MUMBAI: Tech giant Amazon has announced that Doug Herrington will become the new chief executive officer (CEO) of the company's Worldwide Amazon Stores business, formerly known as "Worldwide Consumer".
Herrington is replacing Dave Clark who is leaving the US retailer after 23 years to join logistics firm Flexport as its chief executive officer. Clark's last day at Amazon is on 1 July.
Making the announcement recently, the CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a message to the company, “Doug has been at Amazon for 17 years. He joined the company in 2005 to build out our consumables business, launched AmazonFresh in 2007, and in 2015, took on leading all of our North American consumer business. Doug and I have worked together on S-team since 2011. He is a builder of great teams and brings substantial retail, grocery, demand generation, product development, and Amazon experience to bear. He’s also a terrific inventor for customers, thinks big, has a thoughtful vision around how category management and ops can work well together, is a unifier, is highly curious, and an avid learner. I think Doug will do great things for customers and employees alike, and I look forward to working with him in this leadership role.”
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He further added that as part of this organisational change, the operations organisation will be united under a single leader, John Felton. “John has been at Amazon for nearly 18 years, spending 12 years in Retail & Operations finance leadership roles. In 2018, John moved to Worldwide Operations to become the vice president of Global Customer Fulfillment; and in 2019, he took over the newly formed Global Delivery Services group, encompassing global import/export, Amazon Logistics, and our last-mile delivery services. He joined S-team in September, 2020. John has strong end-to-end knowledge of our fulfillment network, operates with an important mix of strategic thinking and a command of the details that matter most in our network, is right a lot, and is a strong team builder who is dedicated to making Amazon a great place to work for our employees.”
Felton will report to Herrington, as will Russ Grandinetti (International Stores), Christine Beauchamp (North America Stores), Tony Hoggett (Physical Stores), Dave Treadwell (eCommerce Foundation), Neil Lindsay (Pharmacy/AmazonCare/Healthcare), Dharmesh Mehta (Selling Partner Services), Peter Larsen (Buy with Prime), and Pat Bajari (Chief Economist), the company stated.
Adding that he remains optimistic about the e-tailer’s stores business, Jassy said he believes they are still in the early days of “what’s possible”.
It’s worth remembering that Amazon currently only represents about one percent of the worldwide retail market segment share, and 85 percent of that worldwide market segment share still resides in physical stores, he further noted.
“If you believe that equation will change over time (which I do), there’s a lot of potential for us as we continue to be laser-focused on providing the best customer experience (broadest selection, low prices, fast and convenient delivery) while working on our cost structure to have the right long-term business,” Jassy concluded.
