Jetting Over
The company was looking for a leader with a strong grocery store background.
Walmart’s Jet.com has tapped former Tesco executive Simon Belsham as president.
Simon Belsham Monday began his new role as president of Jet.com. Belsham, who is responsible for overseeing operations for the e-commerce site, including driving an integrated customer experience with grocery and general merchandise, reports to Marc Lore, founder and chief executive officer, of Jet.com, which was acquired by Walmart Inc. for $3.3 billion in 2016.
Belsham replaces Liza Landsman, who in February left the company to become an investor at New Enterprise Associates, the venture capital firm that backed Jet.com and invested in Lore’s previous company, Quidsi, which was purchased in 2010 by Amazon for about $500 million, and subsequently closed in 2017.
While there was speculation that Jet.com might not fill Landsman’s spot, the role now seems to be an imperative. Besides running Jet.com, Lore is ceo of Walmart U.S. e-commerce, where he’s been occupied with growing sales to satisfy Wall Street. After Walmart last month reported fourth-quarter earnings that disappointed investors, rumors surfaced that Lore would leave the company. He vehemently denied them.
In a memo to employees welcoming Belsham, Lore ticked off his qualifications. “Simon spent seven years at Tesco, the U.K.’s top grocery and general merchandise retailer, leading their grocery online transformation from ‘tablet to table’ for all of the U.K. and 10 markets across Central Europe and Asia,” Lore said. “He also built a general merchandise platform for Ocado, a U.K.-based innovator in online grocery. Most recently, he built deep experience in reinventing retail as ceo of venture-backed Notonthehighstreet.com, a curated gifting platform. His omnichannel experience and track record of innovation from his time in consumables and durables will help spearhead Jet’s focus to be the leading online retailer for the urban consumers.”
Belsham’s grocery experience is clearly part of his appeal to Lore, for whom Amazon is always top of mind. Jet.com launched a private label brand of grocery and household products and sells fresh items such as fruit and meats, milk and eggs. Jet.com has a deal with Latch for delivery services.
“With Jet grocery being an integral part of the strategy, Simon brings incredible experience in scaling grocery delivery and his unique background in converging technology and retail to create amazing experiences for customers,” Lore said. “Looking forward, the current Jet leaders will report up to him, including Andrew Gasper, David Echegoyen and Jack Hanlon.
Gasper will continue as general manager of the Hoboken headquarters, responsible for Jet.com’s business operations and transformation, reporting to Simon. Ech will continue as Jet’s chief customer officer, overseeing all customer-facing aspects of the business including brand marketing, advertising, the site and the app, as well as focusing on providing seamless and solutions-oriented experiences. Hanlon will continue to oversee customer analytics and insights.
“Simon will be visiting Hoboken this week and will then work out of the Dublin office until he finalizes his move from the U.K.,” Lore said. “He couldn’t wait to start and I was not going to say no to that.”