Director of e-commerce for a chain of medical laboratories

The management of a federal laboratory diagnostics company decided to seriously develop an online sales unit, as they saw the digital future as a big growth point. The position of e-commerce director was absolutely new for the company: the manager in charge had to analyze the business, create a development strategy for the e-commerce unit and the product line, and fulfil the set tasks for the company's benefit. In particular, the top manager was tasked with monetizing the customer experience by developing personalized products for different categories of customers, which meant developing Big Data at the company. The top manager also had to establish cooperation with external partners through online channels and form a department of online marketing and digital products.

At that time, the market for medical services was not highly digitalized, and in most companies, online promotion was handled by a single specialist in the marketing structure. In this particular case, a whole new approach was required – a strategic position, a comprehensive view, and a fundamentally different level of responsibility. Therefore it was immediately determined that such people should be sought in the most "advanced" industries in terms of digitalization: e-commerce, retail, service sector.

The implication was that the head of e-commerce should be able to communicate with shareholders and be persuasive in defending his decisions, as well as easily motivate both project teams and his own one. A big plus for the candidate was the experience of setting up their own business.

Clearly understanding the profile of the employee, the Kontakt InterSearch Russia team formed a long-list of 11 candidates, mostly from the marketplace and retail industry. The client met with two candidates on the list and immediately selected a finalist – a top manager of an e-commerce company. The employer was not ready to outbid for the employee, so Kontakt InterSearch Russia consultants emphasized other advantages of the position. These included: the opportunity to become a pioneer in the healthcare segment launching such a project, full autonomy and carte blanche to make decisions, expert status for all other executives, and the growth of the diagnostics market after the pandemic.

A large team was assembled specifically for the new leader. Now, the company is progressively implementing its planned strategy. It has developed its website into an ecosystem that sells services and products and launched a custom app and other digital customer support channels. The Big Data project is in progress, partnerships with other platforms have been concluded. All this is part of the company's global digitalization project and systematically leads to business scaling and revenue growth.