Dive Brief:
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Target IT executive Alan Wizemann is leaving the company to pursue entrepreneurial projects, Re/Code reports.
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Wizemann has been working for Target since he came on as a consultant three years ago, and has made his mark there with his highly successful Cartwheel coupon app amid surging e-commerce sales.
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Few are shocked by his moving on, according to Re/Code’s reporting, because of his entrepreneurial spirit and because he never left Portland, OR, for Target’s Minneapolis headquarters.
Dive Insight:
Wizemann may have been getting antsy at Target; his experience seeing a tiny startup, Shopigniter, through impressive funding rounds and eventually a sale, was likely a more exciting, if riskier, proposition. It’s not a surprise when a risk-tolerant entrepreneur leaves corporate confines to hunt out the next big thing.
Not that Target hasn’t been welcoming, and the retailer has definitely developed some strong innovation muscle. Wizemann is leaving Target with some digital sales momentum, and, presumably, a team that will continue to be innovative.
That Cartwheel app has garnered accolades and has helped boost digital sales some 38% in Q1 (as did the retailer’s move to cut its free shipping minimum to $25). But Target does have a ways to go; its digital sales were just 2.8% of total Q1 revenue.