From KLU to CEO: Alumni Interview with Victoria Herzog
Master of Supply Chain Management class of 2014 graduate Victoria Herzog’s impressive CV includes time working in procurement, sales, analytics and supply chain management for big hitters such as Beiersdorf, Edeka, and Tchibo. Now CEO of The Creative Club, Europe’s largest DIY marketplace, she explains what drew her to KLU and how her studies continue to shape the way she works today.
Prior to doing your master’s, you’d forged the start of a career as a supply chain manager at supermarket giant Edeka. What led you to study at KLU?
Victoria Herzog: I was interested in fair trade and I wanted to specialize further in supply chain management and logistics. During my research I found out that KLU was one of the only universities at the time offering a specialized master’s degree. At the same time, I wanted to study in a way that enables an international scope, and this was pretty special at KLU.
What did your time at the KLU teach you?
Victoria Herzog: Obviously, studying at the KLU is not all just theory, but empowering students to rethink concepts and to even develop own ideas and concepts. Also, working in teams, we had to form an environment that everybody can work in. I thought I was used to intercultural work as I’d done it before, but solving problems under pressure in an intercultural environment was challenging. It's also supported me for the rest of my life and since then I'm very flexible when it comes to whom I am working with. I learned how to find solutions with people from totally different backgrounds than me by understanding them.
How else have your studies helped your career?
Victoria Herzog: Developing our elevator pitch as part of our career development path. Giving an elevator pitch is something I still do all the time as part of my work. We also needed to find solutions out of the normal. We learned ambiguity is something all around us and we need to cope with it, which is what I also have to cope with now as a CEO. That I don’t know everything and I’m not always right.
What is The Creative Club and what does offer its customers?
Victoria Herzog: The Creative Club is Europe's biggest DIY marketplace. We sell our B2C customers everything they need to make their own clothes and to realise their sewing ideas via our platforms. On Makerist, which is a subsidiary of The Creative Club, we sell all kind of digital products – ebooks, patterns, videos - basically everything you need around sewing. On stoffe.de and our 14 further European platforms we sell everything you need physically like the fabrics, the yarn, the physical patterns and so on. By doing this we enable people to create something out of value and, in the end, empower customers to stop buying fast fashion but create their own fashion and home textiles. That they find value in their clothes in different way than they would a €15 t-shirt, for instance. The idea behind our company is that it might take a while to produce your own clothes, but doing so makes you proud of yourself and you have a greater emotional attachment to them than you do to things you’ve bought.
What was your pathway to becoming CEO of The Creative Club and what are some of the challenges of the role?
Victoria Herzog: I’ve been working here for seven years. I started as head of supply chain management then moved into the role as COO and developed further into finance. For the last one and a half years I’ve been CEO. Over the last years, I've learned a lot about our products and how to lead an organization of 300 people, but I'm also the commercial person in our company. For that, I need to challenge every decision and process ensuring that the company moves into the right direction. Everything that was built up for growth during the e-commerce peak of Covid needs to be rebuilt now into profitability which has meant reviewing every aspect of the company process-wise from our way of working to our product assortment.
You are also a digital transformation coach. What motivates you to offer coaching on top of your already busy schedule?
Victoria Herzog: Change is the new normal. Even well-established organizations need to find solutions for the challenging developments in demand, supply, employee market, competition and technology. As a digital transformation coach, I’ve learned how to build up a culture of change and how to support organizations in becoming more efficient by using lean principles and introducing digitalized processes. I am convinced that only by transforming our companies into organizations fit for continuous change we will be able to strengthen our economy.