Kaboodle names Chien CMO; plans June site relaunch

Kaboodle, a Hearst Corp.-owned and operated social commerce website, has named Steven Chien CMO. The e-commerce retailer said March 9 it will also relaunch its website in June.

Chien will replace Shari Gunn, who left the company in January to become VP of e-commerce at young women's clothing retailer Wet Seal.

Chien, who will report to Kaboodle CEO Anne Zehren, will oversee the unit's audience development, commerce, advertising and marketing operations.

“We'll be transitioning our site to drive more commerce,” said Zehren. “Chien's got prioritizing to do in each department. But if I had to choose one area [for him to focus on], I'd say audience development is really critical. The rest falls into place after that.”

Zehren said Kaboodle will relaunch its website in June to provide “more effortless shopping.”

Chien will oversee nine employees in the ad sales and marketing, commerce and audience development groups. Zehren said one additional position will be created for both analytics and search engine optimization.

“We were thinking of splitting it up and having two VPs, one for commerce and one for marketing, but we knew Chien could succeed at all [job responsibilities],” said Zehren, who added it is yet to be determined when the new positions will be filled.

Chien, who joined Kaboodle March 3, previously served as VP of business development at Nextag, an online comparison shopping engine. He also held VP-level roles at Spencer Gifts and AOL.

Kaboodle hired Russell Reynolds Associates to conduct a search to fill the position, said Zehren.

“We identified Chien within the first week,” she said. “Within a month, he was on board.”