Senior Ecommerce Manager – Commercial Trading & Strategy

About the Role:

The Senior Ecommerce Manager is a senior commercial leadership role, responsible for setting and delivering the ecommerce trading, inventory and marketing strategy across a client account or vertical.

This role goes beyond front-end ecommerce performance. You will take commercial ownership of how stock, product mix, margin, marketing investment and customer demand come together to drive sustainable growth.

You will lead the development of trading strategies aligned to buying cycles, product launches and inventory plans, ensuring that merchandising, marketing and operational teams are working towards a unified commercial objective.

You’ll be responsible for understanding and influencing stock health, sell-through, stock cover, margin performance and product lifecycle, using this insight to shape promotional strategy, visual merchandising, marketing investment and customer acquisition activity.

Acting as the bridge between the Ecommerce Manager layer and the Head of Ecommerce, you will provide strategic direction to your team while leading senior stakeholders across buying, merchandising, finance, marketing and operations. You will own the commercial narrative for your accounts and have the confidence to challenge decisions where stock, margin or customer demand are not aligned.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Trading, Inventory & Commercial Performance 

• Own the overall ecommerce trading strategy for your accounts, with responsibility for revenue, conversion, AOV, COS, ROAS, margin, sell-through, stock cover and inventory health.
• Develop trading strategies that are directly aligned to buying cycles, range plans, product launches, seasonal priorities and inventory positions.
• Take commercial ownership of stock performance, working with merchandising and finance teams to develop strategies for stock optimisation, clearance, markdowns and margin protection.
• Lead cross-functional alignment between ecommerce, merchandising, buying and operations to ensure a unified approach to achieving optimal stock levels and product mix.
• Monitor stock depth, width, availability, sell-through and aged inventory, identifying risks and opportunities and translating these into clear commercial actions.
• Use inventory insight to influence promotional strategy, product prioritisation, onsite visibility and marketing investment.
• Ensure the trading calendar reflects both customer demand and the commercial realities of the buying and inventory cycle.
• Identify opportunities to maximise full-price sales, improve sell-through and minimise aged or excess stock while protecting margin.
• Own the strategic approach to product lifecycle management, from launch and newness through to seasonal transitions, markdowns and end-of-life.
• Oversee site performance and customer journey optimisation, using data, customer behaviour and CRO insight to identify opportunities for sustainable growth.
• Lead competitor, pricing, promotional and market analysis to ensure clients remain commercially competitive.

Merchandising, Product & Visual Strategy

• Develop the overarching digital product and merchandising strategy in partnership with buying and category leaders.
• Attend brand and product showcases to understand upcoming product ranges, key USPs, product features, seasonal stories and commercial priorities.
• Translate product showcase insights into clear digital product strategies, including taxonomy, categorisation, onsite hierarchy, visual storytelling and content requirements.
• Define visual merchandising direction for key launches, seasonal campaigns and commercial events, ensuring the site reflects stock and margin priorities.
• Work with buying and category teams to establish product priority lists and inventory depth targets for key trading periods.
• Ensure ecommerce plans are informed by range architecture, product availability and anticipated customer demand.
• Develop merchandising capability and processes within the wider ecommerce team, embedding best practice and consistent ways of working.

Marketing & Channel Leadership

• Own the overarching multi-channel marketing strategy across SEO, PPC, Paid Social, CRM, Affiliates and Influencers.
• Lead channel strategy and investment decisions based on commercial performance, inventory health, margin and customer acquisition efficiency.
• Ensure marketing spend is dynamically aligned to product availability, stock depth, margin targets and strategic trading priorities.
• Use attribution modelling, customer data and channel performance insight to optimise budget allocation and improve CAC efficiency.
• Balance new customer acquisition with CLV, retention and profitability objectives.
• Identify where additional marketing investment can accelerate sell-through of priority or overstocked products without unnecessarily diluting margin.
• Challenge channel teams to demonstrate clear commercial contribution and ensure marketing activity supports the wider trading strategy.
• Develop sophisticated forecasts to inform channel budgets, sales targets and inventory-led trading decisions.
• Partner with creative, brand and data teams to ensure campaign execution reflects product priorities and commercial objectives.

