The food manufacturer is looking to hire digital commerce experts for both B2B and consumer-facing operations.

Cereal maker and marketer Kellogg Co. is on an ecommerce hiring spree.

Its search for about a dozen specialized ecommerce professionals provides insight into how serious one major food company is getting about building a more diversified digital business strategy that includes business-to-business, business-to-consumer and B2B2C ecommerce.

Kellogg is looking for job candidates with experience working within a digitizing supply chain and driving integrated solutions to ecommerce.

B2B2C extends the B2B model to include ecommerce for consumers. The goal is to create a mutually beneficial relationship between suppliers of goods and services and online retailers, according to TechTarget.com.

Kellogg, one of the world’s largest and oldest cereal makers, with some of the most well-known brands of snack and convenience foods known to consumers, is looking to hire an ecommerce director that can help Kellogg build is first B2C ecommerce operation.

Monica McGurk, chief revenue and ecommerce officer, said during Kellogg’s investors event in November that retail ecommerce accounted for about 2% to 3% of revenue, a percentage that rises to “north of 5%” when including Kellogg’s B2B e-commerce. Using those figures, Kellogg does about $715 million overall in ecommerce sales, including about $325 million in B2B ecommerce.

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The company’s latest job posting for a director of direct-to -consumer ecommerce platforms in Chicago show Kellogg also may be developing its own online retailing strategy. “You’re an expert in the D2C space—shape how how we build a D2C transaction capability,” Kellogg says in its job opening. “You understand how to engage consumers and influence transactions in an owned capability through food aggregators like in the US. Own the relationship, strategy and capability and help markets grow—this is a green field opportunity to help Kellogg’s write the D2C playbook.”

The job calls for candidates with experience with direct-to-consumer ecommerce platforms, online customer engagement, digital marketing, category management and general management experience, among others. Pay for the job wasn’t disclosed.

Kellogg, based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and maker of such iconic brands as Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Special K, has yet to say how the search for more ecommerce professionals specifically ties into its emerging digital business strategy.

But in addition to looking to fill positions such as director of ecommerce revenue growth management, Kellogg wants to fill a key B2B ecommerce job of director of cross border and e-supply chain. The Chicago-based position, with a total annual compensation package that could range from $130,000 to $202,000, according to LinkedIn.com, is looking for job candidates “with experience working within a digitizing supply chain and driving integrated solutions to ecommerce across at least one of the retail, B2B or D2C environments.”

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In February 2016 Kellogg selected CloudCraze, which was acquired by Salesforce.com Inc. in March 2017, for a direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform for its Bear Naked granola brand; the site features a granola-customization tool that is also now featured on a Bear Naked page on Walmart.com.

The new digital supply director will help Kellogg “build industry leadership in ecommerce by delivering superior experiences that earn us ‘first digital position,’” the company says.

At least one industry observer says Kellogg is building out its senior ecommerce staff to more closely align with the business strategy set by CEO Steven Cahillane, who joined Kellogg in 2017 after previous executive jobs at big consumer brands such as The Coca-Cola Co. and The Nature’s Bounty Co.

“Kellogg had a massive leadership change,” says Ecommercerecruiter.com founder Harry Joiner. “It’s a big realignment—the ecommerce job postings are not necessarily new—they could be a replacement for people that either left or got cut.”

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