Steve Friend: E-commerce & Digital Marketing Specialist in Chicago, IL

McDavid USA Inc.: Woodridge, IL A leading designer and manufacturer of sports medicine, sports protection, and sports performance apparel for active people and athletes worldwide. McDavid operates both domestically and internationally through subsidiaries, distributors, and mass merchant dealers like Sports Authority, Dicks Sporting Goods, Modell’s, Academy Sports, GSI, Sports Chalet, and Amazon. McDavid is a privately held $60 Million branded manufacturing company. E-commerce & Digital Marketing Specialist 6/2014-Present • Merchandising of the B2C and B2B McDavidUSA ecommerce websites including SKU attribute updates, images, copy, and new product SKU builds. Daily product and website maintenance. Taxonomy/categorical structure updates, blog editorial publishing, and back up for customer service web-order issues/escalation. Daily marketplace channel management for Amazon, the McDavid Ebay Store, and Google PLA data shopping feeds. • Creation and execution of 6-12 month e-commerce web content/email campaign calendars for new product, promotions, and graphic elements to support unified branding/channel experience for digital and social engagement. • Manage (MAP) Minimum Advertised Price Policy and Authorized Reseller Program, restructure of internal MAP/reseller process, compliance, and violation enforcement guidelines for all internet selling. Decreased online MAP violations by 75% in first 3 months through analysis/diagnosis/execution on 3rd party vendor monitoring algorithmic data. Responsible for mass merchant digital asset management for Dicks Sporting Goods, Sports Authority, Modell’s, Academy, GSI, and 100+ other dealer accounts. • Google Analytics monitoring for trends and changes in website traffic. Developing strategies for increased traffic and conversion rates to maximize B2C revenue. Annual product forecasting for all D2C McDavid internet channels. • Weekly digital advertising PPC/PLA/Remarketing management and performance monitoring. 3rd party vendor management for digital media contract maintenance, negotiations, prospecting and follow up. • Project manager for 2015 responsive ecommerce re-platform and website redesign. Responsible for RFP structuring and release, prospecting correspondence, and alignment of technical ERP/CMS/IT/UI/UX integration requirements. Internal coordination with Sr. Executive Leadership on project and platform solution suggestions, budget, and technical needs. • Manage ecommerce and digital budgets; reports to VP of Global Marketing. Topco Associates LLC.: Elk Grove Village, IL A $11.9 Billion privately held company that provides aggregation, innovation and knowledge management solutions for leading food, grocery and general merchandise industry member-owners and customers. Topco leverages the collective volume, knowledge and commitment of clients and companies to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace by reducing costs and offering winning business-building services and capabilities. Associate E-Commerce Merchant – Temporary Contract 2/2014-6/2014 • SKU management and merchandising functions for navigational taxonomy, categorical structures and display additions for all feed website assets and new small business portal e-commerce initiatives. • Product assortment creation and uploads of 15,000+ SKUs for national drop ship program with partner providers, suppliers, and distributors such as United Stationers, Grainger, and Office Max including product copywriting, data attribute assignment, and image naming for all Member.com clients and Topco e-commerce initiatives. • Daily work in PIM product management & e-commerce tools specific to software programs Riversand, Venda, and Commerce Hub for order management, fulfillment, and website merchandising. • Facilitating Meta Data tag and code information audits for asset websites and on page comparisons to industry leaders and reporting on findings with suggestive corrective measures. UAT user acceptance testing for UI/UX environment studies, database, frontend, and e-commerce display/functionality inefficiencies, errors, and misalignments. Fanatics Inc.: Chicago, IL A leading online retailer of officially licensed sports merchandise and a Top 50 Internet Retailer Company. In addition to house brands Fanatics (www.fanatics.com) and FansEdge (www.fansedge.com), Fanatics powers the e-commerce sites of all major professional sports leagues and media brands (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, PGA, ESPN, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Fox Sports) and more than 200 collegiate and professional properties. Fanatics has over 1000 employees across 3 regional offices, over 1 million sq. ft. of warehouse space, and shipping to over 140 countries worldwide. Fanatics is a $3 Billion company. Lead Product Catalog Coordinator – Hard Goods 10/2010-8/2013 • Maintained database integrity for over 225,000 product SKUs within the Hard Goods domain. Executed all product builds and merchandising for Hard Goods buyers including the assigning of product attributes, descriptions, titles, and copywriting for over 50,000 new product SKUs. Executed product content migration across new platforms along with all data attributes. • Communicated with product vendors to coordinate SKU set-ups, mass image uploads, and product line information for all major sports league licensed products. • Owned the Mounted Memories memorabilia/collectibles business from product build to data integrity management. Aided in category SKU renovation for product line uniformity. Assisted in the annual Mounted Memories Autograph Show Convention facilitating professional and hall of fame athlete signings both public and private. Web Photo Store Manager (concurrent to above role) 6/2011-8/2013 • Manage partnerships with MLB.com, NBA.com, and NHL.com Photo Stores both regular and off-season while facilitating all online merchandise management including daily Getty image selection, image cropping, re-formatting, batch processing, categorization, tagging and CMS uploading for all Photo Store web catalogs. • Weekly data reporting, analyzing, and collaboration with Chicago and Florida e-commerce teams addressing NYC client contractual needs and timely deliverables. Built site categorization, navigation, and image conventions for Photo Store sites (www.mlbphotos.com, www.photostore.nba.com, www.photostore.nhl.com). Stevin Gold Lifestyle Brand: Chicago, IL A global luxury streetwear brand (www.stevingold.com) that manufactures, retails, and wholesales men’s leather footwear, accessories, apparel, and jewelry. Major online retailers include www.shop.hypebeast.com, and www.karmaloop.com. Employs 5 remote business marketing interns nationwide and ships to over 15 countries worldwide. Creative Director & Founder 10/2009-Present • Created business from ground up including all operations specific to brand strategy, brand design, product design, manufacturing, production, marketing and sales. Adheres to all Illinois Business and Federal small business authorizations. • Source all international manufacturing and production for product lines in accordance with current importing and global manufacturing regulations. Manage all seasonal product cycles through to completion including packaging and shipping. • Configured the backend e-commerce website platform, customized frontend visual layout, online merchandising, and company trade show collateral with proper print and web file types. • Directed all product photo shoots with professional photographers and assisted in allocation of studio and equipment. • Designed all graphics, lookbooks, and web content including post-production image manipulation and design. • Exhibited the brand at AGENDA National Trade Show in Long Beach, California Jan. 2013. Secured major retail vendor placement followed by selling out both online fashion retailers www.karmaloop.com and store.hypebeast.com within first launch year.