Assistant Retail Innovation Manager, Sg

**JOB TITLE: ASSISTANT RETAIL INNOVATION MANAGER, SG**

**LOCATION: SINGAPORE**

**BUSINESS CONTEXT/ABOUT THE BUSINESS UNIT**:

- The core purpose of the role is to lead the delivery of in class brand experiences throughout a connected shopper journey and at the point of purchase, through unlocking shopper barriers and promoting triggers to purchase; to influence shopper consideration, help find and convince shoppers to purchase.
- Main job purpose is to be responsible and accountable for the OTIF execution of shopper activations in-store and out-of-store flawlessly; in alignment with the brand, channel & category jobs to be done which are translated into the annual activation plan
- This role develops and executes insightful shopper programmes, based on an intimate knowledge of our shoppers and our customers, and in doing so contributes towards the development of strong brand equities, supports our customer’s agendas and therefore enables Unilever to win in the marketplace. Three key areas of focus will be: 1) Building Brands in store; 2) Category Demand Projects 3) Retailer Partnerships
- Through this process, you will also be able to experience exciting pace and developments of Unilever’s business, plus gain a deeper understanding of the brick and mortar retail landscape in Singapore (e.g. who the key retailers are, what are their business models and how these business models function to drive commercial growth)

**KEY RESPONSIBILITIES**:
Own Shopper Insights
- Be the shopper insights/ CMI key business partner to lead for the embedding of shopper/ channel & category insights into on-ground activations
- Use existing regional & global insights and develop new localized insight to generate clear barriers and triggers which form the basis for any shopper marketing campaigns and activations
- Understand how shoppers shops across category and channels & formulate strategic campaigns to convert shoppers
- Builds Customer relationships and attends Category Brand Cascade for all Retailers. Responsible for representing the Category Shopper Marketing plans as part of the Top-to-Top or Category Reviews with buyers, and gains Retailer alignment on the programmes to be activated. Develops category specific Retailer Marketing relationship

Develop & Execute Shopper Marketing Excellence
- Works with Marketing team and Category team to align category priorities and identifies where shopper activation is suitable to meet the KPIs of the prioritised JTBD.
- Agrees an overall budget with Marketing to be used in shopper activation programmes and then develops a channel and retailer proposal for the budget based on strategic fit, brand equity development, customer agenda and size of the prize.
- Creates and executes the appropriate shopper marketing programmes in the identified channels mainly covering H&B and SHM
- To be part of the Retail Aim project - and focus on key initiatives like perfect store, OSA and work with operation team on new store opening & routing.

Shopper Execution Excellence:

- To manage, liaise and be in control of the outputs of third-party providers for all shopper activation-related activities, including but not limited to Creative/Adv, Printing & Execution, Promoter Agencies and freelancers.
- To monitor, analyze and review activation types, scope, spends and budgets set for PE trade on a quarterly basis. To be accountable on the efficiency of activation spends, and to consistently implement cost saving initiatives and optimization in executions.
- To act as a key interface between external (third party providers) and internal stakeholders in all shopper activations in-store and out-of-store.
- Key internal stakeholders includes, but not limited to, Brand Building, Customer/ Trade Marketing, Key Account Planners/ Operations, Merchandisers, Auditors, and Administration (Accounts/ Finance).
- Assess ROI of campaigns, activations and exclusives roll out
- To liaise, brief and lead frontliners in all execution activities, including, but not limited to: installers, promoters, operations/ field, to ensure the on-time and in full delivery of Activation KPIs.
- Drive thematic exclusive customers’ promotions and own channel visibility

**KEY REQUIREMENTS**:

- Deep knowledge of channel dynamics, category management and in store commercial drivers.
- Clear understanding of markets, sales and distribution, competitor activity, consumer and shopper behavior, category management.
- Strong organizational skills with a demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities and flow to work
- Strong collaboration; communication/interpersonal skills with the ability to work effectively with both internal/ external stakeholders and team working in a complex multi-functional environment
- Strong analytical thinking, creative, innovative thinking, pro-active & can-do attitude
- Agility, ability to integrate change in a dynamic environment, be flexible & adapt to changing conditions of consumer trends & retailer landscape.