Cover Story: The Top Women in Cross-Channel Retail

Lana Cain Krauter, Senior Vice President, President, Sears Apparel
Lana Cain Krauter joined Sears as a senior vice president and president of its apparel unit on Feb. 1, 2011. Krauter is responsible for both in-store and online merchandising along with driving a comprehensive vision focused on product, the customer experience and multichannel initiatives. Krauter came to Sears Holdings from Bealls Department Stores, where she was president/chief merchandising officer. Prior to Bealls, Krauter was executive vice president/general merchandise manager of men’s and children’s apparel for J.C. Penney. She’s also held senior leadership positions at Goody’s Family Clothing and Sears, where she oversaw the women’s ready-to-wear fashions, intimate apparel, accessories and import teams.

• Tip: Customers engage with brands that create exciting and relevant experiences for them — integrated through all digital, mobile, social and traditional shopping channels. It always comes back to the first rule of business: Know your customer!

Nancy Kunkle, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience, ShopNBC
Nancy Kunkle is the senior vice president of customer experience at ShopNBC, a cross-channel retailer of fine jewelry, watches, premium beauty items, home products, computers and much more. Kunkle has a 25-year multichannel retail logistics background focused around project and program management and customer operations experience. She’s served as a strategic consultant for ShopNBC since April 2011 and currently oversees all aspects of the company’s customer experience program and customer service operations.

• Tip: The customer is at the heart of succeeding in cross-channel retailing. If you don’t deliver a great end-to-end customer experience, then no matter where you focus your energy and capital you won’t succeed.

Monica Luechtefeld, Executive Vice President, Global E-Commerce, Office Depot
Monica Luechtefeld is Office Depot’s executive vice president of global e-commerce. She oversees global e-commerce strategies and is responsible for driving over $4.1 billion in global internet sales for the office supplies retailer, including $1 billion in sales to small business customers. Luechtefeld has been with Office Depot for 20 years. She’s progressed steadily through the organization from vice president, marketing and sales administration to senior vice president, e-commerce to executive vice president, IT and business development to executive vice president, IT and supply chain.

• Tip: Customers must be at the center of the decision-making process. At Office Depot, our goal is to recognize and serve our customers across any channel they choose to shop, while ensuring our systems and operations support that experience.

Dani Nadel, Chief Digital Marketing Officer, Scholastic Book Clubs
Dani Nadel joined Scholastic Book Clubs in October 2011 as a senior member of the companywide team managing the digital transition of the children’s book retailer’s publishing and distribution. Nadel is responsible for the marketing and merchandising strategy for the launch of Scholastic’s children’s e-reading app later this year. She previously served as president at Publicis Modem, a full-service digital agency, where her clients included Hasbro, General Mills, SUBWAY, PayPal, among others.

• Tip: Always put the customer first. Go everywhere your customers go. Listen, experiment and share with them. Recognize the relationship and interdependencies between your channels in order to present one brand voice and a seamless customer experience.

Karen Quintos, Chief Marketing Officer, Dell
Karen Quintos leads brand strategy, corporate marketing and go-to-market initiatives for Dell’s Commercial Business Organization. Quintos is also the executive sponsor of the largest networking group at Dell, Women in Search of Excellence. Quintos previously held leadership roles in marketing, services, customer support and supply chain management at Dell. Prior to joining the company in 2000, she was vice president of global operations and technology for Citigroup. Before that Quintos spent 12 years with Merck. She’s a board member for the Association of National Advertisers, the Ad Council and Catalyst.

• Tip: It’s essential to understand your customers’ needs and use those insights to guide how you market and sell to them. Consumers will be loyal to those companies who can help them do and achieve more.