ViX / Paula Hermanny seeks a Director of Ecommerce (San Diego, CA)

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HARRY'S COMMENTS: Some jobs are better than others, and this one may be the best. This position offers an opportunity to build one of the coolest lifestyle brands of the next ten years by marketing luxury resortwear throughout the United States and Brazil. Having worked in Rio de Janeiro for 10 months during B-school, I'm not sure that I could dream of a sweeter job. Your friends will be green with envy.

And yes, the client will actually PAY you six figures to do this.

We are working with ViX | Paula Hermanny in its search for a Director of Ecommerce based in sunny San Diego. ViX is a resortwear brand created by luxury designer Paula Hermanny. The product is of the very highest quality, and the company currently sells its merchandise in better department stores and boutiques in over 28 countries around the world.

ViX is an aspirational lifestyle which is brought to life through branded apparel. It's all about beautiful stories, beautiful people, and beautiful scenery – all combined to showcase the highest quality luxury resort and swimwear imaginable. Check it out ...ViX’s customers range in age from 18 to the late 40s, and management is always shocked at the broad range of women who wear their product. Turns out, there are a lot of 40-something year old women who look fantastic in a bikini!

This is a clear cut case of people who care about the product serving customers who care about the product.

ViX and their clients: A marriage made in heaven.

The typical ViX client enjoys reading Vogue and In Style, she’s savvy, she’s happy to talk about ViX, and she knows she looks great when she’s wearing ViX. She's also a careerist. She's busy, and she knows what works: She wears Paula Hermanny’s designs because she knows she's going to look like a million bucks in the product. Indeed, she wants to be noticed and she's okay with people knowing that she made the investment ...

None of this makes her superficial. It makes her comfortable in her own skin.

And now the $64 question: How does she buy ViX products? What's her process for this? Honestly, management isn't completely sure. Awareness starts at the grassroots level. The customer sees Paula Hermanny on a celebrity, and they might have seen people blog about the brand. Additionally, Paula Hermanny products are eye-catching, and these customers know it when they see it at a Bloomingdale’s.

But as the new Director of Ecommerce, it will be your job to understand what role online can play in building the customer's relationship with the brand, both online and off. The job is about building customer intimacy, and whatever channel is most natural for the customer.

What that means is that you will need to develop world-class competencies in customer relationship management, customer care, and customer satisfaction measurement. In the words of Marshall Field ...

    “Customers always return to the place at which they have been proactively made to feel special.”

In other words, be prepared to make the ViX client feel special, both online and off – by any technologically enhanced means necessary.

Web design, online merchandising, personalization, and rich media will also be critically important in this role. Obviously, when one is building an aspirational lifestyle brand around beautiful women, technically excellent swimwear, and gorgeous beaches, merchandising and rich media will play prominent roles in the marketing mix.

ViX is incredibly serious about direct to consumer e-commerce given that the online channel will provide them with maximum control over their brand and allow them to extend their product line beyond swimwear.

Responsibilities

    Analyze monthly sales reports and make according movements to different tiers of sales
    Strategically analyze inventory and make decisions that will help us maintain our Full Price/Sale sales dollar ratio and meet our overall monthly goal
    Analyze inventory for holes and work with planning team to round out inventory
    Add new styles to site / Update inventory weekly based on Internet ATS and open orders
    Overall maintenance of the Shopping Cart – update Top Sellers & Paula’s picks, organize each section of site, coordinate with development team on projects, updates and fixes
    Overall maintenance of Word Press – update press, update online retailers, work with Art Director to update Designer’s Favorites, coordinate with marketing team on implementing new projects and fixes
    Oversee front end Word Press CMS and back end shopping cart in Web Cube to ensure efficient performance and address issues with development teams
    Communicate with development partners on various levels (day-to-day maintenance, new projects, status reports, current initiatives, future projects, etc)
    Coordinate with Wholesale team to create product orders and move allocate units to Web Cube
    Analyze overall eCommerce business monthly to recognize weaknesses to fix and strengths to build upon – based on recognized areas of success and improvement, create initiatives that will help us reach and supersede goals
    Work with sales and marketing team to set eCommerce goals and overall execution plans to reach goals
    Analyze our current eCommerce needs & capabilities and research new features/capabilities key to growth
    Work closely with K sales and marketing team to research new eCommerce platforms/business partners and vet out potential partnerships
    Create and deliver monthly comprehensive Commerce Presentations detailing the previous months’ sales figures and reports (unit sales breakdown by category, top sellers, & returns), updates on previous months’ marketing campaigns (Facebook, Twitter, Convert Marketing, Email Blasts, AdRoll, Affiliate, PPC), marketing strategy moving forward for Facebook and email marketing, customer service updates, and presentation of new opportunities
    FedEx Shipping: Work closely with FedEx team and development on integration of shipping
    Coordinate with Fedex on pricing and best practices
    Analyze shipping costs and packaging (with FedEx’s assistance) to find ways to cut costs
    Coordinate with development to fix issues
    Research new opportunities and third party companies to add to our eCommerce business – ex. Convert Marketing, AdRoll, Gigya, International Checkout, seo companies, etc.
    Coordinate with partners like PopSugar, Ideeli, Lucky Breaks and StyleFind on promotions to increase brand exposure and create new contact points within our target market

Marketing Responsibilities

    Manage the brand image by attentively monitoring our social channels and acting as a transparent representative on each channel
    Create inventive and effective marketing campaigns with marketing team that actively & emotionally engage the consumer while increasing fan following and engagement
    Manage the ViX Facebook presence
    Create and implement contests and promotions, work with Art Director on creative content, constantly engage the consumer with questions and conversation, convey the luxury ViX brand image through photo posts, posts on the designer and fashion, and other various lifestyle related posts
    Utilize all of the above to reach goals in increases of Followers
    Analyze performance of Facebook campaigns and communications monthly
    Email Marketing Coordination – plan email marketing campaigns, coordinate with Art Director/Media content Coordinator to create content, and analyze performance of each blast
    High level coordination of PPC and Affiliate – filter information with from with Ecommerce Team
    Act as point person for Affiliate Program and PPC program with partners; communicate marketing initiatives with partners to ensure consistency across Affiliate and PPC channels
    Create promotional campaigns and coupon codes for Affiliate, and coordinate with Art Director to update banners and other promotional assets
    Manage AdRoll account –analyze performance and adjust campaign accordingly; coordinate with Art Director to update banners
    Manage Convert Shopping Cart Abandonment program
    Blog – collaborate with Online Content/Media Coordinator on ViX Blog and Blog outreach
    Twitter – created overall Twitter Strategy / implementation/ collaborate on new initiatives.
    Brasil site – work with Brasilian team when needed to educate them on the US practices for ecommerce and social media

Applications for this position are being coordinated by Harry Joiner. To apply, CLICK HERE.  Candidates, please be sure to email Harry Joiner 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.