Mike Stromberg Email & Phone Number

Framingham, Ma, Us

Working with retailers to build their business by improving the emotional connection and engagement with their customers at the intersection of brand promise, merchandise and associate interaction.

My primary interests involve collaborating with small to mid-sized business owners and leaders to determine areas for change and improvement. I work with clients to clarify the present state of affairs and the desired future state goals to gather foundational business positioning, customer definition, and communication information. After these details are established, I set to work developing leadership processes designed to deliver lasting impact, while assisting clients with training in marketing and sales techniques and providing coaching to improve time management, task delegation, KPI development, and overall prioritization. My clients have responded positively, noting improvements in organizational communication practices, senior leadership team cohesion and effectiveness, and improved decision-making based on improved clarity in mission, values, and goals.

South Deerfield, Ma, Us

I oversaw all retail and e-commerce business facets, reporting directly to the CEO. Constant interaction and integration with the wholesale and manufacturing divisions was an integral component of success and in turn, I became close with the leaders in those areas. My areas of emphasis were grounded in the customer experience with the goal of maximizing engagement across channels. I also pursued projects involving the solidification of an integrated marketing calendar and I routinely analyzed the store portfolio in developing the long-term corporate real estate strategy. Under my direction, my team was able to deliver improved customer engagement across channels and minimize the impact of reduced mall traffic by clarifying retail store experience, merchandising approach, and omnichannel integration. Together, we recorded the highest Mother’s Day floor set revenue to date after launching an innovative in-store candle personalization program; maintained a two million households customer database; improved loyalty through dynamic emotional connection initiatives; and introduced a pop-up store project to update brand proposition with younger customers/prospects.

Cincinnati, Ohio, Us

As a partner, I consulted closely with clients to generate organizational innovation through improvements to marketing, retail merchandising, and brand positioning. Altogether, we maintained a holistic perspective collaborating with clients from initial recognition of business challenges, strategy discussions, design and redefinition of brand positioning, and final retail execution. Some of the most remarkable outcomes I influenced include:- Achieving a return to positive holiday same-store sales by creating a more compelling marketing, merchandising and promotional plan for a major specialty retailer.- Increasing sales, reducing OOS, and improving customer satisfaction for a large regional grocery chain by introducing a new marketing approach.- And working with the CEO of a fashion specialty retailer to re-position and re-merchandise the brand for a possible return from bankruptcy.

I guided the performance of the largest office of this international branding consultancy while overseeing the satellite Chicago office. I focused a talented team of 100 associates on driving ingenuity and delivering results by building a high-performance culture emphasizing creativity, accountability, and effective communication, reporting directly to the CEO.During my time I was able to reduce salary expenses after right-sizing the workforce during a sales down cycle, so that we still met budget targets despite a decline with our largest client. We pivoted to strengthening relationships with other existing clients while establishing new clients.

New Albany, Oh, Us

My main focus here revolved around creating a business model to facilitate custom product development through strategy development, creative team management, key account relationships management, and customer acquisition. Ultimately, I zeroed in on an operating model solution involving a combination of internal staffing and outside relationships to support new client product development programs. I reported to the ownership board.We far exceeded second-year sales with a huge boost in operating profit by creating unique, well-positioned, on-time collections that exceeded client expectations. As a calculated move in continuing this success, we developed acquisition and merger models with three interested companies, conducting due diligence, and managing discovery and implementation for the 2011 merger with a strategic partner.

London, England, Gb

In this position, I seized the opportunity to reverse negative brand performance by building and leveraging a three-year strategic growth plan. I also leveraged this occasion to revitalize organizational leadership accountability perspectives, worked to increase product relevancy in the marketplace, and built stronger emotional connections with customers. The results of these efforts include earning a three-point gain in gross margin rate and the introduction of a new product pipeline for all markets, including priority launches every season. The leadership team was ultimately rebuilt through a combination of new hires and a culture-shaping training program.. I was accountable to the board and owner.

Columbus, Ohio, Us

I led this multipronged merchandising function coordinating elements including assortment strategy, product development prioritization, marketing direction, and retail merchandising strategy. To maximize the probability of success I tackled multiple elements including arranging the retail floor-set calendar to coordinate product launch cadence, raising brand perception through marketing and merchandising changes, and creating an assortment strategy process as part of overall business planning to align resources to key priorities. I reported to the president.I was proud to have delivered increased quality perception by narrowing the focal point in merchandising and initiating more seasonally relevant advertising, in-store marketing, and merchandising which also helped control/reduce out of stocks.

Here I worked to re-position and re-merchandise this specialty retailer, ultimately returning them to a growth trajectory. To do this, I first created and clarified the brand positioning emphasizing the emotional connection with the customer, and characterized elements of differentiation from key competitors. Other positive outcomes included spearheading a double-digit increase in sales per square foot productivity and a multi-million-dollar reduction in seasonal markdowns by re-engineering the entire assortment and product development plan. I also increased conversion and transaction size by differentiating sub-brands and aligning accessories into home décor collections with longer shelf life.In all, I was able to reverse a two-year negative sales trend in stores by driving innovative product launches to increase traffic and conceptualizing more compelling marketing communication focused on a new brand positioning model.I reported to the CEO.

As head of the merchandising function, I provided strategic leadership to cross-functional teams involved in assortment planning, product development, buying, in-store merchandising, selling, and marketing. As a complement to this role, I was privileged to serve as a vital member of the executive team, building company culture, business planning, and integrating merchandising and marketing to drive record revenue results. I reported to the CEO.My efforts were affirmed in outcomes including massive business growth as a direct result of merchandising strategy and execution, delivering continual newness, and driving customer excitement. Additionally, I increased store comps by re-merchandising the store from product view to fragrance view and envisioning a new fragrance development approach that created some of the most extensive selling fragrances in the US.