Fractional Head of Ecommerce for outdoor brands.
Ongoing senior ecommerce leadership, embedded in the business for part of each month, for brands whose ecommerce operation has outgrown ad hoc decisions.
When it is useful.
- Ecommerce has grown beyond the founder’s ability to lead it day to day.
- There is an ecommerce team, and no experienced senior ecommerce leader above it.
- Revenue is growing, while profitability, retention or prioritisation is weak.
- Agencies and specialists are active, and nobody owns the whole commercial picture.
- A permanent Head of Ecommerce is not yet justified, or not yet found.
The typical remit.
The exact remit depends on the business. Across most engagements it covers some or all of the following.
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Strategy and the commercial roadmap
What the ecommerce business should do this quarter, in what order, and what each move is worth.
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P&L and trading
The trading calendar, promotional planning, margin and the weekly numbers, owned by someone senior.
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Acquisition economics
What a customer costs to acquire by channel, and what that customer is worth once repeat orders are counted.
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CRM, retention and subscriptions
Second and third orders, lifecycle programmes and subscriptions: the lifetime value that pays for acquisition.
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Conversion and the customer journey
Product pages, merchandising and checkout, prioritised by commercial value.
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The team and the agencies
Leading the ecommerce team, setting briefs and targets for agencies, and reading their reporting from the client side of the table.
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Reporting and platform decisions
One set of numbers the business agrees on, and a considered view on platform and roadmap choices before they become expensive.
What the first thirty days look like.
The first month is spent learning the business properly, so the plan that comes out of it rests on evidence and on the people who will deliver it.
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Understand the numbers
Trading, margin, acquisition costs and retention, and the commercial model behind them: how the business makes money online, and where the reports disagree with each other.
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Meet the people doing the work
The ecommerce team, the agencies, and the colleagues in finance, product and customer service that ecommerce depends on. What each is measured on, and what they think is holding things back.
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Find the constraints and the leakage
Where revenue and margin are being lost, what is slowing the team down, and which opportunities are worth the most for the effort they take.
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Agree the priorities and the rhythm
A short list of priorities, each with an owner, and a regular cadence around them: the weekly numbers, the trading meeting and the agency reviews.
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Set a practical ninety day plan
Written down, with an owner and a number on every line, so the team knows what happens next and what can wait.
By the end of it you have what a Growth Review delivers: ten evidenced opportunities ranked by what each is worth, three agreed as immediate priorities, seven sequenced behind them, a live decision session with you and your team, and a written ninety day plan.
How embedded working runs.
A set number of days each month, agreed at the start. I join the leadership meetings that matter to ecommerce, work directly with the team and the agencies, and hold the ecommerce numbers week to week.
After the first month the ninety day plan is worked with you, and rebuilt each quarter from what the numbers say.
Alongside your team and agencies.
The role is leadership: deciding, prioritising, briefing and holding the result. Email flows, adverts, theme changes and development tickets stay with the people and agencies best placed to deliver them, now with a clearer brief and one commercial number to work towards.
Where a gap in capability shows up, I set out what kind of specialist is needed and help you find one. Scale and Summit is independent of implementation, and your existing team and partners come first.
Questions that usually come up
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How much time does it involve?
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It depends on the business. Time is agreed as a number of days each month, set from what the first month finds, and reviewed every quarter as the business changes.
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Is the work remote or on site?
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A mix, agreed at the start. Most of the work runs remotely, and time on site is planned around the moments that benefit from being in the room, such as the first weeks, trading reviews and team sessions. I am based in Skipton and work with brands across the UK.
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Do you join leadership and trading meetings?
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Yes. The leadership meetings that touch ecommerce and the regular trading meeting are where the role does much of its work, so they are built into the time agreed.
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Do you lead the ecommerce team directly?
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Usually, yes. Setting priorities, running one to ones and helping the team develop are part of the role. How the reporting lines work is agreed with you at the start, so nobody is left unsure who they answer to.
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How does this work with our existing agencies?
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An agency usually owns a channel or a delivery discipline. The fractional role sits above that: setting briefs and targets, reading agency reporting from the client side of the table, and deciding what each agency should work on first. Good agencies tend to welcome a clear brief and one commercial number to work towards.
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What happens when something needs building or implementing?
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Scale and Summit is independent of implementation. Where delivery support is needed, I work with your existing team and partners first. Blueprint Yorkshire, my ecommerce delivery business, is available where it is the right fit, and there is never an obligation to use it.
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When is a permanent hire the better answer?
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When ecommerce needs someone every day, in the building, with a team reporting to them full time. Fractional leadership often covers the period before that hire. I can help write the role brief, sit in on interviews and hand over directly to the person you appoint.
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How is it priced?
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A monthly fee, set by the time involved and agreed before the work starts. It rolls month to month with thirty days notice on either side. There is no percentage of advertising spend.
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Do you work outside the outdoor sector?
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The focus is outdoor, sport and endurance brands and adjacent active consumer brands. The work transfers to any established ecommerce business, so it is worth a conversation if yours sits just outside that.
Give ecommerce clear senior ownership.
If ecommerce has become too important to manage around the edges, a fractional Head of Ecommerce can give it clear senior ownership without adding another permanent hire.