Wal-Mart E-commerce Executives Depart in Wake of Jet.com Purchase
November 01 2016 - 7:20PM
Dow Jones News
A management shake-up is hitting Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s
e-commerce operations as Jet.com founder Marc Lore takes the helm,
a sign the online entrepreneur is moving swiftly to put his stamp
on the giant retailer.
Several e-commerce executives are leaving the company in the
wake of the $3.3 billion purchase of Mr. Lore's startup Jet.com
Inc., which closed in September. The departures include Fernando
Madeira, head of Walmart.com, and Brent Beabout, senior vice
president of e-commerce supply chain, a spokesman said.
Mr. Beabout left in recent weeks and will be succeeded by
Jet.com co-founder Nate Faust, who will lead fulfillment operations
for Jet.com and Walmart.com. Mr. Fernando will leave after helping
Wal-Mart with its Brazilian website and several other projects.
In September, Helen Vaid, vice president of digital store
operations for Wal-Mart e-commerce left to become chief customer
officer for Pizza Hut, which is owned by Yum Brands Inc. Ms. Vaid's
decision to leave predated the Jet.com acquisition and wasn't
related to the deal, said a person familiar with the situation.
Mr. Lore is "still going through and analyzing the organizations
and seeing what makes the most sense for running Walmart.com and
Jet.com," the Wal-Mart spokesman said. The chain said its top
online executive, Neil Ashe, was leaving when it announced the
Jet.com deal in August.
The departures are signs that Wal-Mart's e-commerce operations
will get a drastic makeover as Mr. Lore works to boost what have
been mostly sluggish sales since Wal-Mart first started a website
over 15 years ago. Mr. Lore cut his e-commerce teeth by founding
Quidsi Inc., known for Diapers.com, eventually selling the company
to Amazon in 2010 for $550 million. Wal-Mart is encouraging Mr.
Lore to stay for at least five years with financial incentives,
according to filings.
In recent weeks, Mr. Lore and Wal-Mart executives have flagged
other changes. Wal-Mart plans to adopt Jet.com's "smart basket"
technology on its own website, a system that lowers the price of
shopper's purchases based on metrics like using a debit card to
pay, foregoing returns or buying items stocked in the same
warehouse, conditions that save the retailer money.
Wal-Mart needs a jolt to keep up with Amazon.com Inc. Wal-Mart's
global e-commerce sales hit nearly $14 billion last fiscal year, or
3% of its $482 billion in annual revenue. Amazon's revenue was $107
billion last year, including its web-services business. Wal-Mart
has spent billions in recent years to build e-commerce fulfillment
centers that help shorten order delivery times, add online grocery
pickup services to stores and improve the technology that underpins
Walmart.com.
That investment has lifted shipping and technological
limitations, including an 8 million item cap on how many products
could be listed on Walmart.com. That restriction has limited
Wal-Mart's online growth. Heading into the holidays, Walmart.com
has more than 20 million products, said Steve Bratspies, chief
merchandising officer for Wal-Mart U.S., last week. That still lags
behind Amazon's offer of hundreds of millions of products.
Write to Sarah Nassauer at sarah.nassauer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 01, 2016 19:05 ET (23:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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