The Sales Strategy & Analytics Manager will play a critical role in the continued growth and success of ALOHA. This position will utilize a strategic and analytical mindset to lead all activities associate with category management, trade marketing, and sales planning for the Offline Retail business unit. This position will ideally function as an extension of the retailers itself, guiding proper product assortment, placement and effective visual merchandising to increase sales velocity and enable additional product expansion. He/She will work collaboratively to develop and drive both thoughtful strategy and actionable insights throughout the Company and retail customer landscape. This position collaborates with cross functional teams (Finance, Marketing, Supply Chain) to optimize category/brand growth, share gains and positive promo/non-promo mix by ensuring ALOHA has the right assortment, distribution, promotional and operational strategy to deliver against our key business objectives (Net Sales, Distribution TDPs, Trade Investment Efficiency).
Responsibilities:
Lead Category Management and Retail Insights
- Drive actionable category, segment and account level insights across the Company
- Partner with CCO to own the development and execution of the Retail Sales Strategy across the 4Ps: product distribution, pricing, promotional strategy, and shelving placement
- Effectively develop and communicate ALOHAs category vision, delivering high impact category and brand insights to retail partners across channels to support ALOHA’s growth and goals mindset
- Known as the front-line data owner across all reporting platforms, delivering monthly ALOHA syndicated data reporting from SPINs internally across all channels – Grocery, Natural, Mass, providing updates to customer KPIs – as well as customer specific platforms, such as Market 6, Whole Foods portal, KeHE and UNFI reporting, etc.
- Become the expert in competitive intelligence, specifically watching key competitive brands while developing insights to sell against assortment / merchandising within specific customers
- Support Trade Promotion Analytics, in partnership with Finance, improving promotional effectiveness for ALOHA while analyzing programming from key competitors
- Proactively identify and quantify customer opportunities on an ongoing basis
Develop Fact-Based, Brand Selling, Retail Customer Toolkit
- Craft strong, analytical selling stories, including delivering turnkey customer-specific selling materials and presentation support to expand distribution, improve quality merchandising, and win differentiated share of mind within focused retailers (both existing and “hunt list”)
- Own the customer planning toolkit across channels: new item and customer selling materials, price list management, shelving and merchandising recommendations, etc.
- Develop and drive assortment strategy and growth across channels, customers and pack sizes, including monitoring velocities and ensuring inventory support for upside and gap closures
- Drive adherence to critical timelines to meet all customer deadlines to include all sales needs/requirements – selling stories, point-of sale materials, samples, insights, etc.
- Partner with the CCO for internal planning and presentations including Senior Level materials and status updates
Drive Enhanced Sales Operation and Execution:
- Partner with sales managers help develop promotional trade calendars and strategies which align with channel strategy
- Work collaboratively with sales team and finance to forecast base and incremental volume, and help make adjustments to demand planning system
- Leads the display vehicle (i.e. shipper) forecast process, production timeline, and execution
- Operates as central point of contact for third-party field merchandising teams materials and communication: Dirty Hands, UNFI/KeHE distributor downstream reps, etc
- Assist with customer specific shopper marketing initiatives as needed
- Support account managers with new customer set up and onboarding, in conjunction with Operations and Finance
- Own item set up and management in IX-one, Food Logiq, 1WorldSync, and additional customer portals
- Coordinate Trade Show activations and sample process from Sales pov (partner with Marketing and Supply Chain)
Skills
• Bachelor’s degree required. Areas of focus in Business or a related field preferred
• 5+ Years experience in category management, marketing and/or account management
• Prior experience in food within Grocery, Natural Channel, and Distributors, and Key Account management
• Established relationships and demonstrated success working with key retailers along with the leading brokers and distributors (UNFI, KeHE) servicing a number of retailers
• Prior experience in operating with a lean, efficient team, appropriate to size/scope of business, and utilizing appropriate systems to support strong business growth
• Key leadership characteristics: integrity, leadership/drive for results, collaborative, flexible, strong communicator, player/coach mentality with willingness to roll up sleeves and get into the weeds
• Experience utilizing SPINS, Nielsen and/or IRI. Understands how “relevant data” plays a key role in underpinning business decisions, especially in competitive categories. Strong proficiency in Excel, Powerpoint, MS Office products
About You
• You are scrappy and enjoy the paradoxical challenge that can be the combination of analytical and creative problem-solving
• You embrace the risks needed to question the dominant paradigm and are up for trying something new
• You play as hard as you work, and thrive operating in fast-moving, nimble organizations
• You believe doubling a business year over year to be considered as the goal each and every year
• You can appreciate the environment of a challenger-brand company (competing against the category’s biggest) and embrace the opportunity to truly make a difference at both a strategic/high and “in the weeds”/low level depending on what the business needs require
• Personality profile to fit into a self-starter, entrepreneurial culture that requires teamwork and significant interaction with employees at all levels
• You believe in the power of teamwork. You lead with a “we” mindset and, as a shareholder yourself, have enough pride in not letting the team down and going “above and beyond”