Veteran Mobile Executive David Katz Joins Sports E-Commerce Leader Fanatics to Lead Mobile Division
Jacksonville, FL (PRWEB) August 19, 2013 -- Fanatics, Inc., the world’s largest online retailer of officially licensed sports merchandise, today announced David Katz as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobile. Bringing more than a decade of mobile experience to Fanatics with companies such as Groupon and Yahoo!, Katz will be responsible for spearheading the company’s strategic mobile efforts, including app development, to optimize the shopping experience for every fan with a mobile device.
Reporting directly to Kevin Bates, President of Technology for Fanatics, Katz will be based out of the San Francisco area, where he will be opening a mobile innovation center to compliment the current Fanatics mobile web/API development team in Boulder, Colo.
“We are very excited to welcome David to the Fanatics team,” said Bates. “The background David brings to Fanatics combined with our talented Boulder team will only accelerate our current mobile initiatives. Creating a more personalized mobile shopping experience that connects fans to our brand in a meaningful way is a priority for us and David is the perfect person to lead this charge.”
As VP and GM of Consumer Mobile at Groupon, Katz oversaw apps and mobile-optimized websites in more than 40 countries. Under his leadership, Groupon recently announced that nearly 50% of North American transactions this past June were completed on mobile devices compared to 30% in June 2012. He helped grow quarterly app downloads more than 80% in 12 months from 4.1 million to over 7.5 million. Katz also led mobile product management, business development and marketing, led the acquisition of OpenCal and launched innovative programs such as Groupon Scheduler.
“I am honored to be chosen by Fanatics to take its mobile technology to a whole new level by creating a fast, simple and fun shopping experience on every mobile device,” added Katz. “With e-commerce moving to mobile as quickly as it is and Fanatics’ leadership position in its category, along with the large amount of time sports fans currently spend on their mobile devices, Fanatics is in a great position to be an innovator in this space.”
Prior to Groupon, Katz was VP of Mobile at Yahoo!, where his responsibilities included managing Yahoo!’s North America mobile business, global mobile advertising and mobile strategy.
Katz has an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley’s Walter A. Haas School of Business.
About Fanatics
Fanatics is a leading online retailer of officially licensed sports merchandise and provides the ultimate shopping experience to sports fans. As a Top 50 Internet Retailer Company, Fanatics comprises the broadest online assortment offering hundreds of thousands of officially licensed items via its Fanatics (http://www.fanatics.com) and FansEdge (http://www.fansedge.com) brands. In addition, the company powers the e-commerce sites of all major professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, PGA), major media brands (ESPN, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, FOX Sports) and e-stores for over 200 collegiate and professional team properties. For more information about Fanatics, Inc., please visit http://www.fanaticsinc.com.
Meier Raivich, Fanatics Inc., http://www.fanaticsinc.com, 904-562-4742, [email protected]
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