which were rebranded into The Home and Pop. In December 2014, I was appointed CEO of all product sites within the AussieCommerce Group, which entailed adding designer fashion outlet Brands Exclusive and premium sports retailer The Active to my portfolio of sites.

Tell us about your site/role/company

AussieCommerce Group is an e-commerce giant and was named Australia’s Fastest Growing Company by BRW in 2013. The business has over six million members, employs more than 250 staff globally and had a turnover of $138 million last year. We have ten online retailers, and I’m the CEO of our product sites – designer fashion site Brands Exclusive, homewares retailer The Home, sports apparel and equipment online shop The Active and quirky design store Pop. The product websites alone have over 4 million subscribers combined, and with daily newsletters going out to our members promoting our latest sales, I am in the end responsible for ensuring the offering is what our customers want and love. I manage over 100 staff and catch up frequently with team leaders to empower and enable them to achieve and get results. 

As we are an e-commerce company, I also work closely with IT to make sure there are no technological blips!

What makes you aim your site at women?

The product offering – fashion and homewares are categories typically purchased by women. However, for sportswear and gear retailer The Active, almost 50 per cent of customers are male. 

Have you met some major technology problems when you were creating your business?

The AussieCommerce Group has acquired several online businesses over the years, including Brands Exclusive, and that has meant merging their IT systems into ours. However, thanks to a very talented IT team, this has been managed without any major glitches.

Would you call yourself a techno-savvy woman?

I certainly wouldn’t have called myself tech-savvy before my e-commerce days, but it’s an important part of my job to be across our technological systems so I can understand the possibilities as well as restrictions of it for our business. However, when it comes to the logistics of it, I happily hand it over to our IT team.

What kind of smartphone do you have? 

iPhone

Name 3 apps you use every day:  

Brands Exclusive, EverNote and gocatch.

What is your last tweet?

Although I do follow what’s being discussed in the Twittersphere, I don’t tweet myself. Our social media personnel, however, are great at sharing inspiring quotes, images, articles and tips.

The last picture you pinned on Pinterest?

Beautiful homewares inspiration from our homewares retailer The Home.

What is your last Facebook status update?

It would have been something newsworthy from AussieCommerce Group – I tend to only post things on my Facebook that I would share through my LinkedIn.

Thank you Alexandra for your time and I wish you all the best with your career. 

Image Credit: Alexandra Mills