Category Customer Shopper Marketing Manager - Lagos at Arla Foods

About the Role

• This role is based within the region in West Africa.
• As the Category Customer Shopper Marketing (CCSM) Manager, you will be the “voice of the customer/shopper” and the local commercial teams in West Africa. You will collaborate closely with the Regional, Local Marketing teams & other relevant stakeholders to secure excellent commercial executions. Your insights into consumer behaviour, market trends, and category dynamics will be instrumental in delivering impactful results.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop consumer centric growth strategies. Combine market, shopper and consumer insights to identify growth opportunities and execute these in close cooperation with in-market teams.
• Develop channel strategies (Foodservice, Traditional, Modern trade & other alternate channels). Lead development and implementation in accordance with local market needs
• Drive the objective of being the “Centre of Excellence” for the region by delivering on “insights to action” and creating world class enablers / comprehensive shopper marketing toolkits covering the full “path to purchase” for our shoppers across different channels. Toolkits are meant to be “Plug N Play” for local markets speedy production and flawless execution.
• Actively drive and deliver annual business plans together with local markets, to deliver strong growth agenda. Develop annual category calendar plans and ensure monthly updates and alignment between regional / local teams to deliver the best ROI for our campaigns.
• Support local markets in their JBP meetings with top customers by creating compact category growth story that highlights our dairy expertise/captainship and creates a win-win proposition with top retailer partners.
• Lead perfect store program from regional perspective by creating regional templates/tools for localisation and adaptations to fix Trade fundamentals. All developed tools should capture shopper insights, address channels dynamics and de-liver on our brands growth priorities
• Build Customer and shopper marketing capabilities across the markets
• Develop commercial propositions for key NPDs/MROs and be the voice of CCSM early in the innovation process
• Drive initiatives to optimize trade and BTL marketing investments
• Create regional synergies by identifying and sharing across the region best practices from different markets to benefit from and replicate
• Perform other tasks as required within the Marketing function

Key Skills

• Curious by nature and applies this to shopper/category understanding
• Commercially Astute – Full appreciation of retailer commercial challenges and business commercial challenges and able to navigate through them
• Operational working knowledge of category & shopper vision & strategy, category insights into action, route to market and channel, customer planning, promotion management and passionate selling
• Shopper and Category Obsessed – Genuine passion for understanding the shopper and using this understanding to drive a competitive advantage
• Category management and execution expert
• Strong commercial acumen
• Strategic thinker, but passionate about getting into details
• Process thinker and experienced in optimizing existing processes and creating new ones
• Relationship Builder – can build a rapport quickly and maintain it and comfortable independently managing stakeholders at all levels
• Inspires confidence – trusted to get on with the job and thrives with challenges
• Fluency in English.  French is an added advantage

Qualifications & Experience Required

• Minimum Bachelor’s Degree in any Discipline. MBA is an added advantage
• Minimum 10 years Brand building experience in FMCG. Experience in Dairy is an added advantage
• Fully conversant with Kantar/Nielsen/Euromonitor, etc
• Channel and retail understanding
• Experience working on Strategy & execution
• Experience working in multiple team, multicultural environment with cross-border collaboration