Dive Brief:

• Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is shaking up its executive food team in an effort to bring in more shoppers, the company said Friday in an internal memo.

• The retailer's grocery executive vice president, Jack Sinclair, will retire March 20, and senior vice president Tony Airoso, who manages dairy and fresh food, will become SVP of global food sourcing. Carmen Bauza, SVP of health and wellness, will also oversee household chemicals, paper goods, and baby products. Debra Layton, SVP of layouts and space productivity, will take over Wal-Mart’s Better Buying initiative, the company’s purchasing strategy group.

• In another memo, the retailer said that Chuck Tilmon, currently a vice president of global food sourcing, will become VP of fresh merchandise strategy; Tyler Lehr (now VP of frozen foods) will take over dairy, and Megan Crozier (now a frozen food executive) will replace Lehr.

Dive Insight:

This shakeup at Wal-Mart reveals how important food has become to the retailer, as it follows similar shuffles in December. Wal-Mart must deal with perceptions that its food quality doesn’t compete adequately with other grocery stores, with food-stamp cuts, and with increasing food supply costs.

While food has lower margins, it brings people into stores, Brian Yarbrough Edward Jones analyst says.

“Food is a big part of what Wal-Mart has become,” Yarbrough said. “It is a big traffic driver… you hope to sell more discretionary items while people are in there. That’s key for the longer term.”