Wholesale Channel Marketing Manager in Michigan City, Indiana at Peepers by Peeperspecs

Job Title: Wholesale Channel Marketing Manager
Reports to: Director of Marketing
FLSA Status: Full-time; Exempt

Purpose
The Wholesale Channel Marketing Manager is the strategic owner of marketing for the Peepers wholesale channel. This role exists to support the sales team in driving growth across every wholesale relationship Peepers has, from independent gift shops and optical accounts to large retail partners and online marketplaces, by bringing forward a constant flow of new ideas and strategic recommendations that move the business.
The Manager owns the wholesale marketing function end-to-end, including trade show strategy and advertising, the Peepers Perks program, the wholesale digital experience, Faire strategy, catalog strategy, retailer lifecycle marketing, and the wholesale marketing budget. The Wholesale Marketing Coordinator executes against the strategy this role defines.

Key Competencies
• Idea Generation and Channel Curiosity, bringing a steady stream of new thinking to the function
• Strategic Point of View, forming and defending recommendations
• Sales Partnership, operating as a peer to the Sales team rather than a downstream resource
• Budget Ownership and ROI Defense
• Wholesale and Retail Industry Knowledge
• Comfort with Both Strategy and Execution

Responsibilities
Wholesale Idea Pipeline and Strategic Recommendations
• Maintain a continuously evolving pipeline of new ideas for the wholesale channel, including trade show activations, advertising tests, retailer programs, foot-traffic drivers, digital experience improvements, and emerging channel opportunities.
• Bring new ideas forward to Sales and Marketing leadership on a regular cadence; prioritize, pilot, measure, and scale or kill.
• Serve as the wholesale marketing expert in the room. When questions arise, have ground in reasoning the team can trust, and stand behind it.
• Build measurement frameworks where they can meaningfully exist; make confident, defensible judgment calls where they can’t.
• Stay close to what other brands inside and outside eyewear are doing in wholesale, at shows, on Faire, in print, and in retailer programs, then translate that into ideas for Peepers.

Trade Show Strategy and Advertising
• Own the trade show marketing strategy across all shows Peepers participates in.
• Define the trade show advertising plan and budget allocation by show, including print, digital, and emerging formats. Make the call on what to invest in and defend the reasoning.
• Lead pre-show buyer engagement to drive foot traffic, including email cadence, appointment-setting campaigns, incentives, and targeted outreach to retailers who haven’t purchased recently.
• Develop on-the-floor activation strategy that creates excitement and gives buyers a reason to talk about the Peepers booth, including experiences, programming, photo moments, and after-hours touchpoints. Push for new and unexpected ideas season over season.
• Own post-show follow-up strategy in partnership with Sales, ensuring leads convert into orders and that marketing investment is traceable to revenue wherever possible.
• Continuously evaluate and propose new trade show advertising channels, formats, and tactics. Pilot, measure where possible, and form a point of view where measurement is limited.

Peepers Perks and Retailer Loyalty
• Own the ongoing evolution of the Peepers Perks loyalty program, including tier structure, rewards economics, communication plan, and retailer enrollment strategy.
• Measure program effectiveness against retention, reorder frequency, average order value, and category expansion among enrolled accounts.
• Identify and develop additional retailer-facing programs that deepen partnership and defend against competitive churn.
• Develop targeted programs to re-engage retailers who haven’t purchased in extended periods, and to drive existing retailers into additional product categories.

Wholesale Digital Experience
• Own the strategy for the wholesale website, including usability, navigation, ordering experience, content, and conversion. Partner with web/Shopify resources on execution.
• Own the Faire strategy, including merchandising, promotional cadence, paid placement decisions, and review/rating health.
• Identify friction points in the wholesale buying experience and prioritize fixes against impact.

Catalog and Sales Tool Strategy
• Own catalog strategy, including frequency, formats, audience segmentation, and distribution.
• Define the sales enablement system, including what tools reps need, when, and how they’re kept current.
• Set the strategy for line sheets, pitch decks, training materials, and seasonal selling tools.

Wholesale Communications and Lifecycle Marketing
• Own the wholesale email and SMS program strategy, segmented by retailer tier, purchase behavior, and lifecycle stage (new accounts, active, at-risk, lapsed).
• Develop nurture flows for new account onboarding, reorder prompts, seasonal campaigns, category expansion, and win-back.
• Ensure wholesale messaging is differentiated from DTC and speaks to retailer priorities, including sell-through, store traffic, and customer engagement.

Sales Partnership
• Serve as the senior marketing partner to the entire Sales team. Bring ideas to Sales proactively rather than waiting for requests.
• Establish standing communication rhythms with Sales (regular cadence, structured agendas) to align on priorities, share recommendations, and surface what’s working and what isn’t in the field.
• Translate Sales team input into strategy, and translate marketing strategy back to them in language that connects to their goals.

Creative and Cross-Functional Partnership
• Partner with the Creative Manager on wholesale creative storytelling, owning the what (audience, message, objective).
• Brief Creative on wholesale campaigns, trade show needs, catalog direction, and seasonal storytelling.
• Partner with the Marketing Project Manager on calendar alignment, ensuring wholesale timelines plug cleanly into the broader marketing calendar.
• Collaborate with Brand, Product Development, Customer Service, and external vendors to ensure the wholesale experience is consistent with the broader Peepers brand.

Budget, Measurement, and Reporting
• Own the wholesale marketing budget. Allocate, defend, and reforecast against ROI and strategic priorities.
• Build a wholesale marketing scorecard with KPIs by program, reported on a regular cadence to the Director of Marketing and Sales leadership.
• Make data-driven recommendations where data exists, and clear judgment-based recommendations where it doesn’t. Be honest about the difference.

Team Leadership
• Directly manage the Wholesale Marketing Coordinator, providing direction, prioritization, coaching, and feedback.
• Assess the wholesale marketing function structure on an ongoing basis and recommend adjustments to staffing, scope, or workflow as the channel evolves.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
• 5+ years of marketing experience, with at least 2 to 3 years focused on wholesale, B2B, or channel marketing in fashion, accessories, eyewear, or consumer products.
• Demonstrated experience owning trade show marketing strategy.
• Experience developing or managing retailer loyalty, co-op, or MDF programs strongly preferred.
• Strong point-of-view orientation, comfortable making and defending recommendations on questions without perfect data.
• Comfort with both strategy and execution; willing to roll up sleeves while also setting direction.
• Familiarity with Faire and other wholesale marketplaces.
• Strong cross-functional communication skills; able to partner with Sales as a peer.
• Naturally curious and idea-driven, bringing new thinking forward without prompting.
• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, or related field, or equivalent experience.

Physical Demands and Working Conditions
• Regularly required to talk and hear. Close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, and the ability to adjust focus.
• Viewing computer terminal, perceiving, and transcribing data with accuracy and keyboarding.
• Light work: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or up to 30 pounds of force frequently, and/or up to 10 pounds of force constantly to move objects.
• Work can require walking while carrying objects, stooping, kneeling, crouching, as well as grasping objects, and reaching with hands and arms.
• Required to stand; walk; sit for long durations.
• Travel required for trade shows (estimated 4 to 6 trips per year).
• Noise level is moderate.
• Reliable physical attendance is required.
• The employee is required to stay awake throughout the shift.