Retail tech company SafeSize announced the appointment of Martin Kempkes as chief commercial officer, effective April 3. Kempkes is responsible for leading the company’s business development and sales strategy, as well as ensuring operational excellence, focusing on strengthening the company’s presence in Europe and the APAC region and expanding operations in the U.S.
SafeSize offers an innovative, AI-powered omnichannel virtual fitting solution that helps people find the perfect-fitting shoes in physical and online stores while reducing product returns. The company recently received €14 million in Series B funding, with participation from Phaistos Investment Fund and previous investors Convent Capital and 3TS Capital Partners.
Kempkes is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience and an impressive track record in retail, particularly in the sporting goods industry. He has worked for leading companies such as Karstadt, Peek & Cloppenburg and Intersport International (IIC), where he was appointed chief retail officer in 2017, responsible for managing the company’s brand in more than 45 countries. Kempkes was a member of the supervisory board of SafeSize from April 2019 until the end of 2021.
SafeSize’s 3D foot scanners are installed in 2,500 stores in 50 countries worldwide. SafeSize’s customers include major sportswear retailers such as Intersport, Decathlon, Sports Direct, Super Sports Xebio and others. The company also offers an application that allows consumers to scan their feet with their smartphones to find the right shoe size when shopping online. In addition, SafeSize operates nine shoe scanning facilities worldwide, scanning and analyzing more than 1.5 million shoes each year, creating what it says is the world’s largest database of internal measurements, sizes and other characteristics of footwear.
