Walmart Chooses New Leader for Tech Incubator

Walmart's investment arm and tech startup incubator, Store No. 8, has a new person in charge. Scott Eckert, formerly of Bain Capital Ventures, replaces Lori Flees, who is the SVP of health and wellness at Walmart-owned Sam's Club. 

Since its inception in 2017, Store No. 8 has partnered with a number of retail startups and venture capitalists to find the next best thing in technology and improve its ecommerce strategy.

Walmart's Store No. 8, located in Califronia's Silicon Valley, has acquired both virtual reality startup Spatialand and text message shopping service Jetblack. 

“[Eckert] has a record of turning innovative ideas into successful businesses and building them to scale, either within large organizations or as stand-alone companies,” said Marc Lore, Walmart's head of U.S. ecommerce, according to Reuters. 

Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart operates more than 11,300 stores under 58 banners in 27 countries, as well as ecommerce websites, employing more than 2.2 million associates worldwide. The company is No. 1 on Progressive Grocer’s 2019 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States.