METRO NYC – With more than 200 digital commerce searches each year, EcommerceRecruiter.com is the leading contingency-based executive search firm serving the Shop.org, Ad:Tech, and IR-500 communities. To opt-in to our popular “Ecommerce Job of the Day” email, click here. (Simply unsubscribe at the end of your job search.)
One of the coolest metro NYC ecommerce jobs around!
We are working with the Vitamin Shoppe in their search for a world-class Director of Customer Acquisition based in North Bergen, New Jersey.
HARRY’S COMMENTS: The Vitamin Shoppe is a specialty retailer with more than 700 stores selling a concentrated mix of wellness and health products – mostly vitamins and sports oriented energy supplements. Company Management firmly believes that today’s consumers have high expectations for a seamless customer experience across bricks and mortar, online, mobile, CRM, and even into Vitamin Shoppe’s own brands. In response, the firm has cultivated a very strong culture of customer service and product expertise driven by its best-in-industry team of health enthusiasts, resulting in a very high customer engagement level. See for yourself …
Vitamin Shoppe: Getting Better as People Age
The Vitamin Shoppe has benefited from strengthening consumer demand for items that can promote longevity and good health, and its growth has been underpinned by both a more fitness oriented Millennial generation plus a Boomer preoccupation with staying vital and productive.
The Boomer preoccupation with health could be a worldwide trend …
According to a report released by World Economic Forum, since 1950 the global share of people aged 60/up has increased from 8% to 10%. Yet in the next four decades, that figure is expected to balloon to 22% of the global population. Domestically, according to the US Census Bureau the number of individuals age 45/up is expected to increase by 14% to 138 million — a surge of 1.6x the overall U.S. population growth rate. And while I’m at it: The first person to live to be 150 is alive today …
The writing’s on the wall.
By focusing on meeting health and wellness needs beyond just pills and powders, The Vitamin Shoppe has enjoyed excellent sales growth in the last five years (up 61.4%). The resulting improvements in operating profit and cash flow have allowed the company to broaden its store network both at home and abroad — and its strong financial position will enable it to deliver on strong growth expectations going forward. There’s never been a better time to join this team.
About the Role
Reporting to the VP of Ecommerce, the Director of Customer Acquisition will set the strategy, manage and execute the ecommerce marketing plan as well as support digital goals for The Vitamin Shoppe stores. This role is a direct revenue generating position that will address any digital acquisition channel that has an associated marketing cost. Responsibilities include setting strategy, competitive positioning, staff management / development and P&L contribution management.
There will up to six FTE’s reporting to this position (including the Acquisition Manager, the Acquisition Specialist, and a Marketing coordinator) as well as management of several external agencies. The Director will have responsibility to develop the staff in their careers, and we’d expect you to have a thorough understanding of retail (both brick & mortar and ecommerce) plus a testing mindset that informs your team’s decisions.
Should you apply? As yourself …
- Have I worked in most of these channels on the client side and managed in-house teams? (If you’ve only worked in agencies, this probably isn’t the gig for you.)
- Am I highly analytical? (The Vitamin Shoppe does a ton of effectiveness testing, incrementality, and longitudinal analysis. Did I lose you? Keep going …)
- Do I have a very strong working knowledge of all channels: Google PLA, affiliate, display, SEO, SEM, retargeting, mobile, and MORE? Can I teach these things to others?
- Do I have some business development salt in my background and can I create new opportunities for growth?
If your answer to these questions was “YES,” then we should talk. We spent more than an hour on the phone with the Vitamin Shoppe’s VP of Ecommerce, asking tough questions about this role and taking copious notes the entire time. If you’d like a look at that intel (along with the 50+ pages of industry research we pulled for this role) — simply TEXT your name to Harry Joiner at (404) 281-2025.
View Harry Joiner’s profile
Responsibilities:
- Set strategy and deliver sales and profit results as it relates to digital marketing and new customer acquisition. This includes paid search, affiliate, display, retargeting, comparative shopping, PLA and paid social placements.
- Maintain responsibility for managing all emerging channels, emerging functions within existing channels and competitive positioning within both channels.
- Develop and help execute mentioned strategies to realize the following results: New customer acquisition; Related revenue goals; Related profitability goals
- Use knowledge and past experiences to help manage all programs at a detailed level and introduce tasks and processes to staff that achieve best results. This applies to whether we are using in-house or 3rd party resources.
- Collaborate with buyers and web merchandising team to make sure the firm’s product utilization in marketing channels is smart, accurate and reflects of the best products and values.
- Stay completely in-tune with the digital marketing landscape so The Vitamin Shoppe is on the front end of new marketing opportunities.
- Work with technology and web development to advance digital marketing by ensuring new marketing functionalities are planned and incorporated intelligently and cost effectively.
- Work closely with the SEO team to manage the most effective cross-channel strategy to acquire sales and efficiently manage costs.
- Maintain stellar relationships with all marketing partners/vendors and agencies used by The Vitamin Shoppe in order to achieve company goals and early adoption into new channels and betas.
- Advance the reporting capabilities of each channel and create a dashboard within each channel so the team clearly understands what performance metrics will help The Vitamin Shoppe win versus the competition.
- Use attribution management tools for better understanding and management of the interdependence of marketing channels.
- Stay current on industry and competitive landscape.
- Attend primary industry events.
- Stay close to solution shifts and all new technologies that apply in marketing channels
Other Functions:
- Attend, represent and potentially speak on behalf of Vitamin Shoppe at digital marketing events or conferences.
- At times travel to meet with vendors or 3rd parties we deal with.
Experience Required
- 8-10 years in digital marketing either working in an agency or working in the marketing department for an ecommerce retailer.
- Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Masters Degree in marketing or management desired
- Deep, hands on understanding of the following targeted channels and practices: Paid Search; Retargeting; Display; Shopping Engines / PLA; Affiliate; Marketplaces; Attribution, reporting, and channel management
- Ability to manage portions of a P&L for a marketing business segment.
- Ability to adjust tactics to achieve a specific return on ad spend.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Applications for this position are being coordinated by Allan Seibert. To apply, CLICK HERE. Candidates, please be sure to email Allan for additional information that will differentiate you in your candidacy. Due to the intensely competitive nature of this search, thorough preparation for these interviews with this proprietary material is strongly recommended.
