Week in Review: Kroger invests in leadership 

As the nation’s largest traditional retailer, Kroger BB #:100073 generates a lot of news and analysis. 

It is not shy in making news either. In the past few years, it had one of the highest profile grocery mergers, with Albertsons, fall apart; it reversed course on automated warehouses for e-commerce; and it parted ways with its CEO under an ethical cloud. 

This year, it’s trying to generate more positive news, acquiring Giant Eagle this summer, and its CEO Greg Foran, who joined the company in February, is reshaping his leadership team. 

Foran, who led the turnaround of Walmart U.S. last decade, this week hired another leader from Walmart. 

Mark Ibbotson will join Kroger in mid-September as Executive Vice President and Chief Store Operations Officer, bringing with him leadership from Walmart and its former UK subsidiary Asda, and a reputation as an operations specialist and innovator in omnichannel retail. 

Last month, Kroger hired Nate Faust as Executive Vice President and Chief eCommerce Officer, also bringing Walmart experience. 

Of course this is a strategy, and it’s hard to blame Kroger for turning to leaders with track records of improving a retail chain’s performance in a competitive space. 

One retail analyst says Kroger has a long road ahead of it. 

Vince Martin says Kroger’s sales growth has struggled for three years, and its competition has gained market share at its expense. 

He says there are two core reasons for why a business is underperforming: “Either the company is not executing well enough, or there are changes in the external environment that are pressuring revenue and/or profit margins. These obviously result in very different potential outcomes.” 

Foran has said many times that Kroger has to execute better, and he seems confident he can lead that improvement. 

Kroger’s recent hires show the strategy it plans to take in leadership. 

While neither of Martin’s reasons are easy for Kroger, it seems to me that improving execution is the easier answer and the thing to focus on more immediately. 

If Kroger finds that the retail environment and consumer behavior are changing faster than it can adjust to, that would certainly be a troubling sign for the retail giant.