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One of the coolest marketing jobs around!
We are working with Essilor in their search for a Marketing Director for FramesDirect fashion eyewear based in Austin, Texas. Essilor is the leading manufacturer of prescription lenses worldwide.
HARRY’S COMMENTS: FramesDirect is a (PROFITABLE) pure play. Remember those? They’re the online retailers with no brick-and-mortar stores and no omnichannel component. Like Amazon. Despite the incessant buzz about omnichannel, there are really smart people out there who question the merits of an omnichannel strategy, and I can see their point. If you don’t have stores, then you have nothing weighing you down.
If you do have stores, you’ll have to reinvent yourself.
Searches like this are my favorite because pure play online retailers usually have a very strong “sense of self.” They know what their business is about, who their business is for, and why — exactly — their target customer should choose to do business with them versus every available option, including doing nothing.
Such is the case with FramesDirect, online purveyor of the world’s finest prescription eyewear. Founded by two optometrists, Dr. Guy Hodgson and Dr. Dhavid (yep, Dhavid with an “h”) Cooper, who ran a chain of successful optometry practices in Houston Texas, FramesDirect was founded on the premise that patients want a broader selection of better eyewear at lower prices than could be offered in brick-and-mortar stores.
Their timing was perfect.
FramesDirect launched in 1996 and was the first company to sell eyewear online. Later, the firm became the first company to sell progressive lenses online as a result of the groundbreaking innovation its founders were introducing. Today, FramesDirect is committed to using only the highest quality lenses, providing world-class customer service, offering the best selection of premium brand eyewear, and selling their merchandise at the lowest possible price without sacrificing quality.
As you can imagine, the market for eyewear is massive.
While I can’t give you the exact size of the US market for prescription eyewear, I can offer some proxies. In the United States there are roughly 20,000 optometrist offices with a combined revenue of $12 billion. I’ve recruited for Luxottica, and I’ve heard eyewear market size estimates as high as $20 billion. That’s $63 for every person in America (including babies!).
75% of adults in the US wear some type of vision correction.
Demand for eyeglasses is driven by demographics, and the aging of the US population increases demand for eye exams and eyeglasses every year. Consider this: Boomers number nearly 80 million and make up 26% of the US population. Roughly one in 4 consumers is a Boomer, and every day for the next 18 years, 8,000 Boomers will reach age 65. Most of ’em will need prescription eyewear.
It gets better: Nearly 40% of Boomers are affluent and can afford to maintain a trend-right appearance. And while Boomers are by no means the only demographic to which FramesDirect sells, it’s nice to know that there’s an extraordinary volume of business to be done with the Boomer cohort, where the opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell frames and lenses is enormous.
About the Role
Reporting to FramesDirect’s VP of Ecommerce, this position has P&L oversight for FramesDirect.com. You’ll collaborate with the firm’s Design; Analytics; Front End Development; Back End Development; and Customer Service teams, and you’ll have direct oversight over many key digital marketing programs. Which programs you manage will depend on your background and experience.
Online retailing is not for everybody.
To win in this role, you will need a strong functional background in DTC ecommerce. Ideally, we’re looking for someone who has retail marketing DNA. Essilor tends to promote resilient, business-oriented A-players who are excited to come to work every day and get stuff done. It’s not the kind of place where you can just go through the motions.
Also: You’ll need very strong Excel chops given that modern etail is more science and art and its future runs on data: Collecting it … accessing it … analyzing it … and leveraging it. You’ll need to be great at all of these things since FramesDirect’s management understands what fully evolved marketing automation can mean for the brand, long term.
As usual, my team and I have a monster amount of intel to share with highly qualified candidates about this role. If you’re interested in this position, you definitely don’t want to apply without this information. Simply text “[your name] + Frames Direct” to 404-281-2025. Or, simply apply for the position at the bottom of the page. Either way, we look forward to chatting with you about this great opportunity!
View Harry Joiner’s profile
Specific Responsibilities:
- Manage the annual marketing planning process. Top down, bottom up and reconciliation of revenue and marketing spend by channel and month.
- Ownership of the marketing budget. Ongoing oversight and management of monthly marketing spend by channel. Constant monitoring of ROAS and ROI performance against established goals.
- Plan and coordinate execution of quarterly and monthly marketing calendar across all marketing vehicles- Digital Marketing; On Site; Social Media; Customer Loyalty/Referral Programs; and Print.
- Oversee Customer Acquisition and Retention programs. (Cost per new customer and NTV; Oversight of customer loyalty and referral programs; Customer retention rates and strategies to improve)
- Work closely with Vice President Ecommerce on strategic roadmap and prioritization of Marketing Initiatives and Tactics.
- Deliver KPI’s such as Visits; Session Conversion; Revenue per Visit; ROAS; Revenue; and EBIDTA.
- Drive ongoing process of site optimization and oversee creation, development, testing and implementation of projects.
- Lead a team of 3 to 5 comprised primarily of Marketing Program Managers.
- Management of brand assets, both Frames Direct and Designer, and deployment on site and across Marketing Programs.
- Management of vendor co-op funds and creation of semi-annual print catalog. Also oversight of other customer facing printed materials.
- Management of vendor RFP process, negotiations and onboarding.
- Lead monthly marketing review with COO.
- Collaborative engagement with Marketing counterparts at Essilor of America and other Essilor Ecommerce Global Business units to ensure seamless execution of broader corporate strategies.
Core Competencies and Skills:
- High level of proficiency in Excel including pivot table and Vlookup.
- Strong project management skills
- Understanding of customer data and how it can best be structured and utilized for marketing automation.
- Strong conceptual understanding and basic working ability in Google Analytics or similar analytics platform.
- Working knowledge of Google Merchant Center and Ad Words
- Exceptional verbal and written communication skills utilizing tools such as Power Point.
- Intellectual curiosity. Never ending desire to learn new Ecommerce capabilities and tactics.
- Self-starter with a strong work ethic.
- Testing experience, both user testing and A/B Multivariate testing preferred.
Requirements:
- Background in Direct to Consumer marketing
- 7+ years of experience and a track record of success in either Ecommerce (conversion optimization marketing) and/or Digital Marketing.
- Prior experience managing direct report(s).
- Bachelors degree in relevant field.
Preferred:
- Retail DNA, transactional ecommerce experience.
- Eyewear industry experience a plus.
- MBA
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.
