Johnson Outdoors seeks an Omnichannel Strategy Manager — eRetailers

🌍 Remote, USA 🎯 Full-time 🕐 Posted Recently

Job Description

EMPLOYERS: Separate from recruiting, I write investment‑grade recruiting briefs that walk A‑player ecommerce candidates through the real business case for your role – the market, channels, KPIs, tech stack, team, and AI issues – before they ever get on Zoom with you. I research / write it. YOU bless it. YOU own it.

RESULT: Your first‑round conversations are with 6-8 highly informed A-players who already understand where/how they can drive EBITDA. To have me write and send your posting out to this list, text Harry Joiner at (404) 281‑2025. Confidential briefs / application process are no problem.

TODAY’S BRIEF: Johnson Outdoors is a $592 million publicly traded manufacturer (JOUT on NASDAQ) that has been building outdoor recreation equipment since 1970. Founded by Samuel C. Johnson — yes, the same family behind SC Johnson (Windex, Raid, Ziploc) — the company went public in 1987 and has been family-controlled ever since. Helen Johnson-Leipold serves as Chairman and CEO, and the company carries $176 million in cash with zero debt.

Read that again: zero debt. In an era when most mid-market manufacturers are leveraged to the gills, Johnson Outdoors is sitting on a fortress balance sheet. That matters to you as a candidate because it means the company has the resources to invest in the ecommerce channel — and the patience to let a smart person build it right.

The brand portfolio is one of the most recognized in the outdoor industry. On the fishing side, you’ve got Minn Kota — the dominant brand in trolling motors with roughly 70% market share at its peak — and Humminbird, which makes fish finders and marine electronics that competitive anglers treat like mission-critical technology.

The integration between these two brands is the company’s most powerful competitive moat: a Humminbird fish finder talks directly to a Minn Kota motor, so when you mark a GPS waypoint on your fish finder, the motor automatically drives you there and holds position using Spot-Lock technology. That ecosystem integration creates real switching costs. An angler with 200 saved GPS waypoints isn’t casually switching to Garmin.

The other brands include SCUBAPRO (premium dive equipment — regulators, dive computers, BCDs — sold through certified dive retailers globally), Jetboil (ultralight portable cooking systems that are genuinely best-in-class for their speed-to-weight ratio), and Old Town (the world’s oldest and most revered canoe and kayak manufacturer, with 150+ years of heritage).

Here’s what makes the timing interesting: Johnson Outdoors rode the COVID outdoor boom to $743 million in FY2022 revenue. Then came the normalization: dealers who had over-ordered during the pandemic got stuck with excess inventory and stopped placing new orders.

Revenue dropped 11% in FY2023, another 11% in FY2024, and stabilized at $592 million in FY2025. The Fishing segment — which generates 77.5% of total revenue and is the only segment with meaningful operating profit — actually grew 2% in FY2025. Diving grew 2%. The worst is over, and the green shoots are real.

Now Garmin has entered the trolling motor market. Garmin — a $38 billion company — is directly attacking Minn Kota’s core franchise with GPS-integrated trolling motors that compete head-to-head with Spot-Lock.

On the marine electronics side, Garmin’s LiveScope technology is gaining ground against Humminbird’s MEGA Imaging. This is not a theoretical competitive threat. It is happening right now, on every major e-retailer platform where Johnson Outdoors sells.

And that’s exactly where you come in.

The eretailer channel — Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, REI, Backcountry, Amazon — is estimated at $75-100 million in revenue for Johnson Outdoors. When you add DTC, total ecommerce exposure is roughly $165-190 million, or about 28-32% of total revenue.

The company’s CEO explicitly named ecommerce as one of three strategic priorities for the company’s future. The most recent quarterly results showed Camping & Watercraft’s net sales grew 12% in Q3, driven specifically by ecommerce channel growth. This is the growth channel.

The customer you’re serving is worth understanding. The primary buyer is a committed American angler, aged 35-65, household income $75K+, who fishes from a boat at least 10 times per year. That person buys a Minn Kota Ultrex trolling motor at $3,400-$4,400 and runs a Humminbird SOLIX fish finder at $2,500-$3,200.

They are brand-loyal, technically sophisticated, and price-inelastic once they decide on the quality tier. The blended average order value across all brands is estimated at $800-$1,200 — dramatically higher than the online sporting goods category average of $75-$150. These are high-consideration, long-research-cycle purchases where the digital shelf is often where the buying decision gets made, even if the transaction ultimately happens in a store.

