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23 August 2022
New CEOs will be arriving soon at Adidas, Foot Locker and Sun-Maid
On the Move details the latest hiring news from around ecommerce and consumer goods.
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Welcome to On the Move. In this hiring-focused weekly feature, The Current is rounding up recent arrivals and departures at brands and retailers across the ecommerce landscape.
This week brought news that the CEO roles at Foot Locker, adidas and Sun-Maid are set to see new faces in the coming months. Meanwhile, leadership teams are going through restructuring at Starbucks and Bath & Body Works.
Here’s the rundown on personnel moves around retail and ecommerce:
Mary Dillon, the former CEO of Ulta Beauty, will assume the CEO role at Foot Locker on Sept. 1. Dillon will succeed retiring CEO Richard A. Johnson, who will remain chair of the board until January 31, 2023. With the move, the footwear and apparel retailer is separating CEO and board chair roles, with Dona D. Young taking a role as non-executive chair. The company touted Dillon’s experience in marketing and digital transformation, as she will seek to build on Foot Locker’s $1.1 billion acquisitions of WSS and atmos last year. “We have turned a brick-and-mortar company into an interactive retail community poised for long-term growth in the digital era,” Johnson said.
Kasper Rorsted will exit his current position as CEO of adidas in 2023. The apparel company’s board of directors announced that it has started the search for a successor. Rorsted assumed the top role at the apparel company in 2016. “After three challenging years that were marked by the economic consequences of the COVID-19-pandemic and geo-political tensions, it is now the right time to initiate a CEO transition and pave the way for a restart,” said chairman of the supervisory board Thomas Rabe.
Harry Overly is set to transition from the role of president and CEO to executive chairman at Sun-Maid Growers of California, effective September 14. According to a new release, he is set to take on “new responsibilities outside of the company.” Current Sun-Maid CFO Braden Bender will assume the role of interim president and CEO while a search for a successor is conducted by the company’s board of directors. Overly joined Sun-Maid in 2018, and oversaw the 2021 acquisition of Plum Organics.
Ted Decker is assuming the additional role of chair of the board at The Home Depot. Decker, a 22-year veteran of home improvement retailer who became its CEO in March, will succeed Craig Menear upon his retirement on September 30.
Jennifer Mann will become president of The Coca-Cola Company's North American operating unit, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Mann will succeed Alfredo Rivera, who is retiring after 38 years with Coca-Cola and a recent stint leading a restructuring of the unit. Mann is a current SVP at Coca-Cola corporate, and leads the team responsible for scaling acquisitions and brands, known as global ventures. A new leader for global ventures will be announced later, the company said.
Tracy Schaefer was promoted to SVP and chief information officer at Conagra Brands, Inc. Schaefer joined the CPG company in 2001 as a financial analyst, and has since held multiple leadership roles. "Tracy has a strong track record of delivering excellent results in finance, information technology and global business services," said Dave Marberger, chief financial officer, Conagra Brands.
Tim Kuckelman was hired as the first-ever chief operating officer at Arhaus. Bringing over three decades of experience in retail operations and logistics Kuckelman previously served as COO Fashionphile Group, and spent a decade in various roles at Kohl's. He also has experience at Best Buy and Gap, Inc. He begins with the furniture retailer at the end of September.
Starbucks announced a series of leadership changes as part of a reorganization initiated by recently-returned CEO Howard Schultz. As the company seeks a new CEO, the big departure is that of COO John Culver, who will transition to an executive advisor role after 20 years with the company. EVP of Supply Chain George Dowdie is also set to leave a day-to-day role with the company “to focus on board and scientific advisory work.” In turn, Frank Britt is taking on an expanded role as EVP, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer. With these moves, a series of executives will now report to Schultz and Britt, beginning on Oct. 3. Find more details in Schultz’ letter.
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Retail Channels
02 June
Macy's sees 'reset year' for ecommerce
The retailer's marketplace is expanding quickly.
When it comes to ecommerce growth, was the pandemic a blip or a new trendsetter?
