A Wal-Mart Stores Inc. e-commerce executive who left the company after it acquired Jet.com has landed at Nordstrom Inc.
Brent Beabout
Brent Beabout starts next week as Nordstrom’s executive vice president of supply chain. At Wal-Mart, No. 4 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide, Beabout had been senior vice president of e-commerce supply chain.
Meanwhile, last week Nordstrom (No. 18) cut 106 customer service positions that handled email, phone and live chat inquiries.
The cuts included employees in Seattle, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and several dozen employees who worked from home. The department store chain says service improvements have led to fewer customers reaching out for customer service support, leaving the department overstaffed.
Other e-commerce happenings of note:
- Netshoes Ltd. filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, seeking $100 million. Netshoes is a leading e-retailer and marketplace in Latin America, selling into Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, and is ranked No. 6 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Latin America 500. In its filing, it said it had $533.8 million in revenue last year and has 5.6 million active customers. 74.5% of orders were to returning customers. The e-retailer is based in Brazil.
- Outdoor gear and apparel retailer Gander Mountain (No. 213 in the Top 500) has a bid in place for its assets, and it’s a pair of familiar companies to retail watchers. Investment firm Gordon Brothers and Hilco Merchant Resources filed a stalking horse bid for the retail chain’s assets for an undisclosed price just three weeks after Gander Mountain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Gander Mountain generated an Internet Retailer-estimated $133.3 million in online sales in 2015, up 5.0% from $127.0 million in 2014. Gordon Brothers had the winning bid of $3 million earlier in early March for the intellectual property and brand assets of teen apparel chain The Wet Seal LLC (No. 510 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 1000). Gordon Brothers and Hilco were also in on the bidding for Aeropostale Inc. (No. 154), an auction that was won with a $243 million bid led by Simon Property Group Inc. and General Growth Properties Inc.
- Fetch Inc., which sells specialty pet food and pet products online at Fetch.co, has been acquired by Chuck & Don’s, a pet products retailer with stores in the upper Midwest. Both companies are based in Minnesota. Chuck & Don’s previously did not sell online.
- Address management and customer data validation vendor Melissa Data has changed its name to Melissa. The change aims to better reflect the vendor’s increased focus on global intelligence, including new customer identity verification services and industry-specific services across risk management and compliance. Melissa matches shopper names to addresses to prevent fraud and authenticate customer identities, and its shipping calculator predicts costs and delivery dates. Melissa serves more than 10,000 customers worldwide.
- Carvana, an e-commerce platform for the buying and selling of used cars, launched service in Philadelphia. The 5-year-old company says it has delivered cars to consumers in 47 states and can deliver cars bought through the platform as soon as the next day in 23 metro areas.