CommerceHub Taps J.C. Penney, Home Depot Executive for Newly Created Role
Drop-ship fulfillment and product content management provider CommerceHub named e-commerce veteran Mike Amend chief operating officer.
Amend has worked with the company on the client side for the past decade, which includes serving as executive vice president of omnichannel at J.C. Penney Co. Inc., vice president of online at The Home Depot and chief technology officer of global online at Dell. Amend has also held the position of deputy chief technology officer at BEA Systems.
This is a new position at CommerceHub, which describes itself as a “distributed commerce network for retailers and brands.”
Frank Poore, founder and chief executive officer of CommerceHub, said Amend “brings a long history of success driving e-commerce growth for top retailers and extensive technology leadership experience to this role.” Poore described Amend’s experience as helping the “business, strategy, technology and operations at retailers so they can compete effectively in a digital world.”
Poore said as chief operating officer at CommerceHub, Amend “will focus on accelerating product innovation and aligning our service and operations teams with our customers to help them leverage CommerceHub’s platform and network to grow revenue and expand merchandise assortments.”
In a statement, CommerceHub said that, while at J.C. Penney, Amend was “instrumental in leading the digital transformation of the brick-and-mortar retailer with expansion of product selection with drop-shipping, ship-from-store, a new mobile experience and tightly integrating the online and in-store channels.” The company also noted that while Amend was at The Home Depot, online sales grew to more than $4 billion.
Amend said “retailers and brands are under intense pressure to grow revenue and deliver exceptional customer experiences.” He also said CommerceHub positions itself as a solution to help companies growth omnichannel sales while making the shopping experience better for the consumer.
Amend told WWD that his two decades of experience include working on the Silicon Valley/technology side at BEA and the retail technology side of the industry. “In this role, I’m now at the intersection of the two,” he said. Amend said brands and retailers go through their digital transformations, CommerceHub can help optimize and grow their business. “That’s why this appointment made sense — it allows me to have a broader impact on the industry,” he told WWD.
Amend said his appointment comes at a time when consumers are changing their overall shopping preferences. In response, retailers and brands need to have the “right product and assortment — and at the right price,” Amend said, adding that products also need to be in stock and there has to be various options such as buy online, and pick up in stores. Otherwise the retailer or brand risks losing that consumer.
“Consumers today now decide what and when they want product,” Amend told WWD. “They are now the new chief merchant.”
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