CVS Health’s Perez-Tenessa departs company
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health VP merchandising manager of beauty and personal care Alex Perez-Tenessa is leaving after serving the retailer for four years and four months. Drug Store News has learned that he will join Amazon’s Kindle e-books division.
Since January 2013, Perez-Tenessa led the retailer’s beauty and personal care business, generating $5 billion in revenue through more than 7,400 stores across the United States, in such categories as cosmetics, skin care, hair care, oral care and shave, among others. Specifically, he drove innovation in assortments, pricing, promotions, in-store service and experience through a dedicated team of category managers and support from vendor partners and specialized insights and analytics functions.
Perez-Tenessa was a driving force behind CVS' "Elevate Beauty" concept, which is in approximately 2,000 of its stores. The main idea behind the concept is promote the health-beauty connection in stores, leading customers to buy beauty items to boost the basket ring.
"The future of beauty is health," Perez-Tenessa told DSN in October. "Every piece of customer research and category trend that we look at confirms this."
Perez-Tenessa added: "Many beauty categories — such as moisturizers, oral care and sun care — are truly fundamental pieces of a good personal healthcare routine."
Elevate Beauty began rolling out in CVS stores in 2015, with a mission to make the shopping experience more enjoyable — especially in the SKU-intensive beauty category.
"Beauty remains a complex and highly sensorial category," Perez-Tenessa told DSN. "The customer needs to be guided so they can find what they want and then be inspired to try new styles to make them feel even more beautiful."
Prior to joining CVS, he served as a partner at worldwide management and consulting firm McKinsey & Co. for nearly 15 years.
Perez-Tenessa, who received his master’s in business administration from Harvard University, participated in last year’s DSN-Mack Elevation 10X Growth Summit.