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We are working with Nisbets in their search for a US-based Ecommerce Manager. This is a home-based opportunity with a profitable, well run company, which is exceedingly rare. I’ve only seen a situation like this three times in my 9 year career.
Nisbets is one of the largest global foodservice equipment suppliers. With over 30 years of experience, servicing the foodservice industry, Nisbets has operations in the USA, Australia, UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Holland and Belgium, plus a worldwide export service.
The firm is committed to customer excellence with a full range of products and fantastic service. To continue its expansion in the USA Nisbets seeks an experienced ecommerce professional to spearhead its digital strategies and development.
HARRY’S COMMENTS: This is an entrepreneurially oriented, home-based career opportunity with a global company that’s serious about winning in the US market.
Nisbets has been selling food service supplies globally for 30 years. Its American division, Nisbets USA markets these products to a wide range of establishments, including restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels, caterers and commercial kitchens – as well as to professional chefs.
Located in Baltimore, Nisbets USA carries thousands of foodservice related products, including chefs knives, chef clothing, utensils, dinnerware and refrigeration, plus a wide range of cooking machines, from many leading brands ranging from; Dynamic, Buffalo, Rubbermaid to Olympia, Crocs, Polar, Sirman and Waring.
Nisbets Next Day Foodservice Equipment ships same day by 5:00pm to anywhere in the United States. Next Day Delivery is guaranteed in as many as five States, which include: New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, most of Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York City. Currently, Nisbets’ website is managed out of the United Kingdom.
U.S. ecommerce revenues are relatively low, but the market is massive:
The US restaurant industry includes about 550,000 restaurants with combined annual revenue of more than $400 billion. The US food service contracting industry includes about 3,000 companies with combined annual revenue of about $35 billion. And the US hotel, motel, and resort industry consists of about 40,000 companies that operate about 50,000 properties with combined annual revenue of about $130 billion.
THIS IS YOUR CUSTOMER …
100% of Nisbets’ US sales are to end-users.
At each one of these establishments, imagine a team of food service professionals busily gearing up for the next service occasion, be it breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a special occasion such as a party. It’s during these times when, for example, a commercial mixer breaks and it needs to be replaced urgently. If the mixer is needed immediately, the head chef will either borrow one or improvise. If it’s not Next Day and Two-Day delivery will suffice, then very often these operators will buy the product online. But food service is a rather low-margin business, and food service operators are known to be price shoppers.
This is not necessarily bad news for Nisbets.
Nisbets total global portfolio of products numbers ~20,000 and in the US, it sells ~2,000. More than 40% of Nesbits’ sales involve its very strong portfolio of proprietary brands for which Nisbets has complete control over a vertically integrated international supply chain. So what you have here is company with favorable underlying economics selling to a vast, reachable, highly-segmented market of end users who are genetically coded to price shop.
Given that Nisbets competitors (of which there are many) may see this job posting once Google spiders it, there’s a limit to what I’ll disclose here about their plans. However, during my kickoff call, the hiring manager addressed questions such as …
- What are the two or three levers that, if pulled right, would really turn Nisbets’ online business?
- In the eyes of your best ecommerce customers, what is Nisbets doing right that it should do more of?
- What does your firm have online that nobody else has?
- In the eyes of your best ecommerce customers, what is nobody in your competitive sandbox doing that somebody should do immediately?
In other words, between answers to these (and other good) questions and the usual laundry list of 40 functional areas of ecommerce the client deems to be Critical, Important, or Not Important for the new hire in the next 12 months, I am heavily armed with information that I can share with qualified candidates about this role.
Just remember: I have a long, personal track record with this industry and I would not have taken the search if I did not think it was possible for the candidate to win in this competitive space. Although the foodservice supply trade is intensely competitive, Nisbets has a sizable portfolio of proprietary brands and its international supply chain is vertically integrated, thereby removing huge costs from its system.
For you, the online marketer, that’s like bringing a gun to a knife fight.
And more good news: End-users are now trained to buy these products online. You don’t have to train the buyers. They are already trained. All you have to do is sell to them the way they already buy.
Major Responsibilities
Responsibilities include developing and recommending the short and long-term online strategies that support the organization’s marketing objectives for growth, revenue, profit, customer file development, and brand awareness; and developing and managing all operating budgets for emarketing, and partnership efforts.
The candidate should incorporate aspects of technology, product offer and marketing tools at the same time into Nisbets ecommerce strategy. The ideal candidate will have solid, proven experience in ecommerce activities with a minimum of 7 years’ experience in a similar role. As Nisbets is in a startup mode, the firm seeks an individual who is a self-starter and self-motivator.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Responsible for all areas of Nisbets US ecommerce business including sales, budget, promotions, digital marketing and customer experience.
- Develop, implement and direct plans against a defined set of key ecommerce performance metrics.
- Work closely with Global Website Development and Design teams to continually enhance the user experience and increase ecommerce conversion and traffic.
- Execute online sales strategy, benchmarking, and measurement in order to increase site conversion, as well as to help build a culture of continuous improvement and constant testing.
- Work cross-functionally to implement direct customer acquisition and retention operating strategies including search engine optimization, online advertising, customer contact, and emerging technologies.
- Work closely with internal marketing resources to develop internet marketing strategies for increased Brand and Retail level promotions and integration
- Provide monthly and quarterly performance reports, projections and reviews on all key performance metrics
- Managing and continually extracting incremental strategic or tactical value from direct relationships with Global Team
- Managing cross-functional relationships and coordinating efforts with Merchandising and Planning and other internal teams to achieve greater clarity around goals, implementation of campaigns and promotions, and measurements of success.
- Oversee effective web merchandising to increase AOV, cross-sell, and up sell
- Experience with the development, launch and marketing of mobile solutions
- Utilize analytics and Web metrics to run and analyze reports to gauge how US site is performing. Track and analyze all Web visits, customer interactions, page views, conversions and other Key Performance Indicators including traffic, conversion and revenue.
- Oversee daily, weekly and monthly reporting.
- Build and maintain key relationships with cross functional team members
Qualifications
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required:
- Minimum of 7 years of experience in e-commerce and online marketing
- Minimum 7 years developing, driving, and implementing ecommerce strategies to achieve goals
- Ability to work independently and synthesize large amounts of data while meeting deadlines
- Demonstrated analytical capabilities including the ability to analyze and report on data
- Demonstrated experience in quickly learning new technologies and complex processes
- Strong attention to detail, excellent organizational skills
- Proven ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously; Self-starter approach to work, with an eagerness to consistently meet and exceed objectives and take on more responsibility
- Ability to perform budget management and forecasting
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
UPDATE: THIS SEARCH IS CLOSED.
