Editor’s note: The original story left out a newly named vice president. Derek Miller is now the VP of Sporting Goods.
Quiksilver restructured its North American sales force Tuesday, aligning sales teams around different distribution channels.
Approximately 17 positions in the sales force of about 200 people were eliminated, however executives emphasized the changes were not about cutting costs. The company is creating a new sales structure to better tackle the opportunity available in different distribution channels, John Graham, SVP of Americas Wholesale, said in an interview.
Territory sales structure
Quiksilver is calling the independent, specialty accounts ranging from high-volume core accounts to a single-door surf shop its territory business. SVP Taylor Whisenand will lead the territory sales division for apparel and footwear for both Roxy and Quiksilver; a channel with about 900 accounts.
Reporting to Taylor will be four newly appointed directors: Mike Reilly, Director of Roxy and Quiksilver sales in the West; Jaci Schroeder, Director of Roxy and Quiksilver sales in the East; Jefferson Pang, Director of DC Specialty Footwear and Apparel Sales; and Dave Kozak, who will handle snow sales across the brands for the specialty market.
Under those sales leaders will be a combination of independent reps and in-house sales people: some will sell a single brand or category and some will sell multiple brands or categories, depending on the size of the region. Quiksilver has brought in-house some large accounts that used to be handled by independent reps, such as Amazon, and in those cases the reps may have been given more brands or categories to sell in their regions, John said.
Cathedral accounts
Quiksilver has designated about 30 accounts in the specialty/core market as cathedral accounts.
These are high volume, larger doors which sell a lot of Quiksilver product and have the space to showcase brands fully.
The goal with cathedral accounts is to develop an intimate relationship with them, and to offer those accounts the best product, the best service, and the best presentation – essentially the best expression of the brand, John said.
Quiksilver wants to help these stores tell a premium story with premium products and to help connect Quiksilver athletes to consumers. It also wants these accounts to preview product before the rest of the marketplace, and will share data with them on how products are performing in Quiksilver’s own retail division.
Former Americas President Rob Colby, now EVP of Business Development, will oversee the cathedral account strategy, John said.
It is more a strategic, visionary role than a day-to-day sales role, John said.
“Rob has the brains, the legitimacy and the heritage with Quiksilver,” John said. He is also popular with retailers.
Rob will report on a dotted line to John and on a dotted line to the executive committee.
Taylor, whose territory teams will execute the day-to-day work for the cathedral accounts, will report directly to John.
In all, the territory accounts including cathedral doors comprise about 25% of the company’s North America revenue, John said.
And, according to ActionWatch, Quiksilver and Roxy are doing well in the channel, and remain among the top brands in terms of revenue, market share, and other metrics.
“We are making these changes at a time when our brands are strong,” John said.
See Page 2 for the key account structure, changes in Canada
Key accounts
For key accounts, Quiksilver is also aligning around channels of distribution and is brand agnostic. The key national accounts contribute about 73% of total company sales.
In this wing of the sales organization, Deanna Jackson is the SVP of Apparel and Kiki Prince is the SVP of Footwear.
New roles include John Hunt, formerly of O’Neill and Karmaloop, as the new VP of Sales for Department Stores, and Maria Barnes, formerly of Roxy, Oakley and Quiksilver, as the new VP of Teen Chains and Ecommerce Wholesale.
Derek Miller is the new VP of Sporting Goods and has 20 years of experience in action sports. A new VP of Family Footwear/Mall is in the final stages of the hiring process.
These four VPs for key accounts will report to Deanna and Kiki.
Also new is Pam Gobright, who will take on the role of VP of Retail Planning. Pam will help manage the planning and forecasting process for territory, cathedral and key accounts to make the selling process more efficient.
She will also help decide where Quiksilver’s 11 visual merchandisers spend their time.
Changes in Canada
The sales organization in Canada is being reorganized to a more efficient model, John said, with approximately 10 positions eliminated (those jobs are included in the 17 positions mentioned above).
Shane Hutton is the new VP of Canada sales, and will be based in Toronto.
Creating the plan
Creating the new sales structure took four months of planning and analysis, with John, CEO Andy Mooney and Executive Chairman Bob McKnight going on the road to talk to many key accounts and meeting with retailers at trade shows.
John stressed that core/specialty stores that are not considered cathedral accounts will still receive support and attention, with spending on fixtures, windows and other POS in tact.
“They will not be serviced less,” he said.
The cathedral account strategy, however, clarifies where the company will focus the most investment and the most effort to improve the presentation and positioning of its brands.
The cathedral account focus is similar to one created and employed by Hurley under former Nike VP of Action Sports, Roger Wyett–a strategy that continues at Hurley today.
Andy Mooney foreshadowed changes coming to the company’s strategy on Quiksilver’s earnings call last week, and indicated that Europe’s sales force will also be realigned in the future.
To read more about Mooney’s developing distribution strategy, see our stories from last week’s earnings conference call:
Mooney’s assessment of the eroding wholesale core account base
Quiksilver plans for SMU for large mall accounts
Interesting developments for DC
Changes to marketing at Quiksilver, including athlete plans
Emerging markets, retail and ecommerce and overall Q1 Quiksilver results here
