Strategy

The ranks of female retail CEOs is losing one of its highest-profile members.   Rosalind G. Brewer, 54, has told Walmart she plans to retire as executive VP, president and CEO of Sam’s Club, effective Feb. 1, 2017. She will be succeeded by company veteran John Furner, 42, who joined Walmart as an hourly associate in 1993, effective Feb. 1. The news was announced in a filing by the chain.  

Dollar Tree has appointed Duncan Mac Naughton as president and COO of its Family Dollar subsidiary.   Mac Naughton, 54, most recently served as CEO of Mills Fleet Farm. He has held numerous leadership roles at Wal-Mart Stores, including chief merchandising and marketing officer of Wal-Mart U.S. from 2011 to 2014, executive VP of consumables health and wellness and Walmart.com from 2010 to 2011, and chief merchandising officer of Wal-Mart Canada from 2009 to 2010.  

Chief executives from leading retail real estate companies shed light on the new year’s most pressing challenges for their tenants

We sat down with chief executives and senior managers from 20 retail real estate companies at the ICSC New York National Deal Making show in December, and each and every one had something to say about e-commerce competition. Something, but not the same thing. They fell into two groups.

There were those who said that online retail’s magnitude was greatly overblown. They held that the media over-covered online sellers and placed them on a lofty perch not backed by the facts. They had a point.

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As a result of the labor community’s failure to produce critical outcomes it pursued for the presidency, Congress and governorships, unions will be forced to abandon much of the political and legislative agenda they had developed in hopes of a friendly Clinton administration.

As Amazon expands across the globe, enhancing its logistics capabilities as well as adding to the list of perks for its Amazon Prime members, retailers and logistics providers are taking note.

The pressure is on for retailers to not only meet customer expectations, but to also exceed them as differentiation in the retail industry becomes paramount. Amazon has raised the bar for expectations with offers such as same-day delivery and free shipping, and its influence is spreading as it becomes one of the world’s biggest retailers.

Turning big data, social media challenges into growth opportunities

As 2017 gets underway, digital disruption continues to drive — and transform — the industry.

Besides creating a more consumer-centric, web-enabled shopping experience, digital innovations — from the Internet of Things to mobility to social media — are altering retail operations. They are also generating new challenges that retailers are unaccustomed to, or worse, still unprepared for.

Finance chiefs play expanded role in managing the retail transformation

With the retail environment undergoing the most complex changes in our generation, the sustainability of the current retail economic model is in question.

Historically, retail CFOs, as the principal financial officers, were primarily responsible for more traditional finance, treasury, regulatory, information delivery and related functions.

The past year brought with it a changing of the guard, as many companies named new leaders to steer their ships in a transformed marketplace. Here are six newly arrived — or soon to arrive — CEOs to keep an eye on in 2017:

Jeff Gennette, Macy’s: A 33-year company veteran who came up through the ranks, Gennette takes the reins from longtime CEO Terry Lundgren in the first quarter of this year.