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We are working with Jarden Consumer Solutions in their search for a VP of Digital Merchandising based in Boca Raton, FL. Jarden CS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jarden Corporation (NYSE:JAH), is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer products. With more than 6,000 employees in 15 countries, the firm is committed to a set of core values that emphasize integrity, community service and entrepreneurship.
HARRY’S COMMENTS: You know this company. Or at least you know its brands: Mr. Coffee, Sunbeam, Crock Pot, and many more. These are some of the best-loved brands in American business, and you can see all of the company’s domains at Jarden.com.
The company has a direct marketing division for Jarden Consumer Solutions, which includes Mr. Coffee, Foodsaver, Bionaire, Margaritaville, and 15+ other consumer brands. Additionally, Jarden Corporate operates a number of sporting goods brands, including K2, Coleman, Marmot, and Pure Fishing. Fans of this website may recall that we closed a search for Pure Fishing last year.
Check out this ad for Crock Pot. Who doesn’t need a Crock Pot, for heaven’s sake?
For the past 8 years, Jarden Consumer Solutions has been building the internal capability around selling directly to consumers. This started with the acquisition of the FoodSaver business, which at the time combined DRTV and email as part of its direct marketing efforts.
In 2007, Jarden recruited a rock star VP of Digital Commerce from Victoria’s Secret to build up the fundamentals beyond infomercial marketing and basic blocking and tackling for search and email. This individual (who’s moving on for personal reasons) brought a deep knowledge of analytics plus how to craft highly effective product offers. Additionally, he oversaw global digital strategy, executing websites in multiple languages and launching DTC businesses in Canada, South America, Asia, and Europe. Apart from those successes, he was instrumental in building out a network of partners and services that positioned Jarden for substantial ecommerce growth.
Although this role will be somewhat different from the one he held, a great foundation has been laid.
With so many brands and so much potential, it’s easy to see why Jarden operates its ecommerce piece as a shared service. Responsibility for all sales resides within individual business units which set strategy and execute programs. Today, the company expects all of its functional heads the leaders in terms of their ability to educate individual Jarden businesses on best practices.
Such best practices would not only include the latest ecommerce merchandising in customer acquisition concepts, but also the most effective methods for selling through channel partners like Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Going forward, Jarden’s ecommerce business will be run like a world-class service organization.
Accordingly, the ideal candidate will have worked in a matrixed organization and understand how to influence decision-making while still leading the development of the function and educating the organization. You will be a doer and a teacher, and you’ll need to be politically savvy without being a political animal.
There’s nothing wrong with this. It is what it is.
Jarden is broken up into 5 SBU’s: Appliances; Personal comfort and wellness; Latin America; Europe; and Hong Kong, which includes Asia and Australia. Each of these businesses leverages digital at different levels of competency. The Appliance SBU is incredibly advanced, as are Jarden’s food and air conditioning businesses. There’s constant digital activity in these businesses, whether it’s with email, social media, search, or affiliate. Some SBU’s make use of short form DRTV and direct mail, while others are more focused on brick-and-mortar channels.
Each SBU is different, so their use of digital varies. Naturally.
But in every case, it’s your job to help each SBU understand how digital will grow their business in a way that is pie enlarging (rather than pie rearranging). As a partner, it will be your job to understand each SBU’s go-to-market strategy and how the SBU can use digital best practices to remove friction from how the customer buys.
Bring your imagination! But remember:
Even though Jarden is moving sales into the SBU’s, the company still has a performance driven culture. Meaning, the new VP will need to function as if s/he had full accountability within each SBU while driving increased adoption of multichannel ecommerce best practices. It would not hurt to be somewhat outspoken, as you will need to be an evangelist. But “outspoken” is not the same as obnoxious.
In this case, being outspoken means having a teachable point of view on ecommerce best practices and making sure that each SBU understands what’s in it for them should they leverage these methods and technologies. It’s all about being hard on the issues and soft on the people.
Scope and Responsibilities
- Define and execute global digital commerce strategy in collaboration with SBUs, including platform and channel strategy, to build and grow e-commerce business to industry leading position, in alignment with SBU objectives
- Define and execute the multi-channel strategic vision to effectively position the company’s products and services online, optimize product assortment, and continually integrate dynamic programs, promotions and solutions that deliver revenue and profit goals and SBU objectives
- Collaborate with SBUs, Consumer Marketing, Brand and IT teams to develop winning ecommerce strategies; evaluate and integrate global best practices / models; and create and oversee platform / site functionality, content, look & feel, and monetization strategies within all channels of customer engagement (in store, on-line, smartphone, iPod/iPad, social platforms, etc.)
- Accountable to develop and execute programs to effectively achieve sales, margin, SG&A and profit goals and objectives of SBUs
- Partner with SBUs and Consumer Marketing to develop new opportunities / promotions to drive traffic, conversion and customer engagement with JCS brands
- Integrate digital commerce perspective into key business processes – SBU strategic / marketing / budget planning, brand planning, GLRP, etc.
- Build and lead a best-in-class organization of talented digital professionals who have a passion for innovation, experience collaborating with cross functional business partners, and the ability to help scale a profitable business
- Develop and implement effective CRM strategy
- Lead the assessment, recommendation and implementation of various digital tools and infrastructure to support digital sales and CRM
- Seek out, interpret and share key trends in e-commerce to drive necessary focus, improvements and innovation for growth
- Develop and ensure that DSM (distribution, pricing, shelving merchandising) and Digital Shelf are executed well across all businesses, working with SBU, Marketing and Brand leaders
- Establish digital commerce metrics / KPIs working with SBUs to track and ensure progress against goals
- Mentor the JCS organization in digital sales and merchandising tactics / programs / capabilities and transfer learning throughout the organization
- Introduce expert network of external resources and best-in-class business partners to advance the skills, capabilities and effectiveness of JCS programs
- Identify, develop and train the organization in required business processes and work flow for efficient campaign management
- Drive ongoing maintenance of all JCS web sites and JCS sponsored sites (such as e-bay site)
Key Skills
- Outstanding financial and business acumen with the ability to interpret results and recommend appropriate action
- Results-oriented with proven accountability and successful delivery of financial performance
- Ability to innovate and lead change through visionary thinking, strategic leadership and tactical execution
- Tremendous curiosity and drive towards “what’s next”, the ability to anticipate trends
- Deep understanding of where the digital world and profit pools are migrating to in the future in terms of products and services
- Expert computer / digital skills including experience with web technologies, web programming languages, web page design / layout and web site performance measurement
- Experience and demonstrated effectiveness working within a matrix environment
- Exceptional collaboration skills and proven ability to influence internal partners
- Proven and effective leader able to motivate, mentor and promote a team
- Proven ability to mentor, train & educate a broad organization at all levels
- Excellent interpersonal, communication, negotiation and project management skills
- Strong entrepreneurial spirit with a proactive approach
- Demonstrated sound judgment and risk taking
- Operates under the highest ethical standards demonstrating uncompromising honesty and integrity
Experience
- Experienced shared service leader in digital merchandising or marketing
- Demonstrated track record for growing, evolving and leading high volume businesses and achieving bottom line results through key digital channels / partners
- Experience in an multi-channel environment, understanding the dynamics between retail and digital merchants and their co-existence
- Experience in a variety of direct selling tactics, including DRTV, infomercial, email, search, direct mail, progressive and dynamic offers, and other direct marketing tactics utilizing best practices
- Demonstrated leadership capability in recruiting and retaining a top performing team
- Ability to adapt and thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with the ability to effectively manage shifting priorities
- Experience designing, developing, managing and mining a database
- Some durable goods category experience preferred
- Experience in major brick & mortar channels also preferred – Walmart, Target, Costco, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc.
Background
- Minimum 10 years progressive, relevant experience
- BA / BS
- MBA preferred
Applications for this position are being coordinated by Harry Joiner. To apply, CLICK HERE. Candidates, please be sure to email Harry for a packet of market research and company / competitive intel 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.
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