Divisional Vice President of Ecommerce
Our client is considered Canada’s fashion and lifestyle retailer. They are renowned for unparalleled retail experiences and are Canada’s hub for the world’s best fashion and beauty brands. Recognized as a leader in personal shopper service and experience delivered in stores across Canada (Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver) and in their online store, the company’s mission is to empower self-expression and ignite positive change, along with overarching commitments to sustainability, diversity, and inclusion.
Reporting to the Senior Vice President (SVP), Retail, The Divisional Vice-President (DVP) Ecommerce will work closely with the leadership team to create a vision and strategy that will drive OMNI channel eCommerce business now and into the future, realizing aggressive sales and customer satisfaction targets across all product categories, digital platforms and markets, with an initial focus on Canada. The DVP Ecommerce leads the company website and all current and future digital platforms as an online store, ensuring full alignment on site experience, across product, content, and activations within the company’s store network.
The ideal candidate will be laser focused on customer acquisition and conversion and can work closely with the marketing and retail teams to grow the flagship website sales exponentially by improving customer development, product and category presentation, decreasing cancellation rates and making changes within the team as needed to achieve these goals. You will have an eye for good design and innovation and be on top of trends in the luxury goods industry.
Preference will be given to candidates in the East Coast.
Job Responsibilities
Drive Online Retail Development
Develop and deliver the long-term eCommerce strategy to achieve annual financial plans, grow market share, drive monetization, and create a seamless end to end digital experience.
Maintain a high level of strategic foresight by identifying customer and business needs and adjusting objectives accordingly.
Participate in planning and setting growth targets for eCommerce, and define tactical plans to achieve targets for sales, conversion, average order value, average unit price, repeat purchases, customer contact rate and net promoter score.
Identify innovative online retail development ideas based on internal insight and external leading practice to continually enhance the online customer proposition and drive profitable growth.
Continually monitor luxury fashion developments to identify and communicate market gaps and opportunities.
Support ongoing online retail development initiatives such as product extensions, website enhancements, introduction of new functionality, 020 integration, etc.
Establish a valuable and connected personal styling service in collaboration with Contact Customer Centre and stores to support sales growth and customer retention.
Online Retail Management
Oversee site P&L and drive profit improvement opportunities to achieve top and bottom-line results.
Lead the team to deliver merchandise assortments across digital platforms that strike a balance between brand and commerce.
Set targets and lead team to deliver trading activities to plan, including product launches, deliveries, and stock management.
Monitor margins and markdown strategies and provide seasonal and in-season suggestions to Product and Planning teams based on actual performance.
Set goals and inspire team to deliver online content, home & landing pages, copy and brand profiles are aligned to the calendar of activities and brand guidelines.
Drive usage and growth of distance selling in store through salesfloor.
Develop personalisation of customer journeys based on insights, segmentation, and site behavior.
Work closely with insights team to identify opportunities for additional customer data capture.
Establish transparent and insightful reporting across all aspects of the online business to drive profitable growth and share actionable insights with the wider business.
Partner to grow Marketplace with on-boarding brands, monitoring brand service levels and informing product categories.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Cultivate cross-functional relationships across the business (executive team, Marketing, IT, Product and Planning, Supply Chain, Finance and Retail Stores) to establish and deliver plans that support eCommerce objectives and growth.
Represent company website with key internal partners to influence and ensure all brand activities are represented across digital platforms.
Share online plans and initiatives with the wider company teams to ensure there is full transparency of what the eCommerce team is working on.
Work closely with the Futures Team to develop ideas into initiatives and see through to implementation to improve site performance.
Produce and share valuable online insights to the rest of the online team and the wider business to drive recommended changes.
Collaborate with the various customer-facing teams such as contact customer centre and store sales associates to deliver an enhanced customer experience online and offline.
Partner with marketing to ensure traffic delivery to support sales conversion.
Talent Leadership and Development
Role model and reinforce the company Mission, Values, and Customer Service Promise at all times
Reinforce the company’s heritage, DNA and culture through storytelling and sharing successes at every opportunity.
Personally demonstrate the Company’s values through corresponding behaviours and use these as a tool to coach and develop team members to achieve the team’s plan.
Fully participate in the Performance assessment, talent development and objective setting processes, developing knowledge and understanding of each team member’s strengths and opportunities using Individual Development Plans.
Partner with the People team to identify Departmental Talent Pipeline using the full suite of talent tools supporting individuals with relevant learning and development opportunities to ensure success in current and future roles.
Build personal connection with all team members, taking time to understand them as individuals, identifying ways to retain and engage them over time.
Take appropriate corrective action with employees who fall below standard (in consultation with the People team).
Oversee, review, and prioritise recruitment needs and headcount budgets.
Job Requirements:
Post-secondary degree in a related field or equivalent work experience.
10+ years of post-university work experience, including a minimum of 5+ years leading the eCommerce business in an omni channel retail organization.
5+ years of progressive leadership experience with proven ability to lead a team, help grow their careers and focus on company objectives.
Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret extensive data to develop/implement consumer brand appropriate solutions.
Strong skills in strategy and planning, budget, and P&L management, merchandising and marketing.
Strong project management skills, including development of timelines, communication of project status, and ability to move projects from concept strategy development through tactical implementation/execution.
Demonstrated big-picture thinking and able to drive change within team and across the organization.
Proven leadership and team management skills derived from having direct responsibility for building and managing a cohesive, high-performing team.
If you're interested in this exciting opportunity, please send your resume to candace@ariagency.ca.