Grove Collaborative Names Zulily and Shopbop Alum New CEO
Sustainable CPG brand Grove Collaborative is making some major leadership changes to follow through on its vision for future growth and market expansion. Co-founder Stuart Landesberg is out as CEO and is being replaced by Jeff Yurcisin, who previously held CEO positions at Zulily and Shopbop and was a longtime Amazon executive.
Yurcisin will tap into his expertise leading DTC online brands to drive the mission-driven business into its next phase by building upon its Beyond Plastic initiative. He is tasked with driving “profitable growth rooted in sustainable product innovation, customer-centricity and market expansion initiatives and identifying new opportunities,” the company said in a statement.
This news follows Grove’s earnings results for Q2 2023, which ended June 30, 2023, and includes a 16.6% year-over-year drop in net revenue, which the company said was due to its reductions in advertising spend and focus on profitability. Although gross margin was down slightly, decreasing from 52.1% in Q1 to 51.9% in Q2, it was still a year-over-year improvement of 280 basis points.
Landesberg will now serve as Grove Collaborative’s Executive Chairman of the Board, overseeing strategy, capital markets and corporate development among other key initiatives. In a previous interview on the Retail Remix podcast, Landesberg shared how the brand had evolved from its initial founding in 2012 and how it was investing in brand, marketing efficiency and product innovation to uncover new revenue opportunities. In May 2023 the company launched Grove Wellness, a product hub that offered consumers personalized product recommendations, including third-party brands, based on their unique health and wellness needs.
“Over the last decade, we have built and scaled a market-leading brand in zero plastic and zero plastic waste, a breakthrough for the category, and helped millions of families live healthier and more sustainable lives,” said Landesberg in a statement. “I’m proud of the impact of our work on the broader industry and how we, together, create a more sustainable future at a time when change is so urgent.”
Landesberg noted that Yurcisin’s experience as a “customer-centric leader” will help Grove “push towards greater sustainable growth and impact.” This isn’t the first time Yurcisin has stepped into a founder’s shoes; he replaced the founders of both Zulily and Shopbop when he became CEO of both companies.
In addition to the CEO change, Grove Collaborative has onboarded Larry Cheng, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Volition Capital, to its board, and John Replogle, former CEO of Seventh Generation and Burt’s Bees, as Lead Independent Director. Volition recently invested $10 million in Grove Collaborative to help the brand pull “realistic and impactful growth levers,” including physical retail, Amazon and possible brand acquisitions.
