Dive Brief:

• Target on Monday named Walmart global sourcing executive William Foudy, Jr. as president of Target Sourcing Services. He will oversee Target's global sourcing organization, including strategy, operations, quality assurance, product safety and responsible sourcing initiatives, and will report to Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer Mark Tritton as of June 17.

• Foudy has more than 25 years of experience in the sourcing industry and has led international teams for brands including Adidas and Nike, according to Target. Most recently he was Walmart's vice president of global sourcing, based in Hong Kong.

• Target, the second largest importer in the U.S., has 14 sourcing services offices around the world, which facilitate production in 34 countries, according to a company blog post.

Dive Insight:

Target in recent years has grown more assertive with vendors, in its efforts to speed up the supply chain, ensure accurate product information and remove harmful chemicals in consumer products and apparel. 

The retailer has greatly expanded its merchandise assortment, launching a number of private label lines in the past year, and also boosted its grocery offerings, although the retailer has been beset by problems of empty shelves in some stores. That was widely seen as a key factor in its short-lived expansion into Canada.

To that end, Target is testing a new distribution strategy aimed at cutting down its replenishment cycle from days to hours while reducing overall inventory at stores, especially at its more numerous small-format ones. The test would include sending a higher frequency of small shipments to stores, which would hopefully better meet the demands of individual stores.

"Target's global sourcing operations are a key strength of ours and integral to our ability to deliver a differentiated assortment at an unmatched value in the market," Tritton said in the post, noting that Foudy would "accelerate our efforts as we continue to reimagine our owned brand portfolio."