By Nandita Bose
March 26 (Reuters) - A grocery industry veteran who led
Simon Belsham will oversee all operations including groceryand general merchandise and join Walmart's
Walmart acquired Jet for
Walmart's e-commerce success has been erratic. Online salesincreased 23 percent in the most recent quarter, less than halfthe rate of growth in each of the previous three quarters.Walmart's stock got walloped after the news.
Belsham's hiring comes amid fierce competition in thegrocery sector. Amazon.com Inc purchased Whole FoodsMarket for
Walmart is aggressively ramping up its online grocerybusiness. It has said it will expand home delivery service tomore than 100 U.S. cities and offer curbside grocery pickup at2,200 stores by the end of the year.
Jet's focus on groceries is likely to help Walmart win withurban millennial customers - Jet's key demographic.
"With Jet grocery being an integral part of the strategy,Simon brings incredible experience in scaling grocery deliveryand his unique background in converging technology and retail,"Lore said in the email.
Belsham spent seven years at Tesco, building up itsonline grocery operation for
Most recently, Belsham worked as chief executive officer ofventure-backed Notonthehighstreet.com, according to the email.
He will succeed Liza Landsman, who left the company inMarch, a little more than a year after she was promoted to thejob. Belsham will start on March 26, report to Lore and be basedat Jet's
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on a Feb. 20 earningsconference call the online retailer will not grow as quickly asit did in the early days but will be well-positioned in selectmarkets.
Belsham will also need to ensure that Jet is differentiatedfrom the parent brand and offer shoppers specialty goods thatcannot be bought elsewhere - a strategy on which Lore hasfocused in the past year.
Belsham said in a statement he has long admired the foundersof both Walmart and Jet.
"In my view, there is no business better positioned to takeadvantage of the opportunity ahead than the combination ofWalmart and Jet," Belsham said.(Reporting by Nandita Bose in