National Key Account Manager

Account Manager is responsible for achieving profitable sales growth at customers for the Mars business. This role is expected to maintain strong relationships & best execute customer plans that deliver objectives of; revenue, growth, profit, product/assortment, online availability, pricing, promotions, and seasonal merchandising.

**Context and Scope**:

- Ecommerce is one of the fastest growing sub-channels of Mars Multisales business and Mars growth rate has outpaced the category growth in Ecommerce accounts. MS has performed very well, acquired good share with some e-tailers and, with the right portfolio and strategy, is well-poised to grow with the balance e-tailers.
- The incumbent will be accountable for profitable business growth across all accounts based out of Johannesburg or Cape Town and will be responsible for Ecommerce market share across all the portals including ROSSA markets. He/she will be working closely with all Customer Development Mangers, customer marketing managers and sales teams to meet objectives.
- Additionally, customer business development initiatives will be central to working with the key accounts and the incumbent will have to deploy category and shopper insights to fuel customer growth.

**What are we looking for?**:

- Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration or equivalent.
- 5+ Years’ experience in Sales, Marketing, for Fast Moving Consumer Good Industries
- Prior eCommerce Account Management experience
- Fluent understanding of forecasting, Nielsen and trade management system
- Availability to travel.
- A valid driver's license and clean driving record.
- Must have exposure of at least two years in either Key Account Management or Category Management (if working with a retail group), with working experience in digital agency or eCommerce companies.

**What will be your key responsibilities?**:
**Strategic Planning - Chains & Category**:

- Build roadmap to leadership for Ecommerce Channel, strategize and implement programs/plans for development of sales of MS Brands in this channel.
- Customer Business Development through execution of category best practices and insights, and development of common strategic initiatives.
- Develop retailer wise portfolio & execution strategies to build category relevance.
- Drive activities & strategies that help market share gain for all MS Brands

**Business Delivery**
- Achieve volume and sales targets through effective implementation of sales strategies, Identifying the key challenges and enablers : - _Create online digital P2P plan_ - _Sales planning/ stock requirement forecast_ - _Brand activations_
- Influence Key stakeholders such as LM, Trade Marketing, Sales development, Marketing and Regional Category teams of Retailers to align and garner necessary support to meet growth ambitions in the mid to long term

**External Customer Engagement**
- Develop a mutually beneficial JBP with Key customers with clearly defined KPIs and review mechanisms.
- Conduct regular reviews on the progress of JBP KPIs and agree on correctional steps with the customers.
- Develop customer engagement through initiatives like Joint Business Planning, Top 2 Top meetings, road shows, etc.
- Engaging with the Chains category Teams for Business planning and delivery, Promotion & Visibility planning and driving for Desired market Shares
- Build relationship and regular wiring for MS & Customer’s Management teams
- Drive partnership and negotiation with e-tailers customers to drive better brand online visibility leveraging on their banners, thematic campaigns and SEO.

**Trade Spends Utilization**
- Prioritization and deployment of available spends towards strategic focus areas and activities to drive traffic to online retailer sites.
- Track utilization and online effectiveness of trade spends deployed to promote our brands in partnership with our online retailers.
- Work closely with the activation team to develop an online Equitable Brand activation in line with the Brand strategy
- Perform ROI analysis and promotion plan optimization for key e-tailers to drive customer profitability.

**Internal Customer Engagement**
- Provide leadership to the organization by identifying trends, insights, and best practices for E-Commerce / digital.
- Work closely with Trade Customers and internal One Demand Team to develop solutions around: -_C_reate effective Path to purchase presence ,through partnership with the One Demand team and our media partners_ - _H_igh class visibility elements on the eCommerce portals _-_Portfolio solutions to build & drive relevance of MS brands in categories_
- Optimize cost to serve and profitably manage account visibility investments, and design and execute activation programmes.
- Closely work with S&F and Customer’s finance function to drive reconciliations as per the agreed Terms of Trades
- To plan and execute investment strategy in Key Accounts with focus on: -_Availability (Online presence)_ -_Fill Rates_ -_Listing _-_Vis