National Accounts Sales Analyst - Target: Ghirardelli Chocolate Company

Key Job Responsibilities:

• Support achievement of key business objectives:
• Sales budget and share targets.
• Merchandising, assortment, pricing and shelving (MAPS) objectives with each customer.
• Account penetration with identified key decision makers and leveraging relationships to achieve desired business results.
• Assess trends, analyze data and identify key customer opportunities to help build strategic business plans.
• Utilize internal sales data, syndicated data and customer-specific POS to develop actionable insights, strategies and tactics.
• Generate weekly, monthly, 13-week and 52-week reports and category overviews.
• Provide analytical support for accurate demand consensus forecasting.
• Analyze, track and monitor basic and seasonal business results (sales, share, retail impact, etc.) versus objectives using designated tools (Cognos, Nielsen, Info Retriever, Workbench).
• Actively communicate project status, competitive activity and other business-critical information both internally and externally as needed.
• Coordinate Trade promotion activities (identify, validate and clear deductions, minimize aged deductions, estimate funds, create commitments, issue checks, monitor trade spending efficiency, etc.).
• Work with customer personnel to ensure on-time shipping, ASN tracking, resolve EDI issues, ensure proper inventory at customer facilities, process returns, resolve pricing errors, weekly order tracking, etc.
• Administration of new and existing item maintenance, promotional deal sheets, sample requisitions, product imaging, etc. for Target & Kmart.
• Assist in development of customer presentations, and attend customer meetings.

Skills Required:

• Extensive experience with Target systems and processes.
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving ability.
• Function independently while working within predefined standards.
• Must be able to manage multiple tasks, adapt to changing priorities, respond with urgency to requests and remain focused on strategic imperatives.
• Advanced skills in all sales technology and customer-specific business applications (Excel, Target POL and Info Retriever, Kmart IMA & Workbench, Nielsen).

Physical Demands/Working Conditions:

• Spends 15% of time interacting with key customers for purpose of influencing business results.
• Spends 10% of time observing conditions in retail outlets, delivering samples and sales material to customer locations, attending off-site sales meetings and performing other miscellaneous activities.
• Spends 5% of time lifting, carrying or moving product or equipment.
• Rare to Occasional ability to lift and carry up to 30 pounds
• Ability to travel to various locations across the country or local travel to meetings
• Travel up to 10% of the time.
• Please see HR for a complete list of physical demands

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Previous sales analyst experience in Consumer Products industry, preferably with Target.

Selection & Development

If you are a qualified candidate, please send your resume, INCLUDING SALARY REQUIREMENTS, to hrcorp@ghirardelli.lindt.com.

This job closes on November 30, 2009. Only qualified local candidates whose resumes are submitted by the closing date will be considered for this position. There is no sponsorship available for this position. There is no relocation available for this position.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.