Massmart appoints former Amazon manager as head of e-commerce

Massmart, the owner of Game stores and Makro, has appointed Srividya Pandya as its new head of ecommerce, effective from the 1st of November 2023.

Pandya has been part of the Massmart family, but she was with the parent company Walmart, serving as vice president of strategic integration for Walmart US. She also headed the company’s global omnichannel efforts.

Before she joined Walmart, she consulted and worked at several ecommerce organisations, including Amazon, where she was senior fashion vendor manager.

Massmart CEO Jonathan Molapo expressed great appreciation for the company’s access to Walmart’s global retail expertise following the appointment of a new executive. Molapo highlighted the significant impact of this collaboration on their ecommerce endeavors, resulting in substantial enhancements to the company’s overall ecommerce capabilities.

The recent appointment of Pandya follows the conclusion of a three-year secondment of Sylvestor John, who joined Massmart from Walmart US, where he had responsibilities related to last-mile delivery.

During his tenure since November 2020, John played a pivotal role in driving improvements in Massmart’s online shopping experiences across its brands, including Makro, Game, and Builders. Notable achievements under his leadership included the introduction of a dedicated Makro shopping app for mobile devices and the launch of a customized Makro business-to-business website.

Furthermore, John oversaw the acquisitions of OneCart and Wumdrop, which facilitated the implementation of a next-day pickup option and a reduction in delivery lead times for Makro and Game customers. As a result, Massmart significantly reduced its typical order lead time from 7 days to just two days for more than 85% of orders.

Walmart’s support extended to Massmart’s efforts in these areas, with the contribution of around 300 full-time Massmart technologists based at Walmart’s Tech Development Centre in Bangalore, India.