Italian furniture company Natuzzi has restructured its business to create two separate divisions, one dedicated to the Natuzzi brand and the other to its private label business, Softaly.

Nazzario Pozzi has been named the new chief officer of the Natuzzi business unit. Before joining the Natuzzi Group, Pozzi developed extensive general management experience and led brand, growth strategy and retail businesses internationally at brands such as Hugo Boss, Salvatore Ferragamo, Diesel, Baccarat and DARTY, Natuzzi said.

Gianni Tucci assumes the role of chief officer of Softaly. Previously, Tucci was EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) sales director for the Natuzzi Group.

Both directors report to CEO Pasquale Natuzzi.

“The core objectives of the new Natuzzi division are to launch the new retail business model, focused on boosting growth through an extended and rebalanced product offer, a wider consumer target and a new high-traffic retail format,” Pasquale Natuzzi said in a statement. “The Softaly division will however support the growth of the B2B channel, leveraging on the product and production process know-how and global industrial platform of the Natuzzi Group, which enjoys strong relations with the major international distribution groups. We trust that Nazzario and Gianni are well prepared to successfully tackle this new challenge which will require the support of the entire management team.”

Natuzzi further strengthened its managerial team with the hiring of new senior managers, three in Italy for the management of operations, the development of the network and for merchandising; three in the United States, which Natuzzi earmarked as a key market for growth (one senior manager with retail operations responsibilities and two regional managers for the East Coast and West Coast); and finally a Mediterranean Europe commercial manager to support the development of the Natuzzi brand in the area.

The company has also started a redundancy procedure for 355 laid-off workers, including 25 workers who resigned voluntarily, due to the conclusion of the temporary layoff program, scheduled for Oct. 15 and no longer extendable by law.

(Source: hfndigital.com  Author: Allison Zisko)