Dive Transient:
- Amid a difficult yr for outside retail, REI on Tuesday named a brand new chief advertising officer. Abigail Jacobs, who comes with expertise from the likes of Sephora, West Elm and Pottery Barn, will tackle the function, per an organization press launch.
- Jacobs was most lately the senior vice chairman of built-in advertising and model at Sephora, in line with her LinkedIn profile, and spent greater than 13 years at Williams-Sonoma. The manager additionally as soon as labored as a communications supervisor at Kmart.
- At REI, Jacobs might be answerable for overseeing all advertising capabilities, together with artistic, model technique, advertising operations, and buyer and member planning.
Dive Perception:
It’s been a troublesome couple of years for REI, which swung to a loss in 2022 regardless of report gross sales and has been working to show issues round since then. These efforts have included giant rounds of layoffs each final yr and this yr that encompassed each company headquarters and retailer workers.
However the retailer has additionally made numerous modifications to its C-suite, together with selling two executives this summer season to the positions of chief know-how officer and chief working officer. Now, REI is bringing on a brand new advertising chief who is aware of the way to “infuse a model with goal,” CEO Eric Artz mentioned in an announcement.
“As I obtained to know Abigail, I used to be struck by her capability to efficiently marry customer-centricity and business efficiency with mission in a specialty retail setting,” Artz mentioned. “Abigail believes within the co-op’s mission — that point exterior is a elementary human proper — and understands the way to carry that mission to life by means of advertising.”
Jacobs, for her half, mentioned she admired REI’s experience, advocacy and expertise. Key to the REI mannequin is its co-op membership program, which sits at 24 million members, and a mixture of each outside merchandise and tailor-made journey experiences for its buyer base. However the retailer has been “evolving” its enterprise technique over the previous couple of years, which has brought about layoffs in its experiences division in addition to different areas.
The modifications, in line with Artz, have been pushed by monetary necessity because the sector has declined. The chief govt mentioned firstly of the yr that REI was anticipating gross sales can be down yr over yr once more and harassed the significance of returning the co-op to profitability. On the identical time, REI has stayed in growth mode, with plans to open 10 shops this yr, six shops subsequent yr and no less than two in 2026, alongside investments in its present fleet.
The outside sector surged in the course of the pandemic as extra customers headed exterior, however many within the area have confronted challenges since then. Along with REI, outside retailer Orvis laid off 8% of its workforce in October and Patagonia lower jobs across the identical time. Nonetheless, others like Arc’teryx and Stanley proceed to develop as extra fanatics enter the area.
