Global Industrial Co., a billion-dollar distributor that does more than half of its sales transactions through ecommerce, has a new chief merchandising officer fresh from the world of retail.

Alex Tomey, senior vice president and chief merchandising officer, Global Industrial Co.

Alex Tomey, most recently the co-chief merchandising officer at Petco Animal Supplies Inc., has been appointed to Global Industrial’s newly created position of senior vice president and chief merchandising officer, the company said this week.

Tomey, who reports to CEO Barry Litwin, will be responsible for developing and driving Global Industrial’s merchandise strategy and operations as the company seeks to continue its growth in sales of products ranging from material-handling equipment and metal-cutting tools to commercial refrigerators and medical equipment.

“I look forward to leveraging my experience in understanding customer needs, trends and insights to deliver holistic product and go-to-market strategies to build on our current momentum and market position,” Tomey says. “We will continue to drive Global Industrial’s category leadership, speed to market, vendor partnerships and seasonal relevancy.”

Tomey brings Global Industrial more than 20 years of experience in merchandising, product development and sourcing across both hard and soft goods.

Tomey also brings experience as a former senior vice president of product development and global sourcing at retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods. He has also held merchandising management positions at such retailers as Kohl’s and Walmart and has served in board positions at Petco Mexico and the Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation.

Earlier this year, Global Industrial (when it still went by its former corporate name of Systemax Inc.) appointed Claudia Hughes, a former vice president of the Business Solutions Division of Office Depot, as senior vice president and chief sales officer.

Global Industrial has been posting strong financial results. For the second quarter ended June 30, it reported a 12.6% year-over-year increase in net sales to $272.6 million as ecommerce increased 100 basis points to 57% of sales transactions. For the first half of 2021, net sales grew 11.6% year over year to $523.7 million, following a 23.3% surge in sales in the fourth quarter of last year that brought full-year 2020 sales to $1.03 billion. Helping to drive that growth has been improvements it has made in personalized digital commerce and marketing.

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