Hudson’s Bay on Thursday (Aug. 12) announced the separation of its business into separate entities, one for in-store sales and another for eCommerce, as part an increased focus on its digital-first transformation.
The eCommerce division will be known as The Bay and will be responsible for brand direction, marketing, buying, planning and technology for both businesses, according to a press release. The company’s 86 retail stores will continue to operate as Hudson’s Bay.
Iain Nairn was named president and CEO for The Bay and Wayne Drummond is president of the store business.
“Establishing e-commerce and stores as distinct businesses is a pivotal next step in the future of Hudson’s Bay,” HBC Governor, Executive Chairman and CEO Richard Baker said in the announcement.
HBC’s digital performance and onboarding of new sellers “has dramatically exceeded expectations,” he said. “This move enables each team to make unencumbered strategic investments into their respective businesses to deliver an incomparable customer experience for Canadians.”
The Bay has unveiled more than 1,500 new or expanded brands and more than 25,000 new products through the Marketplace Technology platform. Its website, thebay.com, is the sixth-largest eCommerce platform in Canada.
“The digital-first transformation of The Bay takes us to the next level, with significant focus on technology investment and innovation — including the creation of Technology Hubs in both Toronto and Seattle, increased fulfillment capabilities, expanded marketing and extended vendor partnerships for a highly-curated assortment,” said Nairn in the company announcement.
“As we evolve and adapt, the role of stores has never been more important or vital to the collective success of our businesses,” said Drummond in the announcement. “Hudson’s Bay stores will become discovery destinations and serve as an important touchpoint for customers.”
Related: Neiman Marcus Group Plans To Buy Stylyze As Part Of Digital Push
Neiman Marcus Group (NMG) put the focus on digital retail with its recent acquisition of Stylyze, which will allow the company to offer a “differentiated luxury experience” and is part of more than $500 million in intended gross investment in the next three years focused on integrated luxury retail.
Also read: Store Associates Turn To Content Creators As Retailers Embrace Social Commerce
Two-thirds of highly connected consumers and more than four out of five moderately connected consumers purchase retail products online, according to PYMNTS’ Connected Economy research. But 54 percent of highly connected and 70 percent of moderately connected consumers are buying items in stores.
Shopify now considers the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by employees to be a “baseline expectation,” CEO Tobias Lütke said in an internal memo that he posted on X after learning it had been leaked.
Using AI is critical at a time when merchants and entrepreneurs are leveraging the technology and when Shopify is tasked with making its software the best platform on which they can develop their businesses, Lütke said in the memo.
“We do this by keeping everyone cutting edge and bringing all the best tools to bear so our merchants can be more successful than they themselves used to imagine,” he said. “For that we need to be absolutely ahead.”
Lütke said in the post that he is using AI all the time and that he invited employees to tinker with the technology last summer, but that his statement at the time was “too much of a suggestion.”
Now, he said, he wants to change that perception because continuous improvement is expected of everyone at Shopify and AI can deliver necessary capabilities.
“Using AI effectively is now a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify,” Lütke said in the memo. “It’s a tool of all trades today, and will only grow in importance.”
Lütke said in the memo that Shopify will add questions about AI usage to its performance and peer review questionnaire, that employees are expected to share what they learn about AI with their colleagues, and that teams who want to ask for more headcount and resources must demonstrate why AI cannot do what they need done.
“What we need to succeed is our collective sum total skill and ambition at applying our craft, multiplied by AI, for the benefit of our merchants,” Lütke wrote in the memo.
Eighty-two percent of workers across several industries who use generative AI (GenAI) at least weekly agree that it can increase productivity, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Workers Say Fears About GenAI Taking Their Jobs Is Overblown.”
The report also found that 50% of those who use GenAI weekly worry that the technology could eventually eliminate their specific job, compared to 24% of those who are unfamiliar with it.
