Walmart-owned South African retail group Massmart – which owns brands such as Makro, Game and Builders – has appointed a new head of e-commerce, replacing incumbent Sylvester John.

John had been on a three-year secondment from Walmart. He will be replaced in the role by Walmart’s Srividya Pandya with immediate effect.

Pandya’s previous roles at Walmart have included leading the acceleration of its global omnichannel efforts and serving as vice president of strategic integration for Walmart in the US.

Prior to joining Walmart, Pandya worked for a range of consulting and e-commerce organisations, including Amazon.com. With Amazon expected to launch e-marketplace operations in South Africa next year, Walmart could soon find itself competing with its global nemesis on African soil, too.

In a statement announcing the management changes on Monday, Massmart said: “Under Sylvester’s leadership, Massmart accelerated and fully overhauled its online shopping experiences across Makro, Game and Builders.

“This included building a native Makro shopping app; launching a bespoke Makro B2B website; acquiring critical capabilities through purchasing OneCart and Wumdrop; and implementing a reliable next-day pickup option while reducing Makro and Game customer delivery lead times from seven days to our present position where over 85% of online orders are delivered within two days.”

The company added that it is investing “significantly in e-commerce as a strategic growth vector”.

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“This initiative has been supported by Walmart, including through the services of approximately 300 full-time Massmart technologists based in Walmart’s Tech Development Centre in Bangalore and the three-year secondment to Massmart of Sylvester John from Walmart US, where he was responsible for last mile delivery.” — © 2023 NewsCentral Media