JOB DESCRIPTION
JOB TITLE: Commercial Manager – Online
DEPARTMENT: Commercial
RESPONSIBLE TO: Head of Commercial
PARTICIPATING JOB HOLDER(S): Position Vacant
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OR DIRECTOR: Kathryn England
JOB DESCRIPTION REFERENCE NUMBER:
GRADE ALLOCATED:
JOB EVALUATION REVIEW HISTORY AND EXPLANATORY NOTES:
Outline of the role
As a senior member of the commercial team at ZSL, you will be working within an enthusiastic and
customer-focused environment, where objectives and outcomes directly impact upon the
organisations surplus generation and as such the achievement of its mission.
As the online Commercial Manager, you will take ownership of the revenue generating categories
for the organisation across web, tablet and mobile devices. You will have overall responsibility of
stock and site representation, forecasting sales trends which will affect the merchandise planning
decisions and ensuring that products are available on the site in order to maintain the profitability of
the website. You will also be involved in the development and in charge of the implementation of
the short, medium and long term online commercial plan for growth.
Key Accountabilities.
 Develop the trading site, maximising the offering, optimisation and customer







experience whilst making sure that the ZSL brand identity and values are adhered
to.
Analyse and report back on website analytics to optimise site visits, conversion and
online behaviour
Identify and drive new initiatives with a view to creating additional growth (customer
and revenue)
Ensure the site is constantly updated with brand appropriate content to engage
consumers
Identify opportunities for sales growth by monitoring best sellers, category traffic,
basket abandonment etc
Own and drive other facets of eCommerce such as Online Merchandising, customer
journey and cross/up selling.
Manage and develop the website on a daily basis at a strategic level in order to
deliver KPI's, and advising off the back of these.
Work closely with 3rd party agencies for Creative, Digital and PR to assist in the
project launch and build of a multi-platform site for a 2015 launch
Key Responsibilities
Product Information
 Product data management - ensure that all product data is on the ZSL e-commerce
website and the concession sites including images, descriptions, product detail and
prices.
 Manage the overall critical path to get product information and photography on to
the site on time and ensure all involved teams within the business are aware of
deadlines.
 Owner of the Ecommerce Range plan including ongoing development
 Ensure that the product feed is also full and correct for affiliates and search engines.
 Online Product Management – Ensure that products are creatively merchandised
while ensuring that products are simple to find, but yet maximising sale
opportunities.
Stock





Overall management of e-Commerce stock and involvement in the commercial plan
for growth
Stock Availability – alongside the merchandising team, monitor stock holding and
report weekly on the site cover and work to plan and maintain a sufficient stock
holding.
Maximise the profit contribution of e-Commerce sales through effective
management of stock levels and accurate forecasting of sales alongside the
merchandising team.
Liaise with the buying teams to supply web exclusive products and ranges, gift with
purchases and offers
Ensure inventory availability in advance of planned site launches, updates, marketing
campaigns and promotional activity
Page 2 of 5

Work with buying team to build range proposals to maximise sales opportunities and
profit
Analysis









Online sales forecasting – identify and report on trends in trading performance and
work with merchandiser to develop sales forecasts for peak trading periods online
Monitor and measure site performance, while using this to make recommendation
and improve performance. Use Google Analytics to understand the ZSL customer and
the journey that they are taking.
Measure online conversion and identify tactics internally and with third parties to
improve conversion rates.
Provide weekly product status reports
Report on product sales and think of tactics to improve sales
Identify areas of underperformance and develop strategies to improve
Monitor stock levels and analyse web sales versus store performance
Monitor competitor and web sales trends to ensure web offer and experience is in
line with customer expectations
Develop an in depth understanding of the customer requirements for all product
categories
PPC


PPC - work with our external PPC agency to monitor and improve the performance of
our key words, drive new customers, increase conversion and sales.
Work with concessions and wholesale partners to ensure that their PPC strategies do
not negatively impact our own
Team Responsibilities
 Test and ensure that all the allocated merchandise is live on the site and functional
at all times
 Coordinate product information from the buying teams for the product catalogues
 Ensure the correct classifications of product, ensuring all new styles are categorised
correctly for the customer
 Track product imagery, copy and stock availability to ensure products are posted live
on the website as soon as available in the warehouse
 Responsible for all product uploads and maintenance of catalogue including accurate
and customer centric product descriptions and images
 Ensure product prices are correct on the live site and in co-existing systems and
reports
 Coordinate and communicate pricing changes to the rest of the team
 Provide weekly sales, returns and stock movement reports to the Head of eCommerce
Page 3 of 5