Walmart-Flipkart signs on Unilever executive Vikas Gupta as marketing chief

Walmart-owned ecommerce marketplace Flipkart has appointed former Unilever executive Vikas Gupta as head of marketing.

At Unilever, Gupta was general manager at the consumer goods giant’s home care division. An alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, Gupta started his career at the company as a management trainee in 1998 and served in various roles before moving to Flipkart.

“Vikas (Gupta) is joining Flipkart as head of marketing. He is joining us after a long and successful stint in Unilever where he has worked in multiple countries and in various functions. He is relocating from Jakarta, Indonesia,” a Flipkart spokesperson said.

According to media reports, Gupta will be reporting to Anil Goteti, senior vice president at Flipkart.

Flipkart has been beefing up its top-level management after being acquired by Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail giant Walmart early last year.

Most recently, it recruited Dina Dsouza as director - monetisation (Flipkart Ads) last month, several media reports said.

Prior to that, in January, the company had promoted Rishi Vasudev to head Myntra-Jabong's fashion and lifestyle categories following the departure of the fashion portal’s CEO Ananth Narayanan.

Last year in December, Flipkart had undertaken a top-level rejig across its business verticals. Also, last year in November, Flipkart had appointed former Sony Pictures executive  Smriti Krishna Singh as its new  chief human resources officer, filling a position that has been vacant for 18 months.