Retail’s Power Players
Some are merchants, with long careers in brick-and-mortar stores. Others are tech trailblazers, using new media to match merchandise and buyers. Others are influencing retail in less direct, but no less significant, ways. All share an ability to create new opportunities and, in their own way, are looking to reinvent the shopping experience. And all wield a great deal of influence in today’s complex retail landscape.
Chain Store Age calls this select group of leaders, who we limited to U.S.-based companies, “Retail’s Power Players.”
The Engineer
MICHAEL DUKE
CEO, Wal-Mart
Bentonville, Ark.
As chief executive of the world’s largest retailer, Michael Duke continues to find new worlds to conquer. But he also spends considerable time fighting fires, both at home and abroad.
Trained as an industrial engineer and previously the CEO of Wal-Mart International, Duke’s background in logistics remains critical as the company forges expansion around the globe. At the same time, Duke pays attention to the details of retail. Nothing escapes his eye on his frequent store visits.
Under his leadership, the chain has emerged as a leader in e-commerce and digital innovations, and even forged an alliance with Facebook, while also investing in store expansion. On the domestic front, the company is accelerating the rollout of its smaller-sized Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market format to help it enter urban markets and take on the dollar-store format. Another new concept is Goodies Co., a monthly food subscription service that delivers gourmet and artisan foods for $7 per month.
Since being appointed CEO in 2009, Duke has proved that he is not afraid to make tough calls, from scaling back the chain’s overambitious SKU rationalization program to reshuffling top executives.
Duke has said he loves working for a company where past success and increasing size lead to high expectations. He will get his wish this year as Wal-Mart’s worldwide sales approach $500 billion. The chain is coming off a year in which same-store sales growth returned to positive territory at its U.S. business. It celebrated its 50th anniversary, and a long-dormant share price surged to new highs.
At the same time, however, Wal-Mart remains a lightning rod for controversy. The company found itself the focus of negative publicity at year-end, as organized labor sought to disrupt holiday sales by staging protests at stores, one of the retailer’s longtime apparel suppliers was caught using a factory in Bangladesh where 112 people were killed in a fire, and reports surfaced of a bribery scheme in Mexico.
Duke, now 62 and in his fifth year as Wal-Mart’s top executive, has faced controversy before. But the low-key and friendly executive always keeps his eye on the prize, exploring new ways to grow his enormous company in today’s uber-competitive, 24/7 retail marketplace.
The Tech Trailblazer
JEFF BEZOS
CEO, Amazon
Seattle
The signs were there early on. By all accounts, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos was technically precocious — reportedly he took apart his crib with a screwdriver as a toddler. Armed with a computer science degree from Princeton University, Bezos went on to a successful Wall Street career. But in 1994, intrigued by the opportunities afforded by the Internet for commerce, he left the Street to devote himself to developing a website to sell books. It’s safe to say he never looked back.
The story of how Amazon morphed from an online bookseller to a $100 billion mega-retailer of anything and everything, and then to a tech manufacturer with Kindle, has taken on mythic proportions. What’s so impressive is how, under Bezos’ leadership, Amazon continues to reinvent itself and entire industries. The world’s largest online retailer, Amazon sells products in nearly every category imaginable. It now designs and builds an entire line of e-readers and tablets. And after expanding from selling content as physical product to selling digital product, it has emerged as a digital media powerhouse, with an offering of more than 22 million movies, television shows, songs, apps, games and books.
It’s hard to keep up with Bezos. Among recent ventures, Amazon signed a deal to stream movies from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM. And the company is involved in content development via its two-year-old Amazon Studios.
Amazon also works with businesses around the world through its Amazon Web Services unit. The division offers outside companies the same sophisticated cloud-computing infrastructure that Amazon developed for itself.
This is all just a small sampling of Amazon’s ongoing evolution. The company’s reach continues to grow — and to astound. Last March, it purchased Kiva Systems, a maker of robots that service warehouses, including some operated by leading retailers. The deal reflects Bezos’ never-ending quest to improve productivity and get more products to consumers faster.
Shipping is also part of it. Amazon is cutting shipping times and testing same-day delivery in some metro areas. And the company has not dismissed the addition of brick-and-mortar. Asked by PBS’ Charlie Rose about the possibility of an Amazon store, Bezos’ reply got to the root of how he has run his company from the start: “We would love to, but only if we can have a truly differentiated idea.”
Amazon has grown so diversified that to call it an online retailer no longer does it justice. And there is no predicting what the next five years will bring. But one thing that has never changed is Bezos’ unwavering focus on the customer. It’s the key to the company’s success — past, present and future.
The Caffeinator
HOWARD SCHULTZ
CEO, Starbucks
Seattle
Facing increasing competition this past year from the likes of McDonald’s, Dunkin Brands and even drug stores, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz did what he has done throughout his career: He forged onward, building upon his core assets while venturing into new territory. Say this about Schultz: The man always dreams big.
The story of how Schultz, raised in Brooklyn, turned a coffee shop into a national and global powerhouse is now legend. So is the story of how the chairman returned as CEO in 2008, following an eight-year hiatus, and successfully turned around the faltering retailer. Most recently, Schultz has been pushing hard to expand his empire beyond coffee. In 2011, Starbucks purchased premium juice maker Evolution Fresh, and in June 2012, the company acquired a small artisan bakery chain, Bay Bread and its 19-unit La Boulange bakery brand. In November, Starbucks announced plans to purchase Teavana Holdings, which offers loose teas in 300 mall locations. Expect the company to expand all three formats.
Under Schultz, the coffee giant also em