Philadelphia — Joel Anderson will leave his post as president/CEO of Walmart.com to serve as president of youth value retailer Five Below.
“With Joel, we have a proven multichannel retail leader with an exceptionally strong background across both stores and e-commerce, and the right leadership skills and merchandising vision to help fuel the growth of the Five Below brand,” said co-founder/CEO Tom Vellios.
Anderson joined Walmart in 2007 and served as a divisional senior VP before being named head of the company’s U.S. e-commerce business in 2011. Before that he ran Lenox’s direct business and was marketing senior VP for Babies“R”Us.
In his latest role, which begins in July, he will lead all aspects of Five Below’s merchandising, stores and marketing, and will be joined by new hire Eric Specter who was named chief administrative officer overseeing supply chain operations, information technology and real estate.
The chain sells an assortment of CE and fashion accessories, toys, posters, books, candy, apparel and assorted novelties aimed at teens and pre-teens and priced at $5 or less.
According to a memo from Walmart’s worldwide e-commerce chief Neil Ashe that was obtained by the Wall Street Journal, Anderson will be succeeded by Fernando Madeira, president/CEO of the company’s Latin American e-tail operations, who will assume broader geographic responsibilities.
News of the departure follows Walmart’s shareholders meeting last week in which senior management touted their aggressive e-commerce focus.
