You know LivingSocial as place to buy and share the best things to do in your city and beyond. And since we were acquired by Groupon, we’re poised to do that at an even bigger scale.  We take great pride in putting the customer at the center of everything we do. As we continue to grow our brand within the Groupon family, we’re seeking a hungry, data-driven leader to help us keep focused on that mission.  

The exceptionally talented thought leader who fills this role must combine sound business judgment, world-class management chops and an ability to directly and indirectly influence stakeholders in order to drive results.  We need a big thinker who will challenge us, question previous assumptions and push LivingSocial to level-up our marketing efforts.

The Planning Manager, Merchandising Strategy is responsible for optimizing market strategy across the LivingSocial businesses. This manager will lead maximization efforts across multiple areas of focus including but not limited to: promotion planning, scheduling, market and partner targeting and prioritization, promotion optimization, consumer merchandising, and market strategy.

Day to day responsibilities will include guiding team members to leverage historical data, market trends, customer insights and key reporting tools to evaluate and optimize the overall retail strategy.  This role will play a lead role in providing guidance on tool and product improvements for site, touch and app platforms to cross-functional teams. This person will also drive the planning and strategy of the merchandising plan across various channels (on-site merchandising, Email, Brand, CRM, Affiliates) and will liaise with key cross-functional teams to enhance consumer merchandising experiences.

Responsibilities:

• Work with Director of Marketing to build and execute the merchandising strategy - driving transactional revenue by maximizing asset shelf space and promotional messaging

• Manage a comprehensive Campaign Planning Calendar that details all campaign activity and delivers against the overall financial plan for LivingSocial

• Lead efforts to determine and optimize levers to achieve targets and KPIs

• Develop and execute strategies to optimize promotional structure, pricing, and inventory guidelines

• Work heavily with Revenue Management to develop and execute alternative merchandising strategies.

• Organize and lead monthly and quarterly planning meetings aimed at highlighting the upcoming merchandising plan to ensure that all teams are aligned & operating under a single customer-focused merchandising strategy while addressing key vertical needs

• Lead cross-functional efforts aimed at optimizing marketing exposure for key promotions and initiatives for each vertical

• Guide inventory, pricing, and analytic product development working closely with cross-functional team leaders

• Drive on-site and email merchandising conversion improvements by developing an optimized cadence of promotion, marketing messaging and asset strategy

Professional Qualifications:

• 5-7 years of relevant business experience

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing or equivalent required

• Experience managing cross-functional teams in a matrix environment

• Advanced knowledge of Excel and Tableau

• Familiarity with key business metrics – solid analytical expertise. Knowledge of campaign testing strategies utilized in direct online channels (email, mobile notifications, social) preferred

• Advanced knowledge of Excel is required

• Proven problem solving skills; systematic, analytical thinker

• Highly flexible, ability to handle changing directions/priorities and roles as business needs evolve

• Strong organizational and management skills, including the ability to prioritize multiple projects and objectives

Personal Qualities:

• Constantly delivers progress & will not allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good.

• Unquenchable curiosity.

• Deadline driven with bias towards ruthless prioritization.

• Bias for action, and experience making things happen in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

• Entrepreneurial in the truest sense. Must make things happen using resources that either don’t exist or aren’t  under your direct control.

Groupon provides a global marketplace where people can buy just about anything, anywhere, anytime. We’re enabling real-time commerce across an expanding range of categories including local businesses, travel destinations, consumer products, and live or lively events. At the same time, we are providing advertising options and tools that merchants can use to grow and manage their businesses. Culturally, we believe that great people make great companies and that starting with the customer and working backward moves us forward. Community matters to us on an internal, local and global scale—it’s fundamental to our company’s growth and to the well-being of the world at large. We also value self-awareness, candor, lunch and WiFi. If we match with you, please apply to join us.