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This is one of the coolest Ecommerce Director jobs around!
We are working with Healthy Directions in their search for an Executive Director of Ecommerce based in Potomac, MD. The firm needs an exceptional Director of Ecommerce with “macro-to-micro” versatility; a strategic mindset coupled with a keen attention to detail, and an ability to execute.
The Executive Director will be responsible for online merchandising, conversion optimization, site operations, and email operations. S/he will also oversee a team responsible for the day-to-day online operations relating to ecommerce with oversight responsibility for operating metrics and key performance drivers such as conversion, opt-ins, average order, units per order, and continuity take rate.
In this role, the Executive Director will also work across various teams (offline marketing and corporate merchandising) to create a branded online experience for Healthy Directions and its 3 doctor websites that is not only representative of the customer’s offline experience, but takes the engagement to the next level by understanding the needs and expectations of the online, multi-channel and offline customer.
The Executive Director will interface with the product-related teams to understand upcoming product innovations and services so that they may be thoughtfully integrated into the online launch process as they are unveiled into the marketplace. The new Director must have the ability to work with Digital Marketing programs (internal staff and partners) for successful integration and program development to be coordinated into the site for deeper consumer engagement.
This Director of Ecommerce job will report directly to the Vice President of Online Marketing and manage a 5-person team. S/he will work closely with the internal IT team, Creative, Production, and Customer Service.
HARRY’S COMMENTS: Healthy Directions markets alternative health solutions to the 60+ segment of the market. Their products are supported by world-class science and research, and they tend to be health condition based – developed to prevent or alleviate the symptoms of specific maladies.
Healthy Directions is one of the most experienced players in the nutrition industry’s vast direct mail channel, and the firm reaches its key customers through high-quality magalog and newsletter marketing. Additionally, Healthy Directions maintains a strong product development capability, and the Doctors (like Dr. Aaron Tabor, seen below) who endorse the firm’s brands have been featured in numerous popular media outlets including Huffington Post, CNN, InStyle magazine, and Shape magazine.
The 60+ market is a gold mine.
At 80 million strong, Americans born between 1946 and 1964 make up 26% of the US population. Roughly 1 in 4 consumers is a Boomer, and every day for the next 18 years 10,000 Boomers will reach the age 65. 40% of Boomers are considered affluent with median household incomes of $140,000. 46% of this group have net worth exceeding $2 million. This puts the number of affluent Boomers at approximately 25,000,000.
For firm’s that market to this demographic, it’s important to know that Boomers see themselves differently than everyone else sees them. According to the 2010 Del Webb Baby Boomer Survey …
- Boomers set the benchmark of old age at 80 (!!), and there is considerable distance between their chronological age and the age they identify with, which is 15 years younger.
- More than 50% of Boomers say they exercise regularly, and many feel they are in better shape now than they were some years ago.
- Many Boomers, especially younger Boomers, are extremely skeptical of government benefits being available when they become seniors.
- 72% of Boomers intend to keep working past the classic retirement age of 65.
Boomers are focused on maintaining their health, which makes this market very attractive to competitors of all shapes and sizes. The US health supplement retail industry includes 5,000 companies operating ~10,000 stores with combined annual sales of approximately $6 billion. As a Healthy Directions ecommerce executive, that’s what you’re up against.
I’m a little conflicted about what information to share here.
My kickoff call notes from my calls with Healthy Direction’s CMO and VP of Ecommerce are 4,000 words. The firm has robust organic and paid search programs, and its email, affiliate, third-party marketplace and display channels show promise. Additionally, the firm has begun to experiment with product-specific microsites.
Healthy Directions’ ecommerce platform, which is co-managed by its trusted partner WebLinc, is vital to the firm’s success — so it’s essential that the new Director have deep experience in driving projects from conception to completion.
But the challenge for Healthy Direction’s ecommerce business is that Boomers aren’t the most fervent online shoppers — at least not in comparison to their appetite to buy through direct mail. Don’t get me wrong; Healthy Directions has a very sizable online business. And it’s growing all the time.
But they’ve only scratched the surface.
In this Director of Ecommerce job, you must put on the mind of a 65 year old. From a usability and merchandising standpoint, this role is all about ensuring that the experience on all of Healthy Directions’ digital assets are free of any friction for the firm’s target customer. Ideally, we would like the new Director of E-commerce to have a teachable point of view on how to …
- Improve the website to capture seniors’ attention, in both the layout and content areas
- Better site search design that makes finding information easy
- Tweak navigation for users who may have diminished cognitive and motor skills.
- Improve text and styles that accommodate people’s diminished eyesight
- Make finding and buying items simple for seniors
- And more.
Naturally, all of this will require extensive testing and a deeply analytical bias towards marketing. But again, it’s worth it: Boomers control 70% of America’s disposable income, and it’s not like they are Luddites, either: 41% of Boomers use Apple computers!
View Harry Joiner’s profileQUALIFICATIONS:
- Must have proven track record of 10+year’s database, direct and online marketing including at least 5-7 years in e-commerce. Catalog experience preferred.
- Must be able to translate company brand and multi-channel marketing vision to the online channel and execute strategies that lead the company consistently towards the vision.
- Strong skills in strategy and planning, budget and P&L management, merchandising and marketing, and vendor selection and management.
- Proven leadership and team management skills derived from having direct responsibility for building and managing a cohesive, high-performing ecommerce team.
- Ability to identify, communicate and inspire an organization around the next generation of ecommerce experience to dramatically grow the business, and be able to work through tough issues and overcome challenges while maintaining good relationships.
- Must be a creative thinker and problem solver, thrive in fast paced environment, prioritize and oversee multiple projects at once, have attention to detail and work well with cross functional teams.
- Experience with ecommerce functional development lifecycle process, financial benefit rationalization, website usability principles, and mobile and social media platforms.
- Big picture thinker and experience in a dynamic, high-growth environment.
- Must possess excellent creative, organizational, verbal and written communication skills.
- Strong analytical and project management skills with the ability to handle multiple priorities.
- MBA preferred.
UPDATE: THIS SEARCH IS CLOSED.
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