As we move further from the height of COVID-related closures, it’s a question that will start to be answered through the lens of history.
So far, the narrative of ecommerce growth in the U.S. from 2019-2022 has gone like this: Ecommerce’s share of overall retail saw a huge spike at the height of the pandemic in 2020-21, when goods in general were in demand and online shopping was necessary to preserve health and safety. Experts looked out and saw a permanent exponential change in the penetration of ecommerce as a share of retail that would last beyond the pandemic. Then, in 2022, everyone went back to stores and the trendline came back to 2019 levels. Growth was no longer exponential. There was still growth, but it was not happening as fast as during the pandemic period.
With this in mind, it’s worth pointing out that 2023 is the first year that there likely won’t be a pandemic-influenced swing to influence ecommerce growth. It is also a year where demand has suffered challenges amid inflation and interest rate hikes.
So as we seek to determine the importance of ecommerce to overall retail, it’s worth it to continue taking a close look at what growth trends retailers are seeing now, whether ecommerce is remaining resilient amid consumer pullback and how retailers are preparing for the future.
The latest example arrived this week from Macy’s. It’s a fitting one for the times. Overall, Macy’s is seeing a slowdown as consumers pull back on discretionary purchases, with sales declining 7% in the first quarter versus the same quarter of 2022. Digital sales were down 8%.
Macy’s is particularly susceptible to the macroeconomic headwinds that many brands and retailers are facing, as spending among the middle-income consumers it counts as a primary customer base is particularly softening, said GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders.
But while ecommerce is slowing overall, the importance it gained to Macy’s business during the pandemic is remaining in place.
In 2019, ecommerce made up 25% of Macy’s revenue, CEO Jeff Gennette told analysts on the company’s earnings call. That jumped to a high of 44% in 2020. By 2022, digital reached 33% of sales after the pandemic boom. In the first quarter of 2023, it remained at 33%. So, while the trend line dipped after shoppers returned to stores, ecommerce share still settled in at a higher post-lockdown point than it was before the pandemic.
This came in a quarter in which traffic was “relatively good” across both online and in-store, Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette said. It was “flattish” online, and slightly up in stores.
“We do expect that this is the reset year with the penetration between them,” Gennette said. “But we do expect more aggressive growth in digital in the future versus stores as we think about '24 and beyond. And that's going to be foisted by a lot of ideas and strategies.
Over the last year, the retailer has made investments in boosting ecommerce, even as shoppers returned to stores. In a bid to boost the assortment of goods available online, Macy’s launched a marketplace in September 2022 that welcomes goods from third-party sellers.
The marketplace had an “outstanding” first quarter, said Macy’s President Tony Spring, who is poised to succeed Gennette as CEO next year. Gross merchandise value increased over 50% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, while the average order value and units per order for marketplace customers was 50% above those not shopping at the marketplace.
Macy’s is continuing to build the marketplace even as it racks up sales. The retailer added 450 brands, ending the quarter with 950 brands.
This is helping to draw in new customers, as well as younger existing customers who are buying more items, resulting in increased basket size.
“We're very excited as to how marketplace is really attracting the Gen Z customer, particularly in categories where it was not economically feasible for us to carry in the past,” Gennette said.
In the end, Gennette said a strong digital and social presence is key to attracting younger consumers. That's a different type of shopper than other age groups.
“We know the younger customer starts first online,” Gennette said. That behavior will still be in place as the generation gets older, and gains more buying power in the process.
Going forward, Macy’s is seeking to expand the model to other retail banners in its portfolio. Bloomingdale’s will open a marketplace in the early fall.
The Macy’s ecommerce trajectory isn’t that different from the wider U.S. ecommerce narrative detailed above. With one quarter of 2023 data, there is evidence that ecommerce share settled out at a higher point after the pandemic than where it started before COVID arrived. There is flattening now, but the retailer is taking it not as a sign of a slowdown, or a signal to change course. Rather, it sees changing consumer behavior as a reason to build for the future.
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