Nordstrom’s Executive Shuffle

In an eye-catching move, Nordstrom has announced that it has promoted Executive Vice President of Strategy and Development Ken Worzel to president of its Nordstrom.com unit. The move comes as the high-end department store chain is working hard to jumpstart its eCommerce efforts.

The Nordstrom brothers — Erik, Blake and Pete — continue serving as co-presidents of the firm with some changes to their areas of support.. Erik Nordstrom will now be responsible for the Nordstrom brand, including the stores, Nordstrom.com and Trunk Club, as well as customer care, marketing and supply chain duties. Blake Nordstrom will run Nordstrom Rack, including Rack stores and NordstromRack.com/HauteLook. He will also oversee finance, technology, legal and human resources. Pete Nordstrom will continue his efforts in merchandising and store planning initiatives.

Nordstrom had, for a time, held out against the difficulties that started plaguing physical retail, particularly department stores — a situation often explained by Nordstrom’s superior design and service. But as 2016 has seen Nordstrom struggle with the same falling foot traffic and dropping sales as its department store compatriots, it is now getting serious about cutting costs (400 jobs were eliminated back in April) and tightening up its supply chain.

Things did start to pick up some for Nordstrom over the summer. Same-store sales were down but beat the estimates on how much they were going to be down. And revenue almost (but not quite) hit analyst expectations. HauteLook and Nordstrom Rack also both picked up.

Worzel is another sign that Nordstrom is serious about eCommerce.

“Through his six years as a leader at Nordstrom and many years prior to that working alongside our executive team, Ken has gained a deep understanding of how our eCommerce, digital and mobile efforts play an integral role in providing customers a differentiated experience through service, personalization and convenience,” Erik Nordstrom said in a statement. “Ken comes into this position with expertise around Nordstrom.com’s current position and a strong vision for its future potential that will continue to bring the company a tremendous amount of value as we evolve our strategy and build on our success.”