Walmart has appointed Eduardo Castro-Wright to president and chief executive of Global.com and Global sourcing while Bill Simon is promoted to president and chief executive of Walmart US.

Castro-Wright is relocating to California to be with his family, as his wife is recovering from a heart transplant.

Walmart chief executive Mike Duke said global.com and global sourcing are “critical to our future growth and success”.

At the Walmart shareholders conference earlier this month, Duke talked about how the retailer wanted to become a truly global company, and the different countries would work together more on sourcing. Asda is already trialling several global sourcing projects with its parent.

Simon was chief operating officer and will take charge of its 3,700 US stores. He previously developed its game-changing $4 prescription.