Amazon poaches Target’s innovation exec to lead Prime business internationally
Amazon is looking to bolster its Prime membership internationally, poaching US retail giant Target’s strategy and innovation boss to lead the charge.
Amazon
According to Recode, Jamil Ghani will relocate to the company’s Seattle headquarters and report directly to Greg Greeley, Amazon’s vice president of Amazon Prime.
It comes as Amazon eyes greater growth of Prime outside of the US. The membership scheme is Amazon’s key asset in its plan to create an ecosystem where users will spend more time and money, with Prime members shelling out around twice as much on goods with greater frequency than non-members.
In the US, its membership growth rate has been strong. While Amazon does not disclose specific stats, a recent survey by R.W. Baird suggested that nearly half (48.5%) of US households had a Prime membership in the fourth quarter, up from 39% a year earlier.
But that growth is slowing and so it must look outside of the US where the pickings are ripe if Amazon can get the offering right.
Prime launched just a few months ago in China, but Amazon has its work cut out to rival e-commerce giant Alibaba and even other US rivals, such as Walmart in the country. It also recently rolled out in India and Netherlands.