Associate Trade Marketing Manager - South Korea, Japan, Hongkong & Taiwan

JOB SUMMARY

• The Trade Marketing Manager – South Korea Cluster is responsible for developing and executing Trade Marketing, Category Growth and Shopper Activation strategies across South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong & Taiwan with a primary focus on South Korea & Japan.
• This role acts as a key business partner to Business Development Managers, distributors, key customers and regional marketing teams to accelerate sell-in and sell-out performance, strengthen market execution and maximize the growth of BIC categories.
• The position owns the Integrated Commercial Activation Plan for the cluster, ensuring best-in-class execution across channels, customers and distributors while developing strong shopper, customer and category insights to drive sustainable market share growth, distribution expansion and profitable sales. The role serves as the bridge between strategy and execution, ensuring that BIC’s priorities are translated into impactful in-market activities that deliver measurable business results.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

A. Trade Marketing Strategy & Planning

• Develop and implement annual Trade Marketing and Commercial Activation Plans for all categories across the cluster.
• Build channel-specific growth strategies for Modern Trade, General Trade, Convenience, Wholesale and E-Commerce.
• Define category, customer and channel priorities aligned with business objectives.
• Establish monthly, quarterly & annual promotional calendars and activation plans to drive sell-out growth.
• Identify market opportunities, risks and competitive threats and recommend corrective actions.
• Ensure alignment between Trade Marketing plans, sales priorities and budget objectives.

B. Category Management & Revenue Growth Management

• Drive category growth through assortment optimisation, portfolio prioritisation and pricing recommendations.
• Define must-stock and must-sell product ranges by channel and customer.
• Lead portfolio reviews and SKU rationalisation initiatives.
• Support Revenue Growth Management initiatives aimed at improving profitability, mix and value growth.
• Monitor category performance, market share evolution and channel trends.
• Develop customer and channel-specific recommendations based on shopper and market insights.

C. In-Market Execution Excellence

• Ensure flawless execution of promotional activities, visibility initiatives and activation plans.
• Develop and deploy POSM, merchandising tools and visibility standards.
• Establish execution scorecards and monitor compliance across distributors and customers.
• Track distribution, visibility and availability KPIs.
• Implement best practices across cluster markets and share execution success stories.
• Conduct regular trade visits and market audits to monitor execution quality.

D. Consumer, Shopper & Customer Understanding

• Develop a deep understanding of shopper behaviour, purchasing drivers and channel dynamics.
• Analyze internal and external market data to identify growth opportunities.
• Monitor category, customer and competitor activities and recommend action plans.
• Translate insights into actionable trade marketing initiatives.
• Support the development of customer-specific activation and category growth plans.

E. Distributor Capability Building

• Act as the Trade Marketing lead for distributor engagement and capability development.
• Train and coach distributor sales and merchandising teams on execution standards, category management and promotional excellence.
• Ensure distributors understand and execute BIC priorities consistently.
• Establish review processes and performance tracking with distributors.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to raise execution standards across the cluster.

F. Digital & E-Commerce Development

• Support the development of BIC’s e-commerce and omnichannel strategy in the cluster.
• Identify opportunities to enhance product visibility and conversion across digital platforms.
• Work with distributors and customers to implement digital activation initiatives.
• Monitor online assortment, pricing and promotional compliance.
• Support digital content deployment and online execution excellence.

G. Financial & Budget Management

• Manage Trade Marketing investments and ensure effective budget utilization.
• Track promotional ROI and recommend optimisation opportunities.
• Monitor expenditure versus approved budgets.
• Ensure trade marketing activities generate a measurable contribution to sales and profitability.
• Support forecasting and annual planning processes.

H. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Business Development Managers, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain and Regional Teams.
• Coordinate agencies, suppliers and external partners to deliver projects on time and within budget.
• Ensure timely communication of business results, market learnings and activation outcomes.
• Support regional and global initiatives where relevant.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Business Growth

• Net Sales Growth vs Budget
• Distributor Sell-Out Growth vs Prior Year
• Market Share Growth (where measured)

Distribution & Availability

• Numeric (ND)  & Weighted (WD)  Distribution Growth
• Availability of Priority SKUs

Trade Execution Excellence

• Promotional Execution Compliance
• Visibility / Share of Shelf Achievement
• New Product Launch Execution

Distributor Performance

• Distributor Trade Marketing Scorecard Achievement
• Execution Standards Compliance
• Capability Building & Training Completion

Financial Management

• Trade Marketing Budget Management
• Promotional ROI Achievement2
• Cost Control & Investment Efficiency

REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Marketing, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in Trade marketing, Business development or Sales in the FMCG industry
• Exposure to North East Asia markets
• Proven proficiency in negotiating and managing Joint Business Plans with diverse customers, including National Distributors, Traditional outlets, international mass markets, and online players.
• Strong analytical skills and financial acumen, with the ability to process and manage data from market visits, distributors, and market intelligence sources.
• Proven ability to manage and prioritize workload effectively, with experience in stress management and extensive travel.
• Excellent negotiation, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Strategic thinking and analytical abilities.
• Financial acumen and budget management skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environmentProficiency in English is required

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BIC World is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We strongly commit to hiring people with different backgrounds and experiences to help us build better products, make better decisions, and better serve our customers. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, disability status, or similar characteristics. All employment is decided based on qualifications, merit, and business need.

BIC World is not seeking assistance or accepting unsolicited resumes from search firms for this employment opportunity. Regardless of past practice, all resumes submitted by search firms to any team member at BIC via email, or directly to a BIC team member in any form without a valid written search agreement in place for that position will be deemed the sole property of BIC, and no fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by BIC as a result of the referral or through other means.