Sam’s Club restructures its e-commerce team, moves unit under Sam’s Club management
by January 26, 2017 4:20 pm 5,067 views
The changes just keep on coming at Wal-Mart Stores and its divisions. The Sam’s Club ecommerce operations will soon be under Sam’s Club corporate instead of Wal-Mart’s global e-commerce business partially based San Bruno, Calif.
This change follows job cuts at Wal-Mart corporate offices, reorganization of Wal-Mart’s replenishment operations, and management changes at Sam’s Club under incoming CEO John Furner.
Furner announced that Jamie Iannone, CEO of SamsClub.com, will also be the executive vice president of membership and technology for Sam’s Club and will begin reporting to him Feb. 1. Furner also created a new chief technology officer role for Sam’s Club which will be led by Hsiao Wang who will report to Iannone. Furner said this means Sam’s Club will have dedicated support for its own technology efforts in clubs and online, while also being able to leverage Wal-Mart resources when necessary.
“Wang is a technology expert, starting with the company nearly 15 years ago as an enterprise architect, and has since worked within infrastructure, security and development. He also served as the chief information officer for Walmart China before transitioning to his most recent role as vice president of analytics and decision platforms for Wal-Mart Technology,” Furner noted in the memo.
Furner worked with Wang during his assignment in China between 2013 and 2015 as the chief merchandising and marketing officer for Walmart China. Furner said SamsClub.com was significant to the company’s overall growth last year and the omnichannel efforts are being recognized across the industry for innovations like the Scan & Go app which allows members to completely omit the checkout line.
Furner also announced Kelly Thompson has been promoted to senior vice president and chief operating officer for SamsClub.com. Thompson has 10 years with the company, most recently leading the global category development team. Prior to that she spent seven years as chief merchant for Walmart.com where she managed all merchandising, pricing and planning areas of the business. Thompson will report to Ianonne. Her new SamsClub.com team includes: Alain Nzigamasabo, vice president of merchandising; Adrian Fung, vice president of marketing; and Jim Oliver, vice president of Business Intelligence.
Iannone, Wang, Thompson and her team will be based in San Bruno, but answer to Furner in Bentonville.
Membership and marketing will also fall under Iannone’s new job description, in addition to managing a team in San Bruno, he will also manage a small team in Bentonville which includes: Eddie Garcia, vice president of product and member experience;. Darshan Gad, vice president of member engines, digital innovation; Matt Martin, vice president of member decision services; and Taylor Duersch, vice president of member and data strategy.
Tracey Brown, who previously led the membership division, is transitioning to the new role of senior vice president of operations and customer experience. Brown will report to Furner who said she will be tasked with helping to transform the way members shop clubs, while also simplifying the shopping experience.