Ivanka Trump Poaches Kate Spade E-Comm Director

Big news in the luxury ecommerce world: Ivanka Trump is taking her fashion brand digital and she’s staffing only the best to help her do it. card_suites_Spades

All Things D reported that Ivanka Trump has hired Kate Spade e-commerce bigwig Johanna Murphy as chief marketing officer and head of digital for Trump’s apparel and accessories brand.

According to the article, Murphy will be charged with creating a web and mobile experience that will bring Trump’s fashion line, which up to now has been a wholesale business, direct to consumers. She will also be tasked with coming up with digital integrations if and when the brand opens its own standalone shops.

Kate Spade recently received much praise for its new Kate Spade Saturday brand and the partnership it struck up with eBay to allow New York shoppers to literally window shop via store windows that doubled as giant touchscreens.

But, as the article stated, after a series of discussions that began with a cold call from Trump, Murphy decided t was worth taking the plunge.

“For someone who does what I do, it’s our dream,” she said of the digital freedom she’ll have in her new post. “At big brands, e-commerce is important and everyone gets it, but you still have to deal with all the store stuff and multichannel stuff. But this is a white canvas with the room to do whatever we see fit. And [Trump] has the appetite to experiment, which I love.”

Prior to Kate Spade, Murphy held senior roles at GSI Commerce, now called eBay Enterprise after being acquired by the brand in 2011.