Walmart Names New Chief Merchandising Officer

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February 1, 2011

In it continuing efforts to turn around consecutive quarters of declining same-store sales, Walmart U.S. appointed Duncan Mac Naughton to chief merchandising officer, replacing John Fleming who resigned last July.

Duncan Mac Naughton

Mac Naughton will oversee all merchandise categories across more than 3,700 stores and will continue to report to Bill Simon, Walmart U.S. president and CEO.

Mac Naughton joined the company in 2009 as chief merchandising officer for Walmart Canada and was named executive vice president of merchandising for Walmart U.S. in October 2010, where he was responsible for consumables, health and wellness, and Walmart.com.

"We are fortunate to have outstanding, seasoned leadership across our merchant organization. Duncan has distinguished himself with a proven record of success in every organization that he has worked in…” said Simon, who has been shaking up the U.S. organization since he took over in June, succeeding Eduardo Castro-Wright. "He is a strong steward of our culture and he understands that merchandising is at the very core of our business. Duncan is committed to giving our customers a breadth of assortment, national brands and every day low prices."

Before joining Walmart, Mac Naughton held leadership roles at Kraft Foods Inc., H.E. Butt Grocery Company and Albertson's Inc. He also served as executive vice president of merchandising and marketing at Supervalu Inc.

"We remain focused on ensuring that our assortment exceeds our customers' expectations, both in stores and online,” Mac Naughton said. “While much has been accomplished, we are working closely with our suppliers to deliver the products and the brands our customers are looking for at Walmart's every day low prices. We intend to make the shopping experience more fun for our customers through increasing promotional intensity by effectively utilizing action alley. In the end, it is about having great products at every day low prices."

SBD Views: Bill Simon took his time and made a strong choice naming Mac Naughton as Walmart’s Chief Merchant. With a strong CPG and food retailing background it will be interesting to see what role store brands will play in Walmart’s merchandising mix going forward. As Walmart’s announcement made a point of referencing Mac Naughton’s cultural alignment with Walmart values, it also signals there’s a low probability his merchandising strategies will deviate from Walmart’s bedrock principles as did those of his predecessor.  -- John Failla for Store Brands Decisions

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