Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced to its employees Thursday that it was making a multitude of personnel changes around the globe and integrating Sam’s Club’s e-commerce operations with the company’s global e-commerce segment.
The company’s growing online retail business, walmart.com, is expected to make roughly $13 billion this year, up from $10 million in 2013, Neil Ashe, president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart’s global e-commerce, has said. Walmart.com is based in California’s Silicon Valley and has operations in Bangalore, India and Sao Paulo.
It’s not near the size of the $17 billion online giant Amazon, but Wal-Mart’s bricks-and-mortar store presence coupled with its online offerings could help close the gap on competition, Ashe recently told Fortune magazine.
“We’ve made a commitment to deliver an experience unlike anyone else by focusing on two key areas to propel growth - Samsclub.com and member personalization,” Ashe and Sam’s Club President and CEO Rosalind Brewer said in the announcement to workers.
Member personalization is Sam’s Club’s way of using technology to better understand and get to know its customers.
“Sam’s Club members tell us they want us to know them better,” Brewer and Ashe told employees, known within the company as associates.
To facilitate the changes, Jamie Iannone has been picked as the Samsclub.com president and CEO. Iannone was most recently at Barnes & Noble, where he was president of digital products and all aspects of Nook Media.
John Boswell, senior vice president of marketing, member insights and e-commerce, is leaving Wal-Mart in May to lead his church on an international mission trip. With Boswell’s departure, Racquel Harris will become senior vice president of member strategy and marketing to drive the company’s member personalization plans.
Other promotions include Sonya Gafsi Oblisk to vice president of marketing for Sam’s Club. She succeeds Harris. At the end of this month, Brett Biggs will replace Cathy Smith as execu-tive vice president and chief financial officer of Wal-Mart International. Jeff Davis has been named to Biggs’ position.
On the international front, Tony Rogers has been named chief marketing officer for Wal-Mart China, taking responsibility for marketing the retailer’s Hypermart business in China. John Welling will be senior vice president of operations for Wal-Mart China, and Geoff Sease has been named senior vice president for supply chain management, information systems and global business process for Wal-Mart Japan.
“The announcements tell a story about the discipline of growing and developing future leaders by giving them the opportunity to learn more about our business around the world,” outgoing Wal-Mart President and CEO Mike Duke and his successor, Doug McMillon, told employees.
Business, Pages 27 on 01/10/2014