Estee Lauder - Product Manager (Skincare)

Job Description

Position Summary

Lead UK&Ireland Category, Product and Pricing marketing strategy (incl. but not limited to new product launches; marketing product calendar and category strategy) towards achievement of regional growth targets and market share gains across an omni-channel environment.

Key Roles & Responsibilities

• Define the product positioning and pricing strategies for the UK & Eire region across our omni channel environment , outlining where to play and how to win to optimize market positioning, deliver financial targets and connect meaningfully with consumers.
• Manage the marketing calendar (NPL, innovation...), side by side launch plan, support strategy to deliver commercial objectives for the UK region.
• Lead assortment strategy and definition (incl. range rationalization)
• Lead 360 launch planning in collaboration with UK Marketing Leadership and Global brand teams.
• Lead forecasting process for all limited life and continuous new launches, in partnership with NAM’S, Channel marketing, Sales and Demand Planning.
• Drive competitive insights and trends: Analyze Estee Lauder and competitor NPD data to assess performance within the market and determine needs and growth opportunities.
• Lead sampling strategy
• Manage Product budget (GWP, COGS and collateral budgets)

Plan to drive business growth

• Deliver the product marketing strategy for the UK region, leveraging the global launch offering to develop a localized activity calendar. Oversee the execution of the strategy to deliver category rank and share objectives.
• Build the UK & Eire marketing calendar, including category targets, tiered new launch plan, hero product support, kits, sampling, gifting and promotions.
• Secure approval from the Marketing Director and align all key stakeholders.
• Present regional product marketing strategy to the global marketing team and maintain ongoing alignment to secure global support as needed.
• Build and maintain side by side calendar of new launch value to support the integrated business planning (IBP) process, voicing business risks and opportunities. Review newness with regionally driven activations to mitigate gaps and /or optimize local opportunities as required.
• Support with product expertise and insights to fuel agency briefs for the development of locally-driven marketing campaigns, outlining business opportunity, campaign objectives, product positioning and category performance targets. Partner with Consumer Marketing to align briefs with consumer marketing strategy and deliver an integrated proposal.
• Partner with the r Demand Planner to align the demand plan to the marketing calendar, forecasting to address category share/rank objectives, consumer behaviours and regional trends.
• Manage excess stock levels to drive budget efficiency, maintaining volume less than 5% of inventory.
• Lead the annual product line edit process to drive productivity. Review Global edit and consider regional market, sales and artistry insights to challenge selections as needed and /or supplement with local additions.

Optimize newness to connect meaningfully with consumers

• Review global launch proposals and feedback to product development and global marketing teams to shape the product development pipeline, ensuring that regional needs for the UK & Eire are met.
• Define optional program distribution strategy, with input from Retail Marketing, National Accounts and Online teams, and submit proposals for approval by the Marketing Director and Leadership team.
• Forecast all new launches in partnership with the Demand Planner, maximizing sales opportunities whilst minimizing excess. Set appropriate benchmarks, considering market, trend, artistry and consumer insights and approve final forecasts.
• Drive launch support planning, ensuring communication to the brand, and overseeing execution and performance analysis.

Optimize product positioning

• Define the hero products for the UK region, outlining key benefits to communicate, and deliver the strategy to amplify them meaningfully by segment.
• Lead the annual UK & EIRE pricing review, aligning all stakeholders.
• Conduct in-depth annual review of addressable markets, price change and share movements and competitive landscape.
• Deliver a 3-year pricing strategy to optimize market positioning and meet financial objectives for the brand and UK region. Secure approval of the Marketing Director, General Manager, Global Brand, and the Regional and Global Corporate Finance teams.
• Manage the execution of the price change process, overseeing implementation across all channels and adhering to corporate deadlines and legal requirements.
• Oversee the new launch pricing process and approve proposals for UK and EIRE, ensuring that pricing is an enabler to reach financial objectives and mitigate COGs impact as required.

Drive commercial gains via sampling, gifting & promotions

• Define the annual sampling strategy and short term tactical plans to support both category and consumer objectives.
• Forecast samples, setting appropriate sampling campaign targets and overseeing execution across all channels.
• Identify key gifting occasions and plan supporting activity to optimize commercial opportunities.
• Define the promotional strategy to deliver financial objectives whilst protecting brand equity, including discounts, giveaways, consumer incentives and kits.
• Collaborate closely with Sales, Retail Marketing, Online and National Accounts teams to ensure that all channel needs are met and that activity supports wider brand objectives.
• Oversee the production of all supporting PPM, ensuring excellence of execution across all channels.

Support differentiated channel strategy

• Plan and deliver a meaningful program of exclusive launches and promotional activity, optimized by retailer and/or channel.
• Present new launch strategy at biannual retailer meetings.

Deliver budget effeciency

• Manage samples, redress and PPM budgets, tracking all spend.
• Management of COGs budget, planning costs for new launch forecasts and promotional activity.
• Partner with demand planning and finance to undertake monthly reconciliation of forecasts and budgets.

Deliver market intelligence/performance insights

• Monitor new launch sell-through on an ongoing basis to identify risks and opportunities and to shape ongoing launch support.
• Produce monthly NPD analysis to contextualize brand performance within the market and review results of brand activity Vs KPIs
• Track category performance and MOB for total business and by channel to identify needs and opportunities.
• Oversee the production of a monthly UK market review including market dynamics, brand performance, consumer trends and competitor activity, identifying opportunities and making strategic recommendations.

Qualifications

Position Requirements

• Education to degree level or equivalent
• Relevant experience in product marketing within a management role, with a strong understanding and passion for the beauty industry.
• Strong commercial omni-channel acumen with thorough knowledge of the competitive landscape and market /consumer trends.
• Proven ability to drive share gains /category growth via commercial launch /activation plans and measure performance.
• Ability to work autonomously and thrive in a fast-paced environment, driving momentum on projects and proactively planning ahead.
• Ability to juggle multiple tasks and work to tight deadlines, whilst maintaining a high level of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Excellent communication and relationship management skills:
• Strong team player able to drive cross-functional collaboration.
• Comfortable working with people at all levels of the organization and able to develop working relationships across the corporation
• Able to demonstrate excellent verbal and written communication skills, and comfortable delivering presentations to a variety of internal and external audiences.
• Strong analytical and numerical skills:
• Able to analyse and evaluate multiple sources of both quantitative and qualitative data to draw conclusions and make sound, well-reasoned business recommendations.
• Comfortable building forecasts and making educated recommendations based on data trends.
• Experienced working on pricing and comfortable conducting the in-depth analyses required to review RRPs and make recommendations for annual increases.
• Strong leadership skills:
• Able to take a wide, strategic view of all responsibilities and projects, conscious of implications for other departments and proactive in aligning and engaging all in the plan, clarifying requirements of others ahead of time.
• Experienced in managing people, demonstrating a consistent focus on coaching and developing direct reports.

Job: Marketing
Primary Location: GB-ENG-London
Job Type: Standard
Schedule: Full-time
Shift: 1st (Day) Shift
Job Number: 228243
Estee Lauder Companies is an equal opportunities employer. We positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity.