Yahoo Finance Walmart's e-commerce chief to retire, will remain as a strategic advisor through September
Walmart (WMT) said on Friday that Marc Lore, the CEO of its booming eCommerce U.S. business, will retire on Jan. 31 and will remain with the retailer as a strategic advisor through September.
Lore, 49, joined Walmart in September 2016 as part of Walmart’s $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com, the e-commerce site the entrepreneur founded in 2015. At the time of the acquisition by Walmart, Lore had committed to a minimum of five years with the retailer, but will instead finish the remainder of that time as a strategic advisor instead of an associate, Walmart’s term for an employee.
In a company-wide memo seen by Yahoo Finance, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon described Lore’s work on the e-commerce side of Walmart’s business as “game-changing.”
“Since the Jet acquisition, we’ve seen our eCommerce growth accelerate – including rapid growth in our online grocery business. Marc’s leadership helped ensure we were positioned to respond to the demand driven by the pandemic this year. All of this progress is the result of good work from a lot of people, of course, but Marc’s expertise and aggressiveness have been game-changing. We have learned a lot from him. I have personally learned a lot from him,” McMillon wrote.
As shoppers sought to avoid crowds during the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce sales have skyrocketed. Walmart said its online sales rose 79% in the third quarter. In the second quarter, Walmart's online sales jumped 97%.
During Lore’s time with Walmart, the company redesigned its website and improved its mobile app. The website also grew its online offerings from 10 million items to more than 80 million, included thousands of new brands, and transformed its e-commerce fulfillment capabilities, McMillon noted.
“Just four years ago we didn’t even offer free two-day delivery. Today, we have same-day delivery on thousands of items, next-day delivery on hundreds of thousands of items and two-day delivery on millions of items,” the CEO wrote.
Shares of Walmart were last trading 1% lower on Friday.
Julia La Roche is a correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