The online sporting goods market is a $39.2 billion opportunity growing to $44.3 billion by 2030, and Johnson Outdoors currently captures less than 1% of it. The outdoor equipment subset alone is $11.5 billion. Even a modest share gain in this channel — from 0.7% to 3% of the relevant SAM — represents a path to $345 million in online revenue. The math works if the execution is right. And that execution starts with the person in this role.

Again, what’s excellent about this opportunity is the combination of (a) a family-controlled company with zero debt and $176M in cash, (b) heritage brands with real switching-costs, (c) a CEO who has named ecommerce as a strategic priority, and (d) a competitive threat from Garmin that creates organizational urgency to invest in the digital shelf.

Nothing accelerates internal investment in ecommerce faster than a well-capitalized competitor showing up on your retailer’s search results page.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Johnson Outdoors is looking for an Omnichannel Strategy Manager — eRetailers to develop and execute retailer-specific strategies across its most important national e-retailer accounts, including Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, REI, Backcountry, and Amazon. The scope spans 6+ brands across four business segments with an estimated $12-18 million in retail media and co-op budget influence.

Your mission will be to: 1.) Build and defend a tiered account strategy that prioritizes investment where it drives the highest net revenue contribution per SKU, 2.) Own the digital shelf audit rhythm — ensuring product content is accurate, optimized, and competitive across every platform, and 3.) Serve as the central intelligence hub connecting BU sales teams, content teams, and retail media specialists so that digital execution aligns with commercial priorities.

THIS IS NOT a digital marketing role. This is a commercial strategy role that happens to live on digital platforms. You will influence sales outcomes without owning the customer directly — and that requires a very specific skill set.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Partner with BU sales leads and brand teams to define and deploy retailer-specific strategies for each Tier 1 and Tier 2 e-retailer account, prioritizing investment where net revenue contribution per SKU is highest — not where the loudest internal stakeholder sits.
Build and maintain a formal account tiering model (Tier 1A: BPS/Cabela’s for Fishing brand defense; Tier 1B: REI for Watercraft/Camping/Diving; Tier 2A: Amazon for category discovery; Tier 2B: Backcountry for specialty positioning) with clear budget allocation ratios and quarterly re-evaluation triggers.
Develop SKU-level P&L analyses for hero products (Minn Kota Ultrex, Humminbird SOLIX, SCUBAPRO Hydros Pro BCD, Jetboil Flash, Old Town Topwater 120) across each retailer, calculating net revenue contribution after co-op fees, retail media spend, chargebacks, and returns.
Support annual and seasonal planning cycles by aligning digital priorities to broader sales goals, category strategy, and promotional calendars — including seasonal keyword schedules that turn on winter-specific terms in fall and off in spring.

Serve as the central contact for omnichannel strategy across national e-retailers (Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, REI, Backcountry, Amazon), translating digital shelf performance data into actionable insights for BU sales teams.
Prepare digital-forward materials for key customer meetings — including search share trends, content performance benchmarks, competitive positioning snapshots, and promotional planning inputs — that arm sales leads with data they can’t get from the retailer alone.
Define and reinforce retail execution standards across the entire brand portfolio (content accuracy, promotional compliance, media activation protocols), ensuring consistency from a $110 Jetboil Flash listing to a $4,400 Minn Kota Ultrex listing.
Coordinate cross-BU account strategy so that Fishing, Diving, Camping, and Watercraft teams are not bidding against each other on the same retailer platforms or diluting each other’s promotional investments.

Own the weekly digital shelf audit rhythm: pull search term reports from BPS, REI, Backcountry, and Amazon; compare click share vs. purchase share; identify content, pricing, or review gaps; and route fixes to the internal content and syndication team via Salsify.
Ensure product content is accurate, complete, and optimized for each retailer platform — leveraging Salsify as the single source of truth for product experience management and content syndication across all e-retailer channels.
Monitor competitive search intelligence on a monthly cadence: Is “Garmin trolling motor” growing in search volume on BPS.com? Is “Garmin LiveScope” overtaking “Humminbird MEGA Imaging” on Amazon? These search volume trends are the earliest signal of competitive share shift — appearing 3-6 months before revenue changes materialize — and the brand team needs this intelligence before it shows up in the financial results.
Track and analyze product page performance across the digital shelf, identifying conversion gaps that indicate content problems (missing A+ content, outdated images, thin descriptions) vs. pricing problems (competitive undercut) vs. review problems (low review count on new SKUs).

