Walmart is playing chess with staff
It looks like Walmart is doing some hiring, firing, and general shuffling of its staff in attempt to get serious about online commerce.
Despite being the largest brick-and-mortar retailer in the U.S., Walmart just can’t seem to keep up with Amazon when it comes to online sales. Sources close to the company indicate that, more than once over the past few years, Walmart has started to strategize about how to compete online, but eventually always abandons their plans.
Recent acquisitions reveal true intentions
However, last year the company spent billions to acquire Jet.com and ShoeBuy, so perhaps the retailer is finally getting serious about its online market. The acquisition also brought in new leaders, who are willing to shake things up in order to reorient the company towards online sales.
An internal memo sent out on Friday announced that one executive would leave the company, and that two others would be given new responsibilities, all designed to make Walmart “a more customer-centric organization” and to “put more focus on integrating physical and online store operations.”
Also transitioning top brass
To this end, Walmart promoted Scott Hilton to the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, while Seth Beal will take over as Senior Vice President of Incubation and Strategic Partnerships. His office will focus on building e-commerce through collaborating with other companies, and on fleshing out and testing new ideas.
An insider source also revealed that Michael Bender, the former Chief Operations Officer of the e-commerce division, will leave the company.
According to the memo, which was partially authored by President and CEO of Walmart’s commerce division, Marc Lore, the company’s “strategy is about offering more choice, competitive prices – particularly on food and consumables – and operating on the strength of the world’s most efficient e-commerce supply chain.”
Lore was the founder of Jet.com, and took over Walmart’s online operations when his company was acquired by Walmart in September of last year. The memo was also written by Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, who emphasized the need for “speed and less bureaucracy” in order to streamline online and in-store sales.
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