Joel Anderson departs Walmart.com for Five Below

PHILADELPHIA — Joel Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Walmart.com, has departed the online giant to assume the role of president at Five Below, a retailer that targets pre-teens and teens with trendy, extreme-value merchandise, according to a Five Below press release issued Tuesday morning.

Anderson will be succeeded by Fernando Madeira, currently president and CEO of Latin America at Wal-Mart eCommerce, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing an internal Wal-Mart memo.

Madeira has been credited with sparking sales gains at Wal-Mart's Latin American e-commerce site through a broader assortment and improved fulfillment, Pulse 2.0 reported. 

“We’ve seen Brazil grow twice as fast as the market, while increasing traffic fourfold,” stated Wal-Mart’s CEO of Global eCommerce, Neil Ashe, according to Pulse 2.0. “In other markets, they’ve leveraged sales and marketing efforts, driving triple-digit growth in Argentina, Chile and Mexico.” 

Madeira will relocate from Sao Paulo to the Bay Area of California where Walmart.com is based.

Wal-Mart's e-commerce business is on track to grow to about $13 billion this year from $10 billion last year. And the company expects to maintain that steep growth trajectory. At the company's recent shareholder meeting, president and CEO Doug McMillon and other top executives described how the company is making acquisitions and investments in its Global eCommerce organization and big data analytical capabilities even as it continues to expand its worldwide physical footprint. 

“Customers will increasingly expect and require the best of both worlds. They want the excitement and the immediacy of shopping in a physical store and the freedom to shop whenever, however and wherever they want," McMillon said. "Wal-Mart can bring together our stores with new digital commerce capabilities to help customers save money, save time, and have access to what they want and need. Wal-Mart will exceed their expectations.”