Fractional Retail CMO Chief Marketing Officer Service

Retail marketing rarely struggles because teams are inactive. It struggles when brand, ecommerce, stores and customer engagement operate in silos, and no one owns marketing strategy across the full retail estate.

The Fractional Retail CMO Service from Cogent2 provides senior, part time marketing leadership for retail businesses operating across ecommerce and physical stores. This role operates at an executive level, owning marketing strategy, brand direction and commercial performance across channels, not just online acquisition.

It is designed for retailers that have grown beyond tactical marketing execution but do not yet need or want a full-time CMO. The focus is bringing clarity, consistency and commercial discipline to retail marketing.

Cogent2’s Fractional Retail CMOs work inside the business, partnering closely with founders, CEOs and leadership teams. Alongside senior marketing leadership, you gain access to a joined-up delivery network covering ecommerce, technology and data, ensuring strategy translates into execution.

When to hire a Fractional Retail CMO

This service is particularly well suited to retailers that:

• Trade across ecommerce and physical stores

• Need stronger ownership of marketing direction and performance

• Experience misalignment between brand, trading and acquisition

• Are scaling channels, markets or store estates

• Want senior marketing leadership on a part time basis

Hiring a Fractional Retail CMO brings focus, accountability and confidence to marketing decisions.

What the service delivers

Cogent2 Fractional Retail CMOs operate at a senior leadership level with a strong commercial mindset.

This typically includes:

• Acting as a Fractional and Part Time Retail CMO

• Owning retail marketing strategy across channels

• Aligning brand, performance and trading activity

• Leading internal marketing teams and external partners

• Defining budgets, priorities and KPIs

• Acting as a trusted marketing advisor to the leadership team

Because Cogent2 combines leadership with execution capability, marketing strategy turns into measurable outcomes.

Retail marketing strategy and channel alignment

Retail marketing works best when channels reinforce each other.

The Fractional Retail CMO Service focuses on:

• Connecting brand, ecommerce and store marketing

• Aligning campaigns to trading calendars and stock

• Improving consistency across customer touchpoints

• Balancing brand building with performance marketing

• Supporting sustainable retail growth

The emphasis is joined-up marketing, not channel-by-channel optimisation.

Customer insight, data and performance leadership

Retail growth depends on understanding customers across channels.

Cogent2 Fractional Retail CMOs help by:

• Improving use of customer and trading data

• Aligning CRM, loyalty and retention strategies

• Defining meaningful performance metrics

• Improving attribution across online and offline

• Turning insight into action

This creates clearer decision making and stronger ROI.

Cross-functional retail leadership

Retail marketing touches every commercial team.

Cogent2 Fractional Retail CMOs work closely with:

• Ecommerce and trading teams

• Store operations and merchandising

• Product and buying teams

• Technology and data specialists

This ensures marketing decisions reflect how the retail business actually operates.

Programme leadership and marketing stabilisation

Fractional Retail CMOs are often engaged during periods of change.

This can include:

• Supporting rebrands or repositioning

• Stabilising underperforming marketing teams

• Improving execution ahead of peak trading

• Aligning agencies and internal teams

• Reducing wasted spend and effort

Cogent2’s joined-up delivery capability allows marketing change to land effectively.

Ongoing advisory and trusted CMO support

Many clients retain this role as an ongoing leadership partnership.

This can include:

• Acting as a sounding board for marketing decisions

• Reviewing plans before budget is committed

• Supporting hiring and agency selection

• Helping leadership teams avoid costly marketing mistakes

This model provides executive-level marketing leadership without building permanent overhead.

The Cogent2 Difference

Cogent2 works alongside leading retail platforms and partners so our Fractional CMOs can focus entirely on leadership, strategy and commercial impact. We do not sell media or creative services. We take ownership of how marketing supports retail growth.

By combining Fractional Retail CMO leadership with a joined-up technology and ecommerce ecosystem, Cogent2 removes the gap between marketing ambition and retail execution.

Lead retail marketing with confidence

Retail marketing underperforms when ownership is unclear.

Hire a Retail CMO from Cogent2 on a Part Time, Fractional basis to bring structure, alignment and confidence to your retail marketing strategy.