Walmart veteran to take the helm at Massmart

Less than a month after the resignation of Guy Hayward as Massmart CEO was announced, his replacement has been revealed. Walmart (which holds a majority stake in the South African retailer) is to parachute in one of its own – Mitchell Slape. 51-year-old Slape has worked at Walmart for 25 years in various roles across Latin America and Asia, as well as in the US. He has been chief operating officer at Seiyu GK (Walmart Japan) since 2015.
This appointment suggests that Walmart will take a more hands-on approach to its African subsidiary at a time when the latter is struggling to grow its sales and its share price has hit a ten-year low. A Walmart lifer, Slape’s appointment could result in Massmart becoming more integrated with its parent. In 2010, when he was Walmart’s head of international development, he told the Guardian newspaper: “Everything that is back of house – systems, processes, buying – we can leverage a lot of that globally.” However, he added “You simply can’t take a superstore in the US and plant it in another country and expect that to be a successful strategy.”
If you want to know more about Massmart, check out Sagaci Research’s Massmart Retailer Profile