Retail Specialist

Do you love trying new things and have a passion for retail merchandising? Use that curiosity and retail know-how to help independent businesses succeed! INFRA is hiring a Retail Specialist for our North East territory to work hand-in-hand with our member stores to maximize the impact of our center store programs. Sound exciting? Submit your resume and cover letter to start a conversation. 

NorthEast territory (defined below). 65% travel required.

In this role, you will play an integral part in connecting with member stores at ground level, helping our team set a path for the future of our association. You will have the opportunity to improve each member’s unique store experience by supporting and enhancing their promotions and merchandising practices. The ideal Retail Specialist thrives in a partnership role, teaching others, sharing best practice knowledge, communicating opportunities, keeping things organized, and supporting easy-to-implement changes.      

What you will own and improve:

INFRA Promotions Champion 

• In collaboration with INFRA team, Champion members to fully utilize the benefits and opportunities of Promotional Programs (EDLP, INFRA Deals) participation. 
• Support success of other INFRA strategies and programs (operational strategies, pricing recommendations, and participation agreement requirements) by helping members understand how promotions or merchandising programs align and complement. 
• Lead in-store program onboarding as needed and/or reinforce orientation elements into each member situation while in store.   
• Partner with store employees to create/implement tangible plans from recommendations to improve execution and impact.

Merchandising Development  

• Support or lead planning, implementation, and outcome tracking of store merchandising planograms. 
• Support or lead planning, implementation, and outcome tracking for new store setups, store resets, and store expansions/contractions. 
• Assist staff and members with merchandising best practices by providing training, development of systems and documentation, and introduction of new-and-next ideas. 
• Keep abreast of new-and-next ideas and/or exciting merchandising and promotional program best practice changes.

Retailer Competitive and Performance Analysis 

• Plan and perform competitive analysis with identified data-driven and anecdotal goals. 
• Support outcomes with data and share story of program impact. (Member data/KPIs, promotions/store performance metrics, retail data, distribution data, and/or available trend information). 

Continuous Improvement Partner  

•  Support and coach members toward solutions unique to their stores. Highlight value provided and the “why” a member would want to commit to recommendations.  
• Collaborate with INFRA Team to develop new or improved strategies and tactics to grow association-wide participation and alignment with Promotions Programs (EDLP, INFRA Deals, New Item), including increasing member participation, consumer, and brand participation as appropriate.
• Create member-specific recommendations based on identified potential participation obstacles, performance gaps or wins, competitive analysis findings, and opportunities. Connect member feedback to INFRA team. Capture in-the-moment or anecdotal feedback and support formal INFRA feedback processes. Incorporate outcomes from feedback into future work.  

What you already know:

• 4+ years’ experience in creating and implementing broad-scale promotions and merchandising planning, multi-store buying and resets, or digital marketing and promotion program implementation 
• Retail grocery and/or natural foods experience required
• Demonstrated experience working with businesses in a consultative role or professional services partnership role strongly preferred
• Experience working with independently owned businesses strongly preferred
• Proven experience defining and applying merchandising best practices  
• Skilled with a variety of technology platforms including Microsoft365, Sharepoint, CRMs, Project Management tools, planogram tools, or equivalents
• Proven leadership through influence. Ability to inspire others by communicating benefits/value propositions, leading by example, and utilizing a spirit of service approach.
• Self-directed and comfortable prioritizing time.
• Comfortable navigating multiple projects, complex logistics and relationships, tight deadlines, and high-pressure situations, all while producing results with exceptional attention to goal attainment, detail and accuracy.
• Depth of communication expertise, active listening, determining root causes, incorporating feedback, giving presentations, and keeping everyone up to date.
• Proactive, solution-oriented, iterative mindset with high value on continual improvement.

What you will learn:

• How to personalize your work to meet the needs and goals of each unique, independently owned retailer.
• How to integrate story-telling, analysis of trends, insights, and program performance data to expand impact of your role.
• How to build on your consultative skills, growing into promotional strategy, store operational excellence, and member education.  
• As this role grows and progresses, you will have the opportunity to create and directly deliver more strategic recommendations to members.

INFRA is committed to creating an inclusive workplace. We know that diversity of identities, experiences, and ways of thinking result in stronger lives for all our members and the communities we serve. Research shows that systemically excluded communities may be less confident in applying for positions where as little as one skill doesn’t appear to fit – we welcome your resume and encourage you to apply.

Position details:

Reports to: Member Success Manager

Status:Full-time exempt

Travel: Travel up to 65% is required for this position, usually weekly

Pay info: MSP1 $65,000-$80,000-$95,000

Location: These are remote roles based in the region they support.

North East territory: New Jersey, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut
*Home state location must be within the territory with preference given to candidates in Massachusetts or Connecticut due to business establishment and territory layout. Home office must be located within 100 miles of a major airport.

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