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Dive Brief: - Nearly two decades after attempting a merchandising overhaul, an effort then dubbed “Project Impact,” Walmart is again shaking up its merchant teams. - The retail giant has created a “Style Strategic Business Unit,” merging its fashion, home and beauty businesses, according to a memo to merchandising employees from chief merchant Julie Barber. - Denise Incandela, who arrived nearly a decade ago from Aerosoles to take over Walmart’s e-commerce-based fashion efforts, will lead the new unit, per the memo. Most recently she has served as executive vice president of fashion for Walmart U.S. Dive Insight: Walmart has put a lot of effort into upgrading its merchandising over the years. In 2010, while still professing confidence in Project Impact, the company announced the creation of a merchandising execution team tasked with bringing “assortment decisions in the stores to a new level.” The retailer eventually ditched Project Impact, but soon after embarked on an acquisition binge, bringing on a series of direct-to-consumer apparel brands like Bonobos and Moosejaw — brands it eventually sold off again. Shortly after arriving in 2017, Incandela announced a partnership with Lord & Taylor, saying at the time that Walmart customers were searching its site “for higher-end items, and we are expanding our business online to focus on adding specialized and premium shopping experiences, starting with fashion.” In 2018 Walmart announced a private label overhaul in apparel. Several years on, these ideas hold, though the emphasis on e-commerce is gone. In her memo, Barber said, “Our customers and members are looking to us for inspiration, relevant trends and solutions for their lives, whether they’re shopping Fashion, Home, Beauty or across our broader assortment in-store and online.” “Winning in style requires us to operate differently,” she also said. That entails a reshuffling that will mean hiring new people, including a senior vice president of fashion merchandising. Laura Janney will become senior vice president of women's, intimates and men’s, leaving her previous role leading kids, shoes and jewelry open. She and Walmart Fashion executive Jessica Schaff will report to that executive. The team on entertainment, toys, seasonal, hardlines and home, led by Kaitlyn Shadiow, will move into the style unit, per the memo. Josh Camarena and the design team for that segment will join Paul Wreakes, vice president of fashion brand and design. Private label strategist Casey Davies will move to the unit, reporting to Camarena. Similarly, Vinima Shekhar and the beauty merchandising organization will join style from consumables. Other moves into the unit include Leslie Leonard, who will transition to merchandising execution as senior vice president of merchandising enablement, supporting inventory execution and Todd Owen, who will lead merchandising execution – style. The home product development organization, led by Christine Solley-Kane, will become part of the Style Private Brands organization under Jen Jackson Brown. Lauren Pakan will continue leading business development as part of the style leadership team. The upheaval is designed to bring “teams, expertise and capabilities closer together so we can build on the momentum across these businesses,” Barber said. “We recently shared our Merchandising aspiration: to create the offerings and experiences customers love most,” she said. “Bringing that aspiration to life means being clear about where and how we need to win, and one of those opportunities is to lead in Style & Trend.”
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