Dive Brief:
- Ross on Tuesday announced the promotions of two senior executives on its merchandising team. The changes are effective on Dec. 1 and both roles will report to CEO Barbara Rentler, according to a company press release.
- Karen Fleming is being promoted to chief merchandising officer for Ross Dress for Less. She is currently the chief merchant of DD’s Discounts.
- Karen Sykes will be the new chief merchandising officer of DD’s Discounts. Sykes currently is the executive vice president of merchandising overseeing men’s and children’s at Ross.
Dive Insight:
Ross is implementing changes within its merchandising team as a way to strengthen its position and accelerate market share gains. And the company selected two long-standing store employees to lead the way.
Fleming joined the company in 1999 as a buyer and progressed into various leadership roles, transferring to DD’s Discounts two years ago initially as its executive vice president of merchandising. Sykes came to Ross in 1992 also as a buyer and took on increasingly demanding roles.
Both women share a similar background as CEO Rentler, who joined the company in 1986 and was in primarily merchandising positions, eventually becoming Ross’ chief merchandising officer for five years. Rentler was eventually named chief executive in 2014.
“I’m excited for Karen [Fleming] as she takes on this new role leading the merchandising efforts for the entire Ross Dress for Less chain,” Rentler said in a statement. “I’m delighted for Karen [Sykes’] well-deserved promotion, where she will lead the DD’s Discounts merchandising team. I believe her in-depth knowledge of the off-price business and demonstrated leadership skills will drive continued profitable growth at DD’s.”
In the second quarter, net sales rose over 7% to $5.3 billion, comps were up 4% and net earnings rose over 18% to $527.1 million year over year. Analysts at the time said that low- to middle-income consumers were responding well to the discount retailer’s merchandising.
The company currently runs nearly 1,800 namesake stores and 353 DD’s Discount locations, and has been delivering on a push for more brick-and-mortar locations.
