Amazon Names Doug Herrington New Head of Retail

Doug Herrington has been appointed to lead Amazon.com's retail sector, the e-commerce giant announced Tuesday. Herrington, a 17-year Amazon employee who previously led the company's North American consumer business, will be tasked with dealing with the effects of rising costs, a slowdown in demand, and excess warehouse space. He replaces Dave Clark, who announced his resignation earlier this month after working for the company for 23 years.

In a message to Amazon employees Tuesday, CEO Andy Jassy called Herrington a "builder of great teams," a "terrific inventor for customers," a "unifier," and an "avid learner."

Jassy also noted that the division Herrington will lead will henceforth be known as "Worldwide Amazon Stores business."

Total Retail's Take: Herrington, alongside Jassy, will have to deal with the aftermath of the overexpansion of Amazon's brick-and-mortar footprint undertook during the COVID-19 pandemic, as The Wall Street Journal reported. This shows that even industry leaders like Amazon are susceptible to the challenges of brick-and-mortar retail, including declining foot traffic, supply chain disruption and complexity, labor shortages, inflation, among others. USA Today reported that as demand has slowed due to rising costs, Amazon now expects excess storage space to contribute to $10 billion in additional costs in the first half of this year. It will be Herrington's job to help right-size Amazon's physical store footprint and leverage the channel as a way to grow the company's omnichannel operations.