Walmart's chief merchant announces departure

Walmart chief merchandising officer John Fleming has decided to leave the company, Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon announced in a statement posted on WalmartStores.com.

"In the 10 years John has spent at Walmart he has built a strong team and been the architect of groundbreaking efforts to grow our e-commerce business, creative marketing programs to communicate with customers and inventive merchandising initiatives. On a personal note, I’d like to thank John for his many contributions and for the direction he set for the company," said Simon.

Simon said he has called upon Jack Sinclair, EVP and general manager of grocery to lead the food as well as the health and wellness merchandising teams; and John Westling, EVP planning, pricing and replenishment to lead the general merchandising and replenishment teams. Both parties will report to Simon until a replacement for Fleming is named.