After being thrust into the global spotlight earlier this year, GameStop gained a much-needed second wind to fight for its place in today's rapidly evolving retail landscape. As the world enters an e-commerce era that has not been too kind to brick-and-mortar businesses, the video game retailer is now determined to make the transition to online sales in hopes that it can compete with large-scale companies like Target Corp and Walmart Inc.
Just this week, GameStop announced that it has appointed a new chief growth officer to assist with the new initiative. Elliott Wilke, a former Amazon.com exec who has seven years of experience overseeing Amazon Fresh Stores, will now command the growth strategies and marketing at GameStop. He joins two other former Amazon.com execs who GameStop has also recently brought on board—Jenna Owens, the new Chief Operating Officer, and Matt Francis, the company's first-ever Chief Technology Officer.
Owens previously managed multi-channel fulfillment and distribution at Amazon, while Francis led the engineering team at Amazon Web Services. Along with Wilke, they represent the new heads at GameStop and will be responsible for the company's overall transformation.
Additionally, GameStop has hired Tom Petersen and Andrea Wolfe as its new vice presidents of brand development and merchandising, respectively. Both Petersen and Wolfe previously worked at pet food company Chewy in similar roles.
Upon announcement of the company's restructuring, GameStop's share price jumped once again on Tuesday, climbing by more than 8% to around $195 (though it has since dropped back down to $188). Jim Cramer, the Wall Street celebrity known for his Mad Money segment on CNBC, took to Twitter to praise the company, saying he was impressed by the measures they've taken to stay competitive.
"GameStop [is] putting together a dream team... Really impressive. They must have a plan that is not what we see now," he tweeted.
