Head of Marketing, Digital & eCommerce increases online revenue by 300%
Marketing Moves Director of Americas David Holton is currently working with an exceptional Head of Marketing, Digital & eCommerce who is looking to take the next step in their career. If you’d like to discuss their suitability for your company, you can contact David by any of the means below:
+1 (916) 474-4680
+1 (530) 412-2031
dholton@marketingmoves.com
linkedin.com/daholton
About the Head of eCommerce
The Head of Marketing, Digital and eCommerce is a former Director of Global Digital for both Dell and Dolby. In their latest role they reinvented the digital and eCommerce strategy for a $160M California company – increasing online revenue by 300%.
The Head of Marketing, Digital and eCommerce possesses over 15 years experience in global marketing strategy, digital customer experience, eCommerce, digital transformation, product marketing and brand management. Category expertise spans across consumer products, E-Commerce, technology, retail and media & entertainment.
They have built a successful track record of joining businesses at moments of truth, delivering immediate impact through strategic, business and marketing reinvention. They are particularly adept at building and leading cross-functional teams across multiple organizational contexts – from fast-paced start-ups and successful brands like Dolby and Dell, to established companies seeking to reposition their brands and businesses to meet the demands of today’s customer.
About the Company
The $160M company is a leading provider of creativity and learning products, partnered with over 200 manufacturing partners and sold throughout the world to national and regional retail chains, independent retailers and eCommerce partners. The Company also manages the marketing, sales and business operations for a proprietary brand portfolio for some of the top brands in the creativity industry.
Background
Reporting to the CEO, the Head of eCommerce was originally hired to drive digital transformation within the company. Organizational shifts resulted in adding more teams and responsibilities to the role – within the first six months of being hired as the digital and eCommerce lead, they had also assumed leadership of the entire sales and marketing teams. While adapting to leadership of two additional business units, they kept the momentum moving on developing a long term digital strategy.
The Challenge vs the Problem
In a rapidly evolving retail landscape, the company’s digital and eCommerce strategy was out of step with the demands of consumer trends and buying behavior. Moreover, the eCommerce business was missing significant opportunities when it came to becoming a growing and profitable channel for the overall business. A strategic digital plan had never been developed, and the company had allocated limited people and resources for digital.
The Solution
The Head of Marketing, Digital and eCommerce conducted a comprehensive review of the business’ digital position, in addition to running a deep dive analysis on the state of the eCommerce channel. The process involved extensive data analysis, interviews with key internal and external stakeholders, competitive landscape and the evaluation of existing team capabilities, organizational structure, workflows and tech stack/platforms.
Key to Success
The Head of Marketing, Digital and eCommerce developed the company’s first integrated digital strategy, informed by customer needs and insights, and accounting for the entire customer experience. They deployed a long term plan, implemented a digital product management strategy and accounted for critical pieces of the customer experience, including content, demand gen, cross-platform requirements and data. Business growth and sales remained the key metrics of success, but the new strategy elevated the digital capabilities and created foundations for the business to activate omnichannel experiences.
Project Plan
It took 3-4 months to create a business analysis and rationale for the strategy, and another 3-4 months deploying a new eCommerce strategy – building foundations for marketing to pivot to a digital-first position. The implementation of the broader digital strategy was a process that covered web/social activations, implementation of strategic tools supporting search, social, analytics, CRM and digital asset management activity. In total, the entire project took just 12 months for the company to see it’s first tangible returns.
Results
Leading a cross-functional team from sales, marketing, IT, operations, creative services and merchandising, the new digital strategy increased eCommerce overall revenue by 40% and delivered significant lift in gross margin. The strategic shift in the Amazon strategy generated consecutive years of 300%+ revenue growth, and the eCommerce channel became the most profitable business in the company. The company’s go-to-market capability was also positioned to operate at higher efficiency and agility with optimized teams, process and tools ready to perform in the digital age.
Testimonials
“I had the opportunity to partner closely with them when they ran digital marketing at Dolby. Great person, easy to work with, and super dedicated to their craft. We both shared the passion to bring Dolby’s story to life with original and memorable content experiences across our digital properties. We partnered in developing digital and content strategy to support Dolby’s most important marketing investments, including annual Oscars brand activation, new product introductions, integrated campaigns and unique opportunities with partners like Red Bull and the Sundance Film Festival. Their experience with integrated marketing allowed them to understand how 360 digital activations amplify our activities and presence across other channels and platforms. They are a fair and empathetic leader, passionate and effective in hiring and nurturing talent and subject matter experts who can make an instant impact.”
– Senior Director, Content Experiences at Dolby Laboratories
When it comes to being a trusted partner and effective agency leader, they are as good as it gets. In their role for managing the agency’s global consumer business for Dell, I worked with them on a daily basis to define creative and communications strategy for Dell’s NA consumer business. They had a strong reputation for building relationships and driving communication across the myriad of groups in the system that we worked with including media, digital, boutiques, event and social agencies. I was comfortable putting them in front of Dell’s executive leadership as well as to my corporate partners because they were my partner in understanding and helping address the daily demands of the business. They were my “go to” in every situation and I look forward to the chance of working with them in the future.
– Senior Director US SMB GTM
Contact
To discuss in confidence how Marketing Moves can support your organisation’s growth, you can contact David by any of the means below:
+1 (916) 474-4680
+1 (530) 412-2031
dholton@marketingmoves.com
linkedin.com/daholton
