Benjamin Beinroth has left Fressnapf. As Head of IT and member of the management board, he played a key role in shaping the processes and systems of Europe’s leading pet supplies retailer for over nine years. After Fressnapf founder Torsten Toeller brought investment company Cinven into the company last summer and Fressnapf-CEO Johannes Steegmann left, there is reportedly a lot of unrest within the company.
As The Retail Optimiser learnt, Benjamin Beinroth left the company at his own request. Holger Klähn has taken over responsibility for technology at Fressnapf as Vice President of IT, the company’s spokesman officially told The Retail Optimiser, adding: “We thank Benjamin Beinroth for his valuable contribution and the successful development of Fressnapf’s IT over the past ten years.”
Holger Klähn reports into Patrik Silén, who joined the company as Interim Chief Transformation Officer for restructuring in November last year. Holger Klähn joined Fressnapf in February 2020 as the company’s head of IT operations. Prior, he was Unit Owner at Metro’s subsidiary Metronom, which was sold to Wipro in December 2020.
SAP Retail rolled out into all countries
Benjamin Beinroth is highly regarded in the German-speaking retail technology scene thanks to his in-depth expertise and innovative, highly successful projects. Before joining Fressnapf at the beginning of 2016, he spent almost nine years in IT management positions at Tegut, most recently as CIO of the Fulda-based food retailer.
At Fressnapf, Benjamin Beinroth managed not only the SAP Retail roll-out into all countries but also played a key role in creating the conditions for individual customer engagement across all distribution channels – The Retail Optimiser wrote in detail about this in its report ‘Breaking free of the silos’. A key component of this was the development of the MIA employee app, for which Fressnapf received a Reta Award from the EHI Retail Institute in 2021.
Enfore adventure went wrong
The introduction of Relex for inventory optimisation was also one of the major projects of Fressnapf’s IT during Benjamin Beinroth’s tenure. Less successful was the retailer in its attempt to introduce a new POS system using the previously unknown Enfore solution from NumberFour AG. The Retail Optimiser reported.
Fressnapf founder Torsten Toeller was so impressed by the promises made by serial entrepreneur and Enfore founder Marco Börries that he even brought him onto his company’s board of directors. The adventure ended in September 2024 with the insolvency of the solution provider. Since then, Fressnapf has continued to work with its established POS solution from GK.
