Walmart’s head of e-commerce in the United States, Marc Lore, is waving goodbye to the giant of a digital business that he helped to boost in less than five years.
The company said on Friday that Lore will retire on January 31 and remain a strategic consultant until September.
Lore’s new mission – while offering just a few details in an interview with Yahoo Finance – will be to take cities around the world to the next level. Presumably, given Lore’s tech-savvy curriculum, that means a focus on accelerating the adoption of smart cities.
“I have a vision for a new model of society where people are happier and have a better quality of life and perhaps making up for some of the things that are not suitable for capitalism,” said Lore.
In startup fashion, Lore said he would like to create a new city from scratch and try out his new model, but he hasn’t decided on a location yet.
“The city will also be more sustainable, it will be safer, it will be less loud, it will be, you know, transport will be public and much more efficient. We will take all the learning from existing cities and everything we have learned and kind of build from scratch ”, explained Lore, adding that the city will be very friendly with technology and, ideally, home to millions of people.
Furthermore, this new city will be built on a “reformed version of capitalism”. Although Lore’s views on capitalism require a much longer and nuanced discussion than the 10-minute call would allow, he said he spent a lot of time thinking and talking about it.
“At some point, we can talk in more detail, but the reformed version of capitalism is like not changing capitalism in any way, and it doesn’t come close to socialism. It is simply capitalism, with more opportunities and fewer gaps in income and wealth inequality, ”he said.
According to Lore, the way to create this economic model does not happen with tax increases or with socialism.
“This is the magic and I think that’s why I’m so excited that I think we’ve found a way to do this without higher taxes, without being socialism. In fact, if it works well, we could have both, we could have lower taxes and less inequality, still with the same positive side, you know, without limiting anyone’s positive side too. “
Although it sounds like the “Holy Grail”, Lore believes that there is a path that can be reached with a clean slate.
“Like anything, if I went there and explained it to people, you know that some people would understand, some would believe, some would not. It would be very difficult to implement something like this in an existing country or city, because it is very different. It is a different way of approaching this. With a clean slate and a new city you can really, you know, prove it, you know, without obstacles. “
Lore told Yahoo Finance that he has been thinking about the move for about six months, while the retailer outlines his long-term digital strategy.
The world’s largest retailer acquired Lore’s Jet.com in 2016 for $ 3.3 billion in cash. Although some on Wall Street considered the purchase price high at the time, there is no denying the impact that Lore and Jet.com staff have had at Walmart since the deal was closed in September 2016. Walmart closed Jet.com on March 2020.
Not only did Jet.com folks infuse Walmart’s old digital ranks with new thinking and speed, but Lore fueled a launch of same-day delivery services that attack Amazon while significantly improving online and mobile shopping experiences.
Walmart’s online sales increased practically every quarter (this includes before the coronavirus pandemic) after the Jet.com deal was closed. Walmart’s shares have risen 100% since the Jet.com deal closed (the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen 70%), largely because Street sees Walmart as a leader in e-commerce.
Keeping momentum online will now fall on Walmart US CEO John Furner.
CEO Doug McMillon wasted no time praising Lore’s work in an internal employee memo obtained by Yahoo Finance.
“Since the acquisition of Jet, we’ve seen the growth of our e-commerce accelerate – including the rapid growth in our online grocery business. Marc’s leadership helped ensure that we were in a position to respond to the demand driven by this year’s pandemic. All this progress is the result of many people’s good work, of course, but Marc’s experience and aggression have changed the game. We learned a lot from him. I personally learned a lot from him, ”said McMillon.
Brian Sozzi is a general editor and anchor on Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi is on LinkedIn. Julia La Roche is a correspondent for Yahoo Finance. follow her Twitter.
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