Careers at Advantage Solutions Inc
MISSION
Advantage Solutions Inc (“Advantage Solutions”) seeks to grow brands and businesses by providing outsourced sales, marketing, and merchandising solutions and effective insights to consumer goods manufacturers and retailers.
FOUNDING STORY
Advantage Solutions was founded in 1987 and operated initially as a regional sales agency in Southