Commercial Manager (head of commercial)

POSITION SUMMARY
The Commercial Manager provides overall leadership for the Commercial function within the Affiliate through establishing the Commercial team to be an extension of the Brands and a trusted, corporate business partner. This role is responsible for driving enterprise-wide collaboration and upholding an ELC Corporate view whist protecting individual brand position and objectives. Responsible and accountable for retail and net sales planning, delivery, and reporting, working in partnership with Brand General Managers (BGMs), Online Lead and the Enterprise Marketing & Data Lead to achieve strategic goals.
The Commercial Manager is responsible for:
• Cultivating retailer relationships and driving joint business planning (JBP) for all retail partner channels
• Ensuring field and store operations excellence in execution and policy & procedures compliance
• Delivering the retail target setting, monitoring, and performance, as aligned with BGM, Online Lead and Enterprise Marketing & Data Lead
In addition, the Commercial Manager is also:
• The interface between ELC and relevant Planning/ Buying teams within B&M retailers. They effectively manage, align and drive opportunities for financial targets and communications across the full ELC brand portfolio
• Works closely with BGMs and Enterprise Marketing & Data for the achievement of net sales plans. Also works closely with Retailers to expand the ELC portfolio and presence with the retailer and build year on year sales growth through targeted propositions and deepening of relationships with key retailers.
• Responsible and accountable for net sales planning, reporting on retail sales, operational progress and communication.
• Drives cross-brand collaboration and upholds ELC Corporate view across the Retailer group
KEY ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
• Leads the Affiliate total sales B&M channel strategy, working in partnership with Brands, Online and Enterprise Marketing & Data to developing strategies in line with overall brand strategy and long term, sustainable, profitable growth
• Collaborates with Brand, Enterprise Marketing & Data and Online Lead to set annual commercial strategies and targets to deliver on strategic objectives and lead the commercial team to deliver on the KPIs - e.g. retail and net sales, Returns % to NS, Demo % to NS, Discounts/Bonification, CRM KPIs
• Leads monthly Sales LE reviews, consensus meetings and IBP meetings in consultation with Finance, Brand and Online Leads
• Builds collaborative, trusted relationships with retail partners to ensure ELC is the business partner of choice, ensuring early identification of major business opportunities.
• Leads the bi-annual / quarterly JBP meetings with Retailers, in close partnership with Brand, Online, Enterprise Marketing & Data Lead
• Stays abreast of market landscape, commercial trends, and competition to identify distribution and commercial opportunities.
• Partners with Enterprise Marketing & Data to provide strategic overview of retail trends, behaviors, sales performance, launches, GTM execution.
• Guides, develops, and coaches the Commercial team to manage field operations, deliver monthly sell-through targets and continuously improve sales force productivity.
• Guides, develops, and coaches Sale Personnel to:
− Build retailer relationships to ensure ELC is top-of-mind in stock maintenance and for all partnership opportunities.
− Work with brand teams to build and implement JBPs
− Collaborate and negotiate with retailers to achieve monthly and quarterly retail and wholesale targets
− Manage returns and discounts within budget, aligning with Finance & BGMs
− Coordinate ELC responses to retailer ad-hoc requests, e.g. promotional programs
• Guides, develops, and coaches Commercial Planning Personnel to:
− Partner with Retail Operations Manager and Online COE to provide the omni-channel sales planning analysis and reporting, including Net Shipment summaries, retail and net sales run rates.
− Track and communicate trade and promotional activity planning to Demand Planning/ Customer Service/ Brand Marketing to ensure Retail driver planning and anniversary planning.
− Analyze data for trends, risks & opportunities, reporting and presentations.
• Drives collaboration amongst Brand teams, Commercial team, Enterprise Marketing & Data team and Online team to ensure alignment, including leading period Commercial forums for sharing and leveraging of best practices.
• Drives continuous improvement of commercial processes, pushing to be best in class.
• Ensures policies and procedures compliance across all aspects of Commercial operations
• Plans and controls the Commercial department Opex budget
• Negotiates with retailers for store opening & renovation, guaranteeing the best space and location for ELC representation
• Works with the Regional Design Centre to ensure new counters and stores are on time, on budget, and focus on sustainability
• Manages Company Cosmetic / Corporate stores, driving profitable retail sales and, working with DPIM & Customer service proactively to achieve excess targets and reduce stockholding
Key Account Management
• Achievement of financial goals - delivering net budgets whilst driving profitability, working collaboratively with customers/retailers and internal stakeholders
• Develops and executes strategic plans to deliver wholesale targets, keeping net shipment plans updated based on trade and promotional activity
• Ensures all financial trackers are updated within agreed timelines - wholesale, retail, discount rebates, returns
• Overall responsibility for retailer collaboration with WSSI / MSSI and OTB cascading to relevant brand teams
• Has full understanding on the store operations and activities of each retailer and works in conjunction with the field-based store team to deliver dynamic wholesale and retail results
• Builds collaborative relationships with retail partners and Brand teams, working together to build and implement strong plans, with the ability to quickly identify relevant sales opportunities in order to achieve targets
• Participates proactively in promotional and NPD launch planning processes, working collaboratively with Brand Marketing and Demand Planning teams
• Partners with Brand and Enterprise Marketing & Data team to Identify any future growth / current launch plan opportunities
• Continually analyzes wholesale and retail data to identify strengths and weaknesses and spot trends. Interprets and analyzes data to develop a contingency plan for business-critical issues and re-prioritize in line with the changing needs of the business, in agreement with Brand General Manager
• Holds regular store visits with Sales team to understand the commercial and retail environment and seek feedback on challenges and successes, to build into future planning and develop new best practices
• Effectively communicates with field team to brief on retailer strategy and opportunities to maximize wholesale and retail sales