Dutch retailer Jumbo is restructuring its organisation, as it plans to focus on an improved shopping experience, a better and more sustainable assortment, and affordable prices.
The restructuring will result in a number of job losses, the retailer noted, without providing an exact number at this stage.
“The goal is an uncomplicated, entrepreneurial and decisive Jumbo office,” commented CEO Ton van Veen. “That this will also mean downsizing our office organisation and reducing the number of employees is, unfortunately, unavoidable. The exact number of jobs to be lost will be communicated at a later stage.”
Organisational Restructuring
As part of the restructuring, Jumbo will optimise its office structure to support shops around three focus areas: customer, channel and assortment; and three support functions: finance, IT, and human resources.
The new structure will see each board member taking up responsibility for one support area.
To this effect, Jumbo has appointed Wibo van Wijk as procurement director, to look after this segment, following Jumbo’s entry into two European purchasing organisations, Everest and Epic Partners.
Jumbo has also appointed Jurrie van Rooijen as IT director. He is an experienced IT professional, the retailer noted, having held various management and board roles, including 13 years as CTO at Bol.com.
‘Entrepreneurial And Decisive’
Van Veen stated, “We want to become entrepreneurial and decisive again, and that is certainly necessary in the current retail context, in which business models are under pressure. That is why we are building a new, truly different office organisation, which also includes a different way of working.
“We will optimise the organisation to serve our shops and customers – both physical and online – as well as possible.”
