News of Amazon exec Dave Clark’s departure hit the airwaves earlier this month. The Chief Executive Officer, who has been with Amazon since 1999, revealed he will be stepping down from his post in Amazon’s Worldwide Consumer division effective July 1. In preparation for his exit, the global retailer announced his successor, Doug Herrington, as the new CEO of Worldwide Stores.
Herrington currently serves as Amazon’s Senior Vice President of North America Consumer. The 17-year veteran first joined Amazon in 2005, subsequently helping with the launch of Amazon Fresh in 2007. He has led the company’s North American consumer unit for more than seven years, which encompasses both online and physical stores. Bloomberg has speculated that this appointment signals the continued importance on Amazon’s part to push groceries as part of its growth plans.
The source further noted that online sales growth has slowed down for the retailer as shoppers are straying away from pre-pandemic spending habits. It was noted that one of Herrington’s first tasks will be to shrink the operation to current demand without impairing the company’s ability to ramp up when online sales growth resumes.
Accompanying the announcement, Amazon also revealed John Felton, who has been with the company for 18 years, will now be overseeing the operations division and will report to Herrington. Felton rose through the ranks of Amazon’s finance teams, serving for several years as Chief Financial Officer of Clark’s worldwide operations unit.
“This is a very strong and experienced leadership team,” commented Andy Jassy, Amazon’s Chief Executive Officer, in a statement obtained by the news source. “I remain very optimistic about our Stores business and believe we’re still in the early days of what’s possible.”
Keep clicking back to Deli Market News as we cover the retail sector’s change concerning all things deli, specialty, and dairy.
