Mondelez tears e-commerce function from marketing umbrella

It seems like candy maker Mondelez International is separating its media and e-commerce business. The company recently made two new hires - one for media and the other for e-commerce. This comes shortly after the departure of Bonin Bough, chief media and e-commerce officer at Mondelez International, said.Bob Rupczynski, former VP of media, data and CRM from Kraft is taking on the former. Meanwhile Kimberly-Clark's Jeff Jarrett is now VP-global head of e-commerce for efficient functioning. Jarrett would be reporting to Mondelez’s chief growth officer Tim Cofer.Jarrett brings a wealth of experience spanning 26 years in CPG and digital organisations, including most recently at Kimberly-Clark where he had accountability for building a US$1 billion global e-business from scratch.Coefer said: "We’re thrilled to have Jeff Jarrett join us to drive our e-commerce agenda. As consumption patterns change and retail expands online, e-commerce is a key priority and growth pillar for us. Our goal is to build an industry-leading e-commerce snacks business, targeting at least US$1 billion in revenue by 2020. We’ve made strong progress on our agenda this year and continue to invest in capabilities and talent to fuel further growth.”In addition to shifting the reporting line to Coefer from under  Dana Anderson, CMO, the global e-commerce team will now be responsible for revenue, margin and operations. This has been confirmed to Marketing by a spokesperson at Mondelez who added:"This direct reporting relationship and sole accountability of e-commerce strategy and P&L will enable speed and agility with cohesive leadership, better integration and efficiency."Quite obviously, territories have been marked. In a world where more and more brands are looking to create a  seamless experience both online and offline, we ask industry players if this move is one which would work.Indonesian transport and delivery company GO-JEK's CMO, Piotr Jakubowski said that this is comes as no surprise simply because consumer buying habits have changed.He explained that e-commerce is just as critical as the physical storefront. Just like a traditional in-store shopper strategy, he added, there needs to be plenty of attention placed on the performance of e-commerce assets. This is particularly because the sales can be directly attributed."People have become more accustomed to online shopping, which makes this strategy key for FMCGs that may not have previously been in the space,” he said.Expressing similar thoughts on the move, Lee Chin Chuan, head of digital, VML Malaysia said, “The move is an indication that e-commerce is a growth priority and a key pillar for Mondelez, as it attempts to better integrate e-commerce into its broader corporate strategy and growth objectives.”He added that the move is justified as the company has observed a spike in e-commerce growth revenues. Earlier this year, Mondelez reported a 30% in the first half of 2016.Adding to this Jakubowski said, "The revenue growth depends on the final e-commerce model that is used, but it comes down to adapting towards the needs of consumers living in our digital world. The anytime, anywhere nature of e-commerce places itself in a great position to drive incremental revenue in addition to all other efforts."Chuan added:By bringing the e-commerce division out of marketing allows for its revenue, margins and operations to be managed more independently, which might be more feasible for long term growth.He added that given that the e-commerce sales channel differs drastically from traditional retail commerce in terms of its intrinsic characteristics, transaction process, and consumer behaviour exhibited on the platform, there is a strong business case for it to be managed independently from other marketing implementations.Sanchit Mendiratta, partner at Happy Marketer, added that consumers are increasingly focusing on price, convenience, speed (delivery), reviews and refund or return policy instead of the brand or the platform they are ordering from. He added that majority of e-commerce firms are in a “make or break” phase in 2017.He said:E-commerce teams outside of marketing have a different approach to business.