Albertsons makes 2 e-commerce hires

Albertsons Cos. announced it has hired two new executives with key experience in product and digital technology, respectively: Karl Varsanyi and Ramiya Iyer.

Varsani and Iyer will work under Albertsons’ SVP of digital marketing and e-commerce, Narayan Iyengar, who joined the company in January with a goal of expanding e-commerce to several new markets this year.

Varsani, who helped develop macys.com into one of the largest e-commerce sites in the U.S., joins Albertsons as group VP of digital product management. In this role Varsani will have responsibility for the digital experience — web, app and in-store — for all brands and locations. He is a customer experience leader with 16 years of practice in the digital retail and technology industries, most recently with Macy’s, where he was group VP of product management, strategy and experience.

Iyer, a former VP of e-commerce at Levi Strauss & Co., has joined Albertsons as the group VP of IT, digital and marketing/merchandising. She has a deep understanding of how digital technology is changing consumers' shopping behavior, and brings a unique combination of retail, technology and global leadership experience, the company said. Prior to her tenure as the VP of e-commerce at Levi's, she held various IT leadership roles at Walmart.com and SamsClub.com.

"After being relatively unaffected by digital for many years, the grocery industry is starting to see several parts of the customer journey being transformed by digital. In this context, we need to continue to enhance our digital capabilities, and Karl and Ramiya will play a key role in this journey," Iyengar said in a statement.

"The addition of these leaders with diverse and rich retail experiences will position us to accelerate our efforts to having a differentiated digital experience for our customers," added Anuj Dhanda, EVP and CIO.