Returns & Customer Insight

• Take strategic ownership of returns performance, identifying trends, root causes and commercial impact.
• Partner with buying, category, customer service and operational teams to reduce avoidable returns and improve product performance.
• Use returns data, customer feedback and behavioural insight to influence product content, imagery, sizing information and onsite communication.
• Identify products or categories with high return rates and develop cross-functional action plans to improve customer understanding and reduce return-related costs.
• Incorporate customer and returns insight into broader product, merchandising and trading strategies.

Buying, Merchandising & Finance Partnership

• Build strong strategic relationships with senior buying, category and merchandising stakeholders.
• Partner with Finance to understand margin performance, P&L impact, stock valuation and commercial trade-offs.
• Work with buying leaders to ensure digital trading plans are aligned to range development, launch readiness and buying-cycle roadmaps.
• Challenge product mix, stock depth and promotional decisions using ecommerce, inventory and customer data.
• Establish shared commercial objectives across ecommerce, buying, merchandising, finance and operations.
• Lead regular reviews of stock health, margin, sell-through and trading performance, ensuring risks are identified early and action plans are clearly owned.

Client & Stakeholder Management

• Act as the senior commercial point of contact for your clients, building trusted, strategic relationships.
• Own the commercial and strategic narrative for your accounts, translating complex trading, inventory and marketing data into clear recommendations.
• Lead QBRs, monthly business reviews and strategic planning sessions, presenting performance, risks, opportunities and forward-looking recommendations.
• Confidently challenge clients and internal stakeholders where decisions may negatively impact stock health, margin or commercial performance.
• Balance client ambition with operational capacity and commercial reality.
• Ensure client priorities are translated into clear actions across internal ecommerce, merchandising, marketing and operational teams.

Team Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead, manage and develop a team of Ecommerce Managers and Executives.
• Set clear expectations around trading, merchandising, commercial analysis and data-led decision making.
• Develop the team's capability across inventory-led trading, visual merchandising, product lifecycle management and commercial optimisation.
• Coach team members to understand the relationship between stock, margin, customer demand and marketing performance.
• Establish consistent processes and best practice across trading and merchandising activity.
• Identify capability gaps and lead projects to improve the team's overall commercial effectiveness.
• Create a culture of ownership, accountability and continuous improvement.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Project Ownership

• Lead complex cross-functional projects spanning ecommerce, buying, merchandising, finance, marketing, logistics and operations.
• Champion a unified approach to stock, trading and commercial performance across all relevant departments.
• Own strategic initiatives from initial opportunity identification through to implementation, measurement and optimisation.
• Establish clear project governance, milestones, responsibilities and success measures.
• Ensure projects deliver measurable improvements in revenue, margin, stock efficiency, customer experience or operational performance.
• Share market insight, commercial best practice and strategic learnings across the wider ecommerce function.

What We’re Looking For:

• Significant senior ecommerce experience spanning commercial trading, merchandising and digital marketing, ideally within a retailer, DTC, agency or managed services environment.
• Proven experience managing inventory-led trading and stock performance within an ecommerce or retail environment.
• Strong understanding of stock cover, sell-through, inventory depth and width, product lifecycle, aged stock and stock optimisation.
• Demonstrable experience partnering with buying, merchandising/category and finance leaders to make commercial decisions.
• Proven experience developing merchandising capability, processes and best practice.
• Strong commercial understanding of margin, P&L, COS, markdowns, promotional mechanics and profitability.
• Experience influencing product mix and inventory strategy based on customer demand, trading performance and commercial objectives.
• Strong understanding of visual merchandising and the ability to translate product and buying strategy into digital execution.
• Experience analysing returns data and implementing strategies to reduce return rates.
• Strong understanding of digital marketing channels including SEO, PPC, Paid Social, CRM, Affiliates and Influencers.
• Experience using attribution, customer and performance data to optimise marketing investment and improve CAC efficiency.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams across ecommerce, merchandising, buying, finance, marketing and operations.
• Strong project management experience, with demonstrable ownership of complex commercial initiatives from strategy through to delivery.
• Proven people leadership experience, with the ability to develop capability and drive high performance.
• Highly analytical and commercially astute, with the ability to turn complex data into clear strategic decisions.
• Excellent stakeholder and client management skills, with confidence influencing senior stakeholders and challenging decisions constructively.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, high-accountability environment with multiple competing priorities.