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HARRY’S COMMENTS: Some jobs are better than others, and this one may be the best. This position offers an opportunity to build one of the coolest lifestyle brands of the next ten years by marketing luxury resortwear throughout the United States and Brazil. Having worked in Rio de Janeiro for 10 months during B-school, I’m not sure that I could dream of a sweeter job. Your friends will be green with envy.
And yes, the client will actually PAY you six figures to do this.
We are working with ViX | Paula Hermanny in its search for a Director of Ecommerce based in sunny San Diego. ViX is a resortwear brand created by luxury designer Paula Hermanny. The product is of the very highest quality, and the company currently sells its merchandise in better department stores and boutiques in over 28 countries around the world.
ViX is an aspirational lifestyle which is brought to life through branded apparel. It’s all about beautiful stories, beautiful people, and beautiful scenery – all combined to showcase the highest quality luxury resort and swimwear imaginable. Check it out …
ViX’s customers range in age from 18 to the late 40s, and management is always shocked at the broad range of women who wear their product. Turns out, there are a lot of 40-something year old women who look fantastic in a bikini!
This is a clear cut case of people who care about the product serving customers who care about the product.
ViX and their clients: A marriage made in heaven.
The typical ViX client enjoys reading Vogue and In Style, she’s savvy, she’s happy to talk about ViX, and she knows she looks great when she’s wearing ViX. She’s also a careerist. She’s busy, and she knows what works: She wears Paula Hermanny’s designs because she knows she’s going to look like a million bucks in the product. Indeed, she wants to be noticed and she’s okay with people knowing that she made the investment …
None of this makes her superficial. It makes her comfortable in her own skin.
And now the $64 question: How does she buy ViX products? What’s her process for this? Honestly, management isn’t completely sure. Awareness starts at the grassroots level. The customer sees Paula Hermanny on a celebrity, and they might have seen people blog about the brand. Additionally, Paula Hermanny products are eye-catching, and these customers know it when they see it at a Bloomingdale’s.
But as the new Director of Ecommerce, it will be your job to understand what role online can play in building the customer’s relationship with the brand, both online and off. The job is about building customer intimacy, and whatever channel is most natural for the customer.
What that means is that you will need to develop world-class competencies in customer relationship management, customer care, and customer satisfaction measurement. In the words of Marshall Field …
“Customers always return to the place at which they have been proactively made to feel special.”
In other words, be prepared to make the ViX client feel special, both online and off – by any technologically enhanced means necessary.
Web design, online merchandising, personalization, and rich media will also be critically important in this role. Obviously, when one is building an aspirational lifestyle brand around beautiful women, technically excellent swimwear, and gorgeous beaches, merchandising and rich media will play prominent roles in the marketing mix.
ViX is incredibly serious about direct to consumer e-commerce given that the online channel will provide them with maximum control over their brand and allow them to extend their product line beyond swimwear.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Develop and execute the overall eCommerce business plan to maximize and sustain growth including achievement of sales, margin, and P&L goals.
- Develop and execute online merchandising strategies aligned with offline merchandising plans.
- Create and execute a vision and plan to deliver an exceptional user experience measured by financial results and key website metrics
- Collaborate and align with key business partners to develop the strategies driving ecommerce and updates on all critical initiatives.
- Manages objectives, deadlines, and execution of multiple simultaneous efforts within the eCommerce function, keeping the team up to date with progress and decisions
- Responsible for building and leading a high-performing eCommerce site while maintaining strong cross-functional relationships where needed.
- Support brand level initiatives around customer retention and conversion by providing effective multi-channel experiences for the ViX customer
- Directly responsible for strategic and day-to-day execution of all online business aspects including ecommerce sales, budget, promotions, and customer experience
- Meet financial objectives through annual budget preparation, forecasting, analyzing variances, and initiating corrective action
- Develop appropriate promotional and marketing strategies to drive the key metrics of the business, which includes traffic, conversion, sales and earnings, among other metrics
- Refine and define customer acquisition initiatives utilizing A/B split testing to ensure ongoing improvements
- Provide regular detailed updates to executive management team and to external partners
- Collaborate with technical teams/partners to achieve desired website functionality and user experience
- Strong functional understanding of the operational aspects of direct to consumer fulfillment
- Provide leadership in the execution of strategic plans proven experience working collaboratively across many functions and levels within an organization
- Understand digital landscape and how to translate that to increasing value of user experience and customer acquisition
JOB SPECIFICATIONS
- Outstanding financial and business insight with the ability to interpret results and recommend appropriate action
- Exceptional leadership and recruiting capabilities
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
- Outstanding customer service skills
- Strong independent decision-making, planning, and problem-solving skills
UPDATE: This search is now closed.
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