What Amazon's Layoffs & Walmart's Reorganization Tell Us About Leading Retail Organizations In The Future

When Amazon announced plans to cut 30,000 corporate jobs, nearly 10% of its white-collar workforce, CEO Andy Jassy attributed the decision to “culture” and “bureaucracy,” not AI or financial pressures. But is that the whole story? And what should retail executives learn from this historic restructuring?

In this week’s Retail Fast Five, brought to you by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, Chris Walton sits down with Jenn Hahn, Forbes Featured Founder & CEO of J Recruiting Services, to examine the week’s biggest retail headlines through the critical lens of talent strategy and organizational design. From Walmart’s leadership shakeup to Dollar General’s rural delivery battle with Amazon, Jenn and Chris discuss what these moves signal for retailers navigating AI transformation, workforce efficiency, and operational excellence.

Walmart Bets Big on Platforms with New Chief Growth Officer

Walmart kicked off the week with sweeping leadership changes as incoming President and CEO John Furner reorganized the company around AI-driven retail transformation. The most telling move? Elevating Seth Dallaire to Executive Vice President and Chief Growth Officer, overseeing Walmart Connect, Walmart+, Walmart Data Ventures, Vizio, and the global marketplace platform.

Jenn’s take cut through the corporate speak: “The part that stands out to me is that they’re freeing up operating segments to be more focused on and closer to the customer. This move says that staying focused on expanded platforms cannot come at the expense of understanding the customer and the clarity that operators need.”

The critical question: When should retailers create a Chief Growth Officer role? Jenn argues it makes sense only when you’re “ready to truly become two organizations,” i.e. the store footprint and the platform businesses. For retailers merely dabbling in retail media or marketplace, adding this layer creates unnecessary bureaucracy.

Amazon’s 30,000 Layoffs: Culture Crisis or Strategic Efficiency?

Amazon’s announcement of 30,000 corporate job cuts, split between 14,000 in October and roughly 16,000 this week, represents the largest layoff in the company’s three-decade history. While Jassy frames this as addressing bureaucracy and “layers,” the implications extend far beyond Amazon.

Jenn doesn’t mince words: “I think most organizations could cut 10% of their corporate teams and be more effective, more efficient, as long as it’s done really well.” But she quickly adds the critical caveat: “What I’ve seen go wrong is organizations making these cuts and saying AI can help, but instead of actually doing the work to create better budgets, better support, better tech, they’re giving them half-baked tech. Here’s ChatGPT. Now can you do six jobs?”

The wake-up call for retail executives? This isn’t just about Amazon. Every retail leader should be examining workplace efficiency and organizational design annually. But the key is pairing headcount reductions with genuine investment in enabling technology and strategic talent development.

The New Reality: All Retail Leaders Must Be Tech Leaders

Perhaps the most important insight from the conversation centers on the evolving definition of retail leadership. Jenn states it unequivocally: “All leaders in this industry are now tech leaders. We cannot have really strong operators that just don’t dabble with that. It’s just not the way you run business anymore.”

This manifests in hiring requirements Jenn sees daily. Clients aren’t just looking for category managers or operations leaders. They’re demanding executives who can identify AI solutions, demo new technologies, and drive implementation. “If I’m owning the business, if I’m owning marketing, I don’t want the IT team to tell me what I should explore,” Jenn explains. “I want to go out there, explore the options, bring back three that I’m interested in, then collaborate with IT to assess feasibility.”

The talent implication is stark: “If you put a C player in a seat with AI, you’re going to get F results. If you put an A player in a seat with the right AI, you’re going to get tremendous results.”

Dollar General vs. Amazon: The Rural Delivery Battle

While tech giants battle for urban supremacy, Dollar General quietly expanded its MyDG same-day delivery service to over 17,000 stores, directly targeting rural communities. With 75% of the US population living within five miles of a Dollar General store, the company is leveraging existing infrastructure rather than building from scratch like Amazon’s $6.4 billion rural expansion.

Jenn’s contrarian take? “I think Dollar General has a strong opportunity to win against Amazon in those rural communities.” The reasoning: local affinity and existing store footprint create advantages that Amazon’s logistics network can’t easily replicate. The challenge? Changing customer behavior to open the DG app instead of defaulting to Amazon.

From a talent perspective, Dollar General’s approach also sidesteps the workforce complexity of Amazon’s model. By using stores as fulfillment hubs rather than building dedicated delivery infrastructure, they avoid the “nuanced, expensive, inherent risk” of putting store employees on the road for deliveries.

Traditional Grocers Win the Lunch Daypart

Here’s a trend that’s accelerating: traditional grocers are claiming market share from quick-service restaurants in the lunch daypart. Placer.ai data shows grocery stores’ share of convenient lunch visits (11am-3pm) grew from 15.9% to 16.6% year-over-year, the largest increase among grocery formats.

Jenn confirms this isn’t just customer behavior shifting: “We have seen such an increase in clients looking for category leaders when it comes to ready-to-eat. They’re building or expanding central kitchens, expanding commissaries. Even when hiring food safety leaders or distribution leaders, this topic comes up.”

The opportunity extends beyond merchandising. Smart grocers are rethinking store layouts, seating areas, operational staffing patterns, and even technology investments like electronic shelf labels for intraday pricing on prepared foods. “This is really your opportunity to use your brick-and-mortar and create an experience,” Jenn notes. “That younger generation loves an experience.”

American Eagle’s $360 Million Lesson

American Eagle’s shutdown of Quiet Logistics, acquired for $360 million in 2021 as part of an “anti-Amazon logistics platform,” offers a cautionary tale about retail tech investments. After taking a $98.3 million impairment charge in 2024, the company confirmed Quiet will discontinue operations entirely.

Jenn’s advice for retailers considering similar plays? “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. I think you want to stay close to your core mission and your core audience.” For American Eagle, building a third-party logistics platform was too far outside their wheelhouse. “Go sell more jeans,” Jenn quips, capturing the essence of focus.

The lesson connects back to Walmart’s Chief Growth Officer discussion: only retailers with genuine platform differentiation should pursue these adjacent businesses. For everyone else, it’s a distraction from core operations.

What This Means for Retail Executives

The common thread through all these headlines? Retail leadership is fundamentally changing. Success requires:

Strategic Clarity: Know whether you’re building platforms or focusing on operational excellence. Don’t confuse the two.
Tech-Forward Leadership: Every executive must understand how AI and emerging technologies apply to their function. Waiting for IT to drive this is a recipe for mediocrity.
Talent Optimization: Organizations should regularly examine workforce efficiency, but must pair reductions with genuine technology enablement, not “half-baked tech.”
A Players with AI: The combination of top talent and proper AI implementation creates exponential results. C players with AI creates catastrophic results.

As Jenn concludes: “AI doesn’t replace people. It means your people should be more, more better, honestly, because you can do more with less.”