Jason Goldberger, who had just been promoted to chief digital officer by Target in May, has suddenly left the company in the wake of disappointing ecommerce growth figures in recent quarters.
Goldberger’s duties will be split between Chief Information Officer Mike McNamara and Chief Marketing Officer Mike Triton. He had been president of Target.com and mobile, with prior stops at flash sale site Gilt, ecommerce furniture seller Hayneedle and Amazon.
“To provide clear accountability and speed up decision making, we will be transitioning Jason’s responsibilities to two current leadership team members,” CEO Brian Cornell said in a statement. “Taking this body of work in a new direction will help advance our efforts in these key areas during a pivotal time for Target.”
Like Walmart’s $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com in August and naming former Amazon exec and founder Marc Lore head of ecommerce, the departure of Goldberger so soon after his promotion is being viewed by industry watchers as a response to Amazon’s continual gobbling up of online market share. Last year Target CEO Brian Cornell promised analysts annual ecommerce growth of 30%, but results have come in below that reach goal, growing 16% in the most recent quarter.
Amazon increased its ecommerce revenue 15% in the second quarter ended June 30, compared to 10% growth the year before. Analysts from Macquarie Research estimated in December that Amazon was taking about a quarter of all retail sales and half of all ecommerce sales. In a May report, Forrester said the company drove 60% of U.S. ecommerce growth in 2015.
Mike O’Brien is Senior Editor of Multichannel Merchant