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Simon Belsham will oversee all operations including grocery and
general merchandise and join Walmart's <WMT.N> U.S. e-commerce
leadership team, according to an internal email sent on Monday
by Marc Lore, the head of Walmart's e-commerce business, to Jet
employees and seen by Reuters.
Walmart acquired Jet for $3.3 billion in August 2016, a deal
that was widely considered a watershed moment for its
then-struggling e-commerce operation as it got access to both
technology and talent through Jet founder Lore and his team.
Walmart's e-commerce success has been erratic. Online sales
increased 23 percent in the most recent quarter, less than half
the rate of growth in each of the previous three quarters.
Walmart's stock got walloped after the news.
Belsham's hiring comes amid fierce competition in the grocery
sector. Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O> purchased Whole Foods Market for
$13.4 billion last year, and rivals like Target Corp <TGT.N>,
Costco Wholesale Corp <COST.O> and Kroger Co <KR.N> are joining
the costly battle for customers who want groceries without
leaving their couches.
Walmart is aggressively ramping up its online grocery business.
It has said it will expand home delivery service to more than
100 U.S. cities and offer curbside grocery pickup at 2,200
stores by the end of the year.
Jet's focus on groceries is likely to help Walmart win with
urban millennial customers - Jet's key demographic.
"With Jet grocery being an integral part of the strategy, Simon
brings incredible experience in scaling grocery delivery and his
unique background in converging technology and retail," Lore
said in the email.
Belsham spent seven years at Tesco <TSCO.L>, building up its
online grocery operation for Britain and 10 markets across
central Europe and Asia. He also developed a general merchandise
platform for Ocado, a UK-based web retailer that sells
groceries.
Most recently, Belsham worked as chief executive officer of
venture-backed Notonthehighstreet.com, according to the email.
He will succeed Liza Landsman, who left the company in March, a
little more than a year after she was promoted to the job.
Belsham will start on March 26, report to Lore and be based at
Jet's New Jersey headquarters, according to the email.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on a Feb. 20 earnings conference
call the online retailer will not grow as quickly as it did in
the early days but will be well-positioned in select markets.
Belsham will also need to ensure that Jet is differentiated from
the parent brand and offer shoppers specialty goods that cannot
be bought elsewhere - a strategy on which Lore has focused in
the past year.
Belsham said in a statement he has long admired the founders of
both Walmart and Jet.
"In my view, there is no business better positioned to take
advantage of the opportunity ahead than the combination of
Walmart and Jet," Belsham said.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in New York; Editing by Vanessa
O'Connell and Jeffrey Benkoe)
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