The organizational chart explaining who's in charge of what at Walmart (WMT +0.84%) continues to change, with a former Sam's Club executive being tapped to be the new COO of Walmart Stores' recently restructured U.S. e-commerce unit. Jamie Iannone, once CEO of SamsClub.com, will now answer to Walmart U.S. e-commerce chief Marc Lore, and John Furner, who is the CEO of Walmart U.S.
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His role shift comes at a time when Walmart's e-commerce business, while still growing, is drawing criticism. The retailer doesn't disclose many details about this aspect of its operation, but it was willing to say its online revenue grew 43% last quarter thanks to the rising use of its online grocery shopping options.
But, now more than three years after it made significant investments in its online presence -- including acquisitions of established brands like Bonobos and Moosejaw -- investors are beginning to question the company's online direction. Walmart announced last month it would discontinue its Jetblack personal shopping service, which fulfilled and delivered text-based orders in the New York City market. And, in spite of several quarters of double-digit sales growth, the company's e-commerce operation on its own is believed by some to have lost on the order of $2 billion in 2019.
Late last month, Walmart combined the teams that buy goods for online sales and those that buy items to be sold in stores, indicating it was building more of an omnichannel offering that seamlessly melded online and offline consumerism. As COO, Iannone will help steer that strategy.
