Nordstrom Invests in Digital Strategy
As digital sales soar, Nordstrom continues investing in its digital strategy, including adding its first chief digital officer.
The department store retailer generated an 18% increase in sales enabled through its digital capabilities in its first quarter of 2018 compared to the previous year (digitally enabled sales represented 29% of first quarter sales).
Over the next five years, Nordstrom's CapEx plan of $3.2 billion, or 4% of sales, supports investments in digital capabilities and new market opportunities in Manhattan and Canada. The company has also noted plans to open a filled assortment center in Southern California.
"Through that and some other initiatives we're working on, be able to offer our customers much bigger selection at much faster shipping rates and it also leads to pretty significant step in inventory efficiency for us too," said co-president Erik Nordstrom in an earnings call.
Now, to even further accelerate its strategies across e-commerce, digital and mobile, and brick and mortar efforts, the department store retailer has appointed Ken Worzel, president of Nordstrom.com, as its first chief digital officer.
"In our top markets, we're further integrating our digital and physical assets across supply chain, technology, marketing, and merchandising to deliver differentiated services and experiences," said co-president Blake Nordstrom on a recent earnings call. "To lead our efforts, we recently named Ken Worzel as our chief digital officer. As one of our top leaders, Ken is instrumental in driving our digital strategy as we continue to evolve our business."
Worzel has a long history of strengthening the company's competitive position and relevance through developing and executing customer-driven strategies. In 2010, Worzel was appointed as executive vice president of strategy and development where he helped drive many of the company's digital efforts including the acquisitions of HauteLook and Trunk Club. In 2016, he stepped in as president of Nordstrom.com where he immediately began supporting the core leadership team through its digital transformation.
"As Chief Digital Officer, Ken will be responsible for aligning and leveraging Nordstrom's capabilities across multiple functions to ensure that we are meeting the evolving needs of our customers," said Erik Nordstrom in a press release. "In addition to leading Nordstrom.com, he has been providing leadership for our enterprise-wide data science, product management, and UX teams. Ken has also been a key leader in defining and delivering our local market strategy where we are focused on bringing our digital capabilities together with our physical assets to better serve customers on their terms."
