As it enters a crucial period in its ongoing domestic battle with Amazon, Walmart US has announced a change in its top leadership, with the business now to be helmed by an avowed technophile with a strong run of success on his CV.

Greg Foran, Walmart US president and chief executive, is to exit the company for a new post leading Air New Zealand in his native country. His replacement is John Furner, who has led the Sam’s Club warehouse club subsidiary since 2017.

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John Furner is credited with turning around Sam’s Club

A 25-year Walmart veteran, Furner brings extensive experience from the US and China and will take the reins from November 1.

He is credited with turning around Sam’s Club during his tenure. His strategy involved culling 10% of the store estate, overhauling range and merchandising, and driving ecommerce uptake.

Furner is well placed to build on the foundations laid by Foran in his five-year reign, which has led to solid comp growth, both online and at its signature Supercenter big boxes.

Furner is also an ideal choice to drive Walmart’s omnichannel progression in collaboration with Walmart ecommerce chief executive Marc Lore.

There has been speculation that the final months of the Foran era were marked by disputes between him and his online counterpart.

Lore was brought in three years ago to oversee radical digitisation of Walmart across its stores as well as pureplay ecommerce.

In July, it was reported by Vox that this process had created tensions between Foran and Lore. The former was said to be frustrated by the credit Lore was accorded for the successful rollout of grocery ecommerce across the US store network.

There were further rifts, it was thought, over how capex was being allocated and spent between online and offline – Foran once joked that “the stores make money and Marc spends it”.

Lore had overseen an intense period of merger and acquisition activity. He added a variety of millennial-focused businesses such as ModCloth and Bonobos to Walmart’s portfolio with varying degrees of success – ModCloth was sold just last week.

Serious ambitions

The backdrop to this scenario is Walmart’s efforts to maintain its position as America’s leading retailer versus the continued growth of Amazon.

While Walmart has posted impressive quarterly online growth rates, typically in the 30% to 40% bracket, it still only holds just under 5% share of the US ecommerce market against Amazon’s 40%.

While no one is suggesting Foran is leaving under a cloud, the timing of his exit and the arrival of Furner may be apt, coming as Amazon appears poised to launch into full-fledged grocery retail in the US.

Foran was undoubtedly an accomplished leader of a physical retail business. He was also not slow to embrace and adapt to a new digital landscape when the time came. Furner, however, is steeped in new retail innovation and instigated several radical omnichannel initiatives at Sam’s Club.

Notable among them was high-tech R&D centre in Dallas, from which numerous new shopping features emerged. Sam’s Club Member Services saw a complete overhaul of the in-store experience based around an advanced shopper app laden with future-focused enhancements.

“Walmart has long identified services as key to battling Amazon. Central to that is the idea that it can ‘humanise’ digital shopping”

With the Supercenter experience increasingly being based around the Walmart app, Furner can be expected to head further integration of the retailer’s offer and services within a single digital touchpoint.

Walmart has long identified services as key to battling Amazon. Central to that is the idea that it can ‘humanise’ digital shopping in a way its pureplay rival cannot.

It wants to put its 4,700 US store base at the heart of this strategy and Furner will be tasked with sustaining and building on the transformation that started under Foran.

Therefore, expect the omnichannel strategy to be maintained, even accelerated, as Furner and Lore develop an integrated strategy bringing their respective divisions closer together. Fulfilment and services will remain central, as Furner is charged with driving operational efficiencies in-store and across the supply chain.

Because Amazon is serious about its physical grocery ambitions, Walmart will be aware it cannot afford to falter now. Furner may be just the kind of general it needs to take the fight forward.

Howard Lake is senior content manager at Kantar.