SALES MANAGER

LUXURY, JAPAN 

Coty is one of the world’s largest beauty companies with an iconic portfolio of brands across fragrance, color cosmetics, skincare, and body care. COTY is the global leader in fragrance and number three in color cosmetics. COTY’s products are sold in over 150 countries around the world. COTY and its brands are committed to a range of social causes as well as seek to minimize its impact on the environment. For additional information about Coty Inc., please visit www.coty.com. 

Position’s Mission

Maximize COTY corporate values through sales activities with an assigned brand

Essential Functions

• Lead and direct the Luxury sales organization to achieve volume, share, sales and profit objectives, across channels and brands to support the sustained commercial success of the Coty Luxury business in Japan.
• Assess, develop and implement optimal go-to-market strategy and execution plans for the Japan market by engaging with concerned parties, i.e. the Managing Director, Sales Director (solid reporting), Marketing, Finance and Supply Chain functional leaders and team members.
• Provide functional input to the overall Luxury business strategy and work collaboratively with other functions to contribute to the ongoing development of the Coty Luxury business in Japan.

Key Roles & Responsibilities

Operational and Strategic Management:

• Direct Luxury sales activities for the achievement of short- and long-term business objectives, increased profit and market share.
• Establish the strategic directions for the development of the major channels including the department stores, shopping malls, other key accounts, e-commerce channels; set stretch but achievable sales objectives, targets and programs, and coordinate implementation.
• Develop, execute and deliver the new direct selling plans of the fragrance and makeup in the department store channel with creation of the new luxury sales organization.
• Manage the preparation of budgets, plans and forecasts for Luxury business in line with the annual planning cycle, including quarterly revisions in line with corporate requirements.
• Working together with the distributor, lead the development and execution of channel and account plans to achieve monthly and annual targets and ensure that all channels consistently deliver sustainable customer and category growth, and profitability.
• Lead and manage the distributor’s contractual obligations, including but not limited to distribution, merchandising, pricing, promotions, conditions of sale, customer service standards and other key strategies to meet sales and profit targets, and ensure customer plans are consistent with both channel and brand plans.
• Oversee the distributor in the delivery and execution of trade marketing, field sales and merchandising activities in line with operational and strategic objectives.
• Collaborate closely and effectively with the Marketing Director, Marketing and PR teams, to ensure strategies are developed and executed in a timely and effective manner in line with divisional and corporate objectives.
• Ensure all trade spend, sales accounting and administration procedures are strictly adhered to as per company policy and ensure consistent application of cost control policies for direct and indirect expenses on a national basis.

Relationship Management:

• Lead in the development of strong relationships with key retailers at senior levels across all channels with particular focus on the department store buyers and support the distributor in high level negotiations to deliver necessary outcomes.
• Lead in the development of strong relationships with the Fashion House at senior levels
• Cultivate effective working relationships with divisional and functional heads and partner with the leadership team to support the delivery of overall business success.
• Liaise and network across the broader Coty sales organization regionally and globally to develop functional networks and leverage best practices.
• Provide high level representation at meetings and conferences, including at both external customer, supplier, trade and industry meetings, and internal Coty regional and global meetings.
• Create the new Luxury sales organization working with the key local and regional stakeholders.

People Leadership:

• Recruit, develop, inspire, retain colleagues in the team and rotate top talent.
• Take ownership and drive the short, med and long-term career planning and development plans for all people in the department.
• Identify key people in the department who are able to assume broader challenges and be an advocate for them on advancement opportunities.
• Lead, develop and manage the Distributor capabilities, inspire confidence and positively motivate the team to deliver a high standard of team performance.
• Host Distributor workshops, team meetings and development activities, to promote a high level of employee engagement and team success.

Other special requirements for the position

Critical success factors

• Strategic thinking – able to see beyond the 12-month horizon and drive long range strategy and business planning in partnership with the leadership team
• Executive maturity and confidence – able to set an example for positive interaction with executives and senior leaders, present confidently and maintain composure in stressful situations
• Leadership – able to lead by example, inspire, motivate, engage and drive results through others ensuring alignment to organizational priorities, goals and targets
• Planning, organizing and coordinating – able to plan and coordinate efforts both within areas of functional responsibility and across divisions and geographies
• Change leader – able to embrace and accelerate change in a fast-paced environment and pioneer new ideas and approaches
• Results focused – able to focus personal, individual and team efforts on the achievement of sales targets and overall business results
• Commercial acumen and entrepreneurship – possess a deep understanding of the commercial imperatives of the business and retailer and customer needs, identifies opportunities and uses sound commercial judgment to capitalize on opportunities.

Qualifications and Experience

• 10+ years demonstrated experience in senior leadership sales positions including national account management and category management experience
• Solid experience with the industry trade customer relationship in FMCG with a sales background in the luxury/prestige category within the department stores and other beauty retailers and channels
• Has extensive experience in managing training and merchandising teams directly
• Tertiary qualifications in management or related discipline highly regarded.

Special Requirements

• Ensure all activities comply with Coty policies and legal and ethical standards.
• Preparedness and ability to travel both domestic and internationally as required.