Fractional Retail Marketing Director Service

Retail marketing rarely struggles because ideas are missing. It struggles when campaigns, trading activity, stores and ecommerce are not coordinated, and no one owns day-to-day marketing direction across the retail business.

The Fractional Retail Marketing Director Service from Cogent2 provides senior, part time marketing leadership for retail businesses operating across ecommerce and physical stores. This role sits below a CMO and focuses on translating strategy into consistent, commercial execution across channels.

It is designed for retailers that need experienced marketing leadership to run campaigns, manage teams and improve performance, without the overhead of a full-time Marketing Director.

Cogent2’s Fractional Retail Marketing Directors work inside the business, partnering closely with founders, CMOs and commercial leads. Alongside senior marketing leadership, you gain access to a joined-up delivery ecosystem across ecommerce, technology and data, ensuring plans move into execution.

When to hire a Fractional Retail Marketing Director

This service is particularly well suited to retailers that:

• Trade across ecommerce and physical stores

• Need stronger ownership of marketing execution

• Experience misalignment between brand, trading and campaigns

• Are running complex seasonal or promotional calendars

• Want senior marketing leadership on a part time basis

Hiring a Fractional Retail Marketing Director brings structure, pace and accountability to retail marketing execution.

What the service delivers

Cogent2 Fractional Retail Marketing Directors operate with a strong execution and commercial mindset.

This typically includes:

• Acting as a Fractional and Part Time Retail Marketing Director

• Owning day-to-day retail marketing execution

• Managing internal teams and external agencies

• Coordinating campaigns across ecommerce and stores

• Supporting promotions, launches and trading activity

• Acting as a senior escalation point for marketing delivery

Because Cogent2 combines leadership with delivery capability, plans are executed effectively, not just defined.

Retail campaign planning and execution

Retail marketing depends on timing and coordination.

The Fractional Retail Marketing Director Service focuses on:

• Planning and delivering seasonal campaigns

• Aligning marketing activity with stock and trading

• Ensuring consistency across channels and locations

• Reducing last-minute changes and reactive delivery

• Improving campaign performance and clarity

The emphasis is reliable execution, not high-level positioning.

Performance, reporting and optimisation

Retail marketing requires constant adjustment.

Cogent2 Fractional Retail Marketing Directors help by:

• Monitoring campaign and channel performance

• Improving reporting and insight across online and offline

• Identifying underperforming activity quickly

• Optimising spend and effort during trading cycles

• Feeding insight back into future planning

This creates stronger ROI and better decision making.

Cross-functional retail coordination

Retail marketing touches multiple teams.

Cogent2 Fractional Retail Marketing Directors work closely with:

• Ecommerce and trading teams

• Store operations and merchandising

• Creative and brand teams

• Technology and data specialists

This ensures marketing execution reflects how the retail business actually operates.

Programme support and marketing stabilisation

Fractional Retail Marketing Directors are often engaged during periods of change.

This can include:

• Covering leadership gaps or transitions

• Stabilising underperforming marketing delivery

• Improving execution ahead of peak trading

• Aligning agencies and internal teams

• Reducing inefficiency and duplicated effort

Cogent2’s joined-up delivery capability allows marketing delivery to improve quickly.

Ongoing advisory and trusted marketing leadership

Many clients retain this role as ongoing senior marketing cover.

This can include:

• Providing continuity during growth or restructure

• Acting as a sounding board for campaign decisions

• Supporting hiring and agency selection

• Helping avoid costly retail marketing mistakes

This model provides experienced leadership without permanent overhead.

The Cogent2 Difference

Cogent2 works alongside leading retail platforms and partners so our Fractional Marketing Directors can focus entirely on marketing leadership and execution. We do not sell media or creative services. We take ownership of how marketing supports retail performance.

By combining Fractional Retail Marketing Director support with a joined-up ecommerce and technology ecosystem, Cogent2 removes the gap between marketing plans and retail execution.

Deliver retail marketing with confidence

Retail marketing underperforms when execution ownership is unclear.

Hire a Retail Marketing Director from Cogent2 on a Part Time, Fractional basis to bring structure, consistency and confidence to your retail marketing delivery.