Help coordinate retail media activation and co-op programs across all e-retailer accounts, ensuring budget follows inventory (reduce bids on hero SKUs below 3 weeks of stock; concentrate 100% of launch budget on new SKUs for the first 60 days).
Audit brand-term cannibalization monthly: if Minn Kota already ranks #1 organically on a keyword, reduce paid bids on that term and reallocate budget to category terms where JOUT does not rank organically.
Review effectiveness of past promotions and collaborate on “pay for performance” models with sales leads — turning performance data into renegotiation ammunition on co-op rates and retail media terms.
Maintain a dedicated test budget (10-15% of total retail media allocation) explicitly earmarked for new keyword discovery, new demographic targeting, and new ad format testing, evaluated on learning value rather than immediate ROAS.

Ensure that when existing JOUT product owners come online to buy replacement parts, accessories, or upgrades (foot pedals, transducers, Humminbird chart cards, Jetboil fuel canisters), JOUT captures that transaction on every e-retailer platform rather than losing it to third-party knockoff brands or Amazon private label alternatives.
Identify cross-brand upsell and attachment opportunities on each retailer platform — e.g., Humminbird fish finder buyers who should see Minn Kota motor recommendations; Old Town kayak buyers who should see Jetboil cooking systems in their consideration set.

QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, or equivalent experience.

4-6 years of progressive experience in eCommerce, omnichannel, or commercial strategy roles supporting national e-retailers (Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, REI, Best Buy, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Walmart, or similar).
Demonstrated experience working cross-functionally with sales, content, and digital teams in a matrixed organization where influence matters more than authority.
Hands-on familiarity with retailer platforms (BPS vendor portal, REI advertising portal, Amazon Seller Central / Vendor Central, Backcountry) and how to optimize product visibility, search rank, and conversion for both online and in-store success.
Experience with digital shelf optimization and content syndication tools — Salsify, Syndigo, or equivalent PXM platforms — with the ability to manage product content as a centralized, syndicated asset across multiple retailer endpoints.
Strong analytical capability: the ability to pull retailer search term reports, calculate SKU-level net revenue contribution, build seasonal keyword schedules, and turn retail and digital data into strategy that sales teams can act on.
Experience with retail media coordination — co-op programs, sponsored search bidding, promotional calendar management — across at least two major e-retailer platforms. You don’t need to be a media buyer, but you need to understand how retail media budgets translate into search visibility, click share, and incremental revenue.
Familiarity with branded manufacturer economics is a strong plus: understanding the wholesale-to-retail margin structure, co-op fee negotiation dynamics, and the tension between channel conflict (DTC vs. retail partner) and channel complementarity.
AI fluency is a differentiator: candidates who use AI tools to accelerate competitive analysis, automate search term reporting, or generate content optimization recommendations tied to business outcomes — not as a research toy, but as an execution multiplier — will stand out.

Proven ability to lead through influence in the absence of direct authority — directing brand teams, content teams, retail media specialists, and external agency partners toward aligned execution without formal reporting relationships.
Cross-functional collaboration instincts: comfort operating at the intersection of sales, marketing, content, and analytics — and translating between their vocabularies.
Clear, concise communication style that can move between a BU sales lead who thinks in revenue terms and a content specialist who thinks in engagement terms without losing either audience.

High integrity and personal accountability — you own your results and your mistakes equally.
Self-directed and proactive: you don’t wait to be told what needs to happen; you see the gap, build the business case, and move.
Commercially minded — you think in terms of revenue, margin, and competitive position, not just impressions, clicks, and engagement.
Analytical rigor without analysis paralysis — you know when the data is good enough to make a decision and you make it.
Comfortable with ambiguity: this role spans 6+ brands, 4+ retailer accounts, and multiple business units, and no one is going to hand you a playbook. You’ll build the playbook.
Competitive instinct — you understand that this role is partly about defending market position against a well-capitalized competitor (Garmin), and that motivates rather than intimidates you.
Genuine curiosity about the outdoor industry and the enthusiast communities these brands serve. You don’t need to be a tournament bass angler or a certified diver, but you need to care enough to understand what drives these customers.
Resilient and thick-skinned: matrix organizations require navigating competing priorities, and not every stakeholder will agree with your recommendations. You can defend your position with data and move forward without taking it personally.

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