Dive Brief:
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Hudson's Bay Company has its second chief marketing officer in less than six months. This week the Canadian department store retailer said it has appointed Bari Harlam as CMO, effective immediately. She will lead Hudson Bay's marketing effort across its retail banners in North America, according to a company press release.
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Former CMO Milton Pappas, who had just been appointed to the role in November, has left the company, according to a company press release. No reason was given for his abrupt departure.
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Harlam has held senior marketing roles at BJ's Wholesale, Swipely and CVS Health, where she built and launched CVS's massive ExtraCare program, according to a company press release. Hudson's Bay described her as an expert in customer loyalty, personalized and digital marketing, and data analytics, with deep experience in branding, promotions, digital and social media and e-commerce.
Dive Insight:
New CEO Helena Foulkes last month said that "it is clear that things do need to change" at Hudson's Bay, and change is happening already in the c-suite.
Like Foulkes, Harlam spent time at CVS Health, a sprawling drugstore enterprise that has some major differences from department store retailing. Department stores themselves have changed much from their roots, ceding many "departments" to big box and today scrambling to fine-tune their e-commerce platforms and loyalty programs, among other areas.
"Successful marketing is grounded in analytics and digital insights, and Bari has demonstrated an innate ability to translate this complex data into breakthrough strategies that put the customer first," Foulkes said in a statement.
Hudson's Bay could use the help driving customers to the retailer's stores. Last month, the company reported that fourth quarter same-store sales fell 2.4%. Performance at Lord & Taylor and Hudson's Bay Off Price "have clearly not met expectations, and I'm diving deeper to better understand those businesses and the best course of action to improve performance," Foulkes said in March.
