Ex-Walmart Exec Becomes Kroger’s E-commerce Chief

Kroger Attracts E-commerce Expertise with New Hire

The upcoming appointment of Nate Faust as the new executive vice president and chief e-commerce officer at Kroger was announced on Tuesday. Faust, who is set to start in his new role on Sept. 1, brings a wealth of e-commerce experience to Kroger. His expertise includes co-founding Jet.com and serving as the senior vice president of Walmart’s e-commerce supply chain. He most recently co-founded Olive, a sustainable e-commerce logistics company.

This hiring move by Kroger reflects its ongoing trend of bringing in external talent for key roles. This approach was also seen earlier this year when Greg Foran, another Walmart veteran, took the helm as CEO of the grocery giant.

Kroger’s Shift Towards a Stronger E-commerce Strategy

Kroger has been making concerted efforts to strengthen its e-commerce presence as part of its overall business improvement strategy. This comes at a time when the company, like many others in the grocery sector, is grappling with weak pharmacy sales impacted by the Inflation Reduction Act and falling egg prices. Despite these challenges, e-commerce remains a bright spot for Kroger.

While the company has seen a decline in identical store sales growth over the last four quarters, Kroger’s online sales have been registering double-digit growth. In the most recent quarter, the company’s e-commerce operations reported a profit for the first time. This profitable quarter also saw a 19% year-over-year surge in online sales, led by delivery, and a record number of new households engaging with Kroger’s online business, as shared by Foran during an investor call in June.

Kroger’s E-commerce Plans and Strategies

During the investor call, Foran emphasized the need for Kroger to improve its execution in online shopping. He highlighted that e-commerce is the lifeblood of the company’s high-margin retail media business. In a significant move towards this goal, Kroger partnered with tech firm Ocado to develop automated online fulfillment centres. However, the company has recently scaled back this venture to focus more on store-based fulfillment and its membership program called Boost.

Foran, while welcoming Faust to Kroger, emphasized the latter’s contribution to the e-commerce world. “Nate built businesses that redefined what customers expect from eCommerce, built on speed, value and the experience of getting exactly what the customer ordered,” Foran said in a statement. “That is the standard we are holding ourselves to as we grow our digital business.”

The addition of Faust to the leadership team follows several other changes at the top at Kroger since Foran’s arrival in February. These include the appointment of a new chief people officer last month and the designation of Milen Mahadevan, former president of Kroger’s analytics unit, 84.51°, as the company’s chief data and AI officer in March. Furthermore, Tim Massa, Kroger’s executive vice president and chief associate experience officer, is set to retire on Sept. 18.