Omni-Channel Sales, Customer Engagement Core Of Neiman Marcus Restructuring
By Hannah Ash, contributing writer
Neiman Marcus is undergoing organizational restructuring designed to align itself for omni-channel success. The retailer was purchased in the late 2013 by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the private equity firm Ares Management, LLC. In April of this year, Neiman Marcus announced plans to shift senior executives around to better align the organization with an omni-channel retail commerce strategy. This month, Neiman Marcus appointed three key members to its board of directors to also reflect this new focus on digital growth and omni-channel strategy.
Last month, the retailer moved executives Jim Gold and John Koryl into streamlined positions that encompass both e-commerce and in-store sales. On the repositioning, group president and chief executive officer Karen Katz states, “over the years the way our customers shop our stores and websites has changed, and will continue to change with the increasing popularity and convenience of smart phones and tablets. Our customers do not differentiate between channels and now neither will we.” This month, three new directors have been appointed to the board: Adam Brotman, Philippe Bourguignon, and Vivek Gundotra.
Brotman currently serves as chief digital officer for Starbucks; in this position, he oversees all of the coffee retailer’s online channels including mobile payments and loyalty programs. Gundotra left his position as senior vice president social for Google just last month; as senior vice president social, he oversaw all social networking and Google+. Prior to Gundotra’s role with Google, he worked as general manager of Platform Evangelism at Microsoft. Bourguignons brings his customer service expertise to the board; currently heads up Revolution Places, a division of Revolution that focuses on hospitality, in addition to running Exclusive Resorts.
David Kaplan, chairman of the Neiman Marcus board and co-founder,senior partner of Ares Management, comments, “Adam, Philippe, and Vic bring to our board many years of collective experience in serving the luxury customer and in growing businesses through digital and international strategies — all of which are key areas in which we are looking to accelerate growth.” As the luxury goods retailer continues to define itself as a true omni-channel retailer, more integrated retail initiatives are on the horizon. Just last month, Neiman Marcus partnered with Oracle Retail Solutions to focus on enhancing the customer experience through flexible retail planning.