Walmart e-comm unit seeks new exec while losses pile up

Bloomberg

Walmart Inc has a hole to fill at its online unit, and whoever assumes the role faces a big challenge ahead.
The company is searching for a new chief revenue officer for its US e-commerce business, who would work under online leader Marc Lore to help map out its battle plan against Amazon.com Inc, Target Corp and other rivals. The yet-to-be-named executive will also work to stem the online businesses’ mounting losses in an increasingly competitive digital arena.
The vacancy was created when Scott Hilton, a senior vice president and Lore’s longtime lieutenant, left the company in May, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg. Hilton, whose departure hadn’t been previously reported, didn’t reply to an emailed request for comment.

Longtime Lieutenant
Hilton met Lore about 14 years ago when both were students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school, the memo said. He became Lore’s first employee at Quidsi, the e-commerce startup that included Diapers.com and was acquired by Amazon in 2011. Not long after, Lore left Amazon to launch Jet.com, bringing Hilton with him.
When Jet was acquired by Walmart for $3.3 billion in 2016, Lore, Hilton and other Jet leaders assumed senior posts at its online business. They revamped Walmart’s digital offerings with millions of new products, a sleeker website and free two-day delivery for orders of $35 or more.
“Scott created a retail organisation that has brought on some incredible leaders, new brands, significantly expanded our assortment and designed and built the tools that have set us on a course to enable Walmart to efficiently scale and compete in the ever-evolving retail arena,” Lore said in the memo announcing Hilton’s departure.
Walmart’s US online business has grown, becoming a viable second fiddle to Amazon after the division’s revenue expanded 40 percent last year.
But the business continues to be in the red, with losses expected this year of $1.7 billion, up from $1.4 billion last year, according to Morgan Stanley estimates.
A portion of the retailer’s web traffic has also declined, according to data tracker SimilarWeb, falling by about a third between June 2017 and June 2019.
SimilarWeb measures so-called non-bounced traffic, or customer visits that go beyond the landing page.
A big reason for the falloff is that Walmart’s customers are increasingly using its shopping apps, particularly for grocery orders, rather than its website.
And even as Walmart.com’s traffic has declined, sales are up as customers buy more items on each visit and purchase higher-priced goods, like the Lord & Taylor apparel it started offering last year.