In a move to broaden its eCommerce capabilities, Target has hired from a company that certainly knows its stuff in that regard: Amazon.
Yesterday (Feb. 29), the retailer announced that it has brought into its ranks Arthur Valdez — a 16-year veteran of Amazon — as executive vice president and chief supply chain and logistics officer. Valdez — who, prior to his tenure at Amazon, also worked for Walmart, as well as Kmart — will be tasked with overseeing an overhaul of Target’s supply chain, including planning, distribution and transportation.
“While we’ve made significant progress in improving our operations, Target’s growth hinges on our ability to enhance the fundamental aspects of our business, starting with the supply chain,” Target Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer John Mulligan (to whom Valdez will report) stated in a press release. “Arthur’s leadership and experience will be a tremendous asset as we continue to drive improvements in end-to-end processes, including leveraging our almost 1,800 stores to deliver a seamless experience for our guests.”
As Fortune notes, the company's hiring of an exec with Valdez's particular experience speaks to Target's dedicated moves to shore up its eCommerce offerings, alongside its in-store capabilities, as part of an overall (and in-progress) facilitation of a stronger omnichannel experience. As far as the effectiveness of Target's focus therein to date, the outlet points to the fact that, during Q4 2015, the retailer's online sales increased 34 percent over the same quarter in the previous year and also improved upon an underwhelming Q3.
Additionally, Fortune shares that, in September, Target stated that its tech infrastructure at the time wasn't sufficient to have all of its 1,800 stores fulfill online orders — particularly in the area of any one store correctly identifying if an item ordered online was in stock at its location. According to the outlet, last week, Target showed its out-of-stock metrics as having improved by 20 percent over the previous year.
