Amazon executive overseeing brick-and-mortar store push departs the company
The Amazon Go grocery store at the Amazon corporate headquarters in Seattle, Washington.
David Ryder / Stringer | Getty Images
Amazon recently lost a high-profile executive who oversaw the company’s growing brick-and-mortar division.
Cameron Janes, Amazon’s vice president of physical retail, left the company on Tuesday, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“After 14+ years today is my last day at Amazon,” Janes wrote in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday. “The experiences and opportunities Amazon has provided me have been nothing short of life-changing.”
Amazon confirmed Janes’ departure.
Janes held roles across a number of divisions during his tenure at Amazon, including overseeing teams for the Prime Video streaming service, the Kindle e-reader and the ill-fated Fire phone. Janes helped launch Amazon’s chain of brick-and-mortar bookstores before he began managing the bulk of the company’s physical retail offerings.
Janes was in charge of day-to-day operations of Amazon’s cashierless Go stores, along with the technology powering those stores, called “Just Walk Out,” which the company has installed in its Fresh supermarkets and at some Whole Foods locations. Amazon now sells the cashierless technology to third-party retailers, allowing it to scale beyond Amazon’s own physical retail footprint.
Janes reported directly to Dilip Kumar, Amazon’s vice president of physical retail and technology, who developed and launched Amazon’s Go stores and cashierless technology, and also oversees Amazon’s experimental grocery technology, such as its Dash smart cart and palm-print scanners.
It’s unclear where Janes is headed next. He’s also not the only high-profile executive to depart from Amazon’s grocery division in recent months. Wei Gao, who served as Amazon’s vice president of grocery tech, product and supply chain, departed for London-based online events start-up Hopin in August.
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