Russian retailer Magnit has announced a number of changes to its organisational structure in a bid to accelerate digital transformation and boost e-commerce sales.
It has created a new business unit to oversee the development of its online channels, which will be led by recently-appointed e-commerce director Andrey Lukashevich.
Separately, a further business unit will oversee the development of Magnit’s technology and IT-infrastructure as well as its analytics and big-data capabilities, the retailer said.
The changes are aimed at 'simplifying and speeding-up decision-making, ensuring more efficient cross-functional collaboration and accelerating the roll-out of Magnit’s e-commerce strategy and infrastructure, including the implementation of cutting-edge IT-systems', it said in a statement.
As a result of these changes, the position of executive director and deputy CEO, currently held by Florian Jansen, will be made redundant.
Magnit's Expansion Plans
“Magnit has ambitious expansion plans across both the company’s store retail business and online sales channel," Jan Dunning, Magnit president and CEO commented.
"We continue to test various initiatives across both parts of the business in order to accelerate our progress moving forward. This progress will be underpinned by further enhancements to our IT-infrastructure and the smooth integration of this technology into Magnit’s key business processes, all supported by the organisational changes announced today.”
Analyst Viewpoint
Commenting on the move, Artur Galimov, analyst with Sova Capital, said, "We do not think the news should have much of an impact on Magnit’s current operations or on the performance of its stock price. Most of the upside still lies in operating improvements rather than in the development of online channels, in our view.
"The reorganisation and likely departure of Mr. Jansen do not mean that Magnit will cease its digital transformation, upgrade of its IT platform, big data efforts or other initiatives."
Earlier this week, Magnit announced that its takeover of the Dixy Group had been approved, with he retailer set to buy fewer outlets than planned in order to comply with local competition rules.
Elsewhere, Magnit recently reported strong sales at its My Price discounter arm, which showed a 30% like-for-like sales gain.
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