Walmart Inc., No. 3 in the Internet Retailer 2018 Top 1000, has hired Micky Onvural as CEO of men’s apparel retailer Bonobos, which the retail giant acquired last year. She moves up in the company after joining in 2016 as chief marketing officer, and then added the title of co-president last year.
Prior to Bonobos, Onvural worked at cosmetics maker L’Oreal SA (No. 288) as group brand manager and at online marketplace eBay Inc. as senior manager of global brand development. Onvural is the latest in Walmart’s British-born employee appointments, following Simon Belsham as head of Jet.com, Janey Whiteside as chief customer officer and Judith McKenna to run Walmart’s international business.
Onvural said on a podcast in March that she’d like to double Bonobos’s sales in three years—no small feat, given the lackluster growth in the broader menswear market. Walmart doesn’t break out revenue for the unit. The retailer, however, posted strong e-commence sales in the second quarter, its most recent quarterly earnings announced earlier this month. U.S. e-commerce sales rose 40% in the second quarter ended July 31 compared with last year, according to management commentary from CEO Doug McMillon.
Walmart has been on an e-commerce shopping spree over the last couple years. In 2016, it purchased marketplace Jet.com. Last year, it bought women’s apparel retailer Modcloth Inc., men’s apparel retailer Bonobos, shoe retailer Shoebuy.com Inc. and sports gear and apparel retailer Moosejaw. Earlier this year, Walmart also launched a Lord & Taylor-branded section on the recently redesigned Walmart.com.
In other e-commerce news:
- Lululemon Athletica, No. 90 in the Top 1000, has promoted Sun Choe to chief product officer. Choe was hired in 2016 as senior vice president of global merchandising. Prior to joining Lululemon, Choe served as chief global product merchant at Marc Jacobs, as well as working in merchandising roles at Urban Outfitters Inc. (No. 39), West Elm (owned by Williams-Sonoma Inc., No. 25) and Madewell (owned by J. Crew Group Inc., No. 53) “Sun has a proven track record leading world class product teams and her leadership has helped fuel our current success,” says CEO Calvin McDonald.
- Wayfair Inc. (No. 13) is planning to hire 200 new workers both virtually and office-based for its European operations in Galway, Ireland. “As we expanded our Galway workforce from a few employees to more than 400 today, the team has continuously delivered exceptional support for our customers in Europe,” says Liz Graham, vice president of sales and service at Wayfair. With more than 9,700 full-time employees globally, Wayfair operates customer service centers in Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Utah, Texas, Germany and Ireland.
- Under Armour Inc., No. 33, added two executives to its senior management team: Alessandro de Pestel as chief marketing officer and Ann Funai as senior vice president, engineering. De Pestel will lead the company’s brand strategy, while Funai will be responsible for engineering functions, including its fitness applications and global e-commerce business. Prior to joining Under Armour, De Pestel served as executive vice president of marketing, communications and consumer insights for fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger Global and executive vice president of marketing for fashion brand Calvin Klein. Funai served as chief technology officer at education talent management company PeopleAdmin, as well as director of power systems software development at IBM.
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Mattress retailer Purple Innovation Inc., No. 226, has appointed Joe Megibow as its new CEO. Prior to joining Purple, Megibow served as senior vice president and chief digital officer at apparel retailer American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (No. 64). Additionally, he worked as vice president and general manager at travel company Expedia Inc. “We are very confident that we found the right person to lead Purple into the future and take Purple to the next level,” says Terry Pearce, co-founder, chairman and interim-CEO.
- Neiman Marcus, No 43, has promoted some of its executives. Carrie Tharp joined the retailer as senior vice president, chief marketing officer in September 2016 and has been promoted to executive vice president, chief digital officer. Adam Orvos, Neiman Marcus’ chief financial officer, has been promoted to executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief operating officer. These two promotions come shortly after Darcy Penick was named president of Bergdorf Goodman.
- Pittsburgh-based bedding manufacturer American Textile Company will open a new, 98,000-square-foot distribution center near its headquarters. The new facility will increase its capacity by 50%, and the manufacturer expects it will bring in more than 75 jobs over the next five years, the manufacturer says. Additionally, American Textile has appointed Traci Hayes as vice president of its e-commerce business. She comes from Dick’s Sporting Goods (No. 54), where she held the role of vice president of e-commerce for more than six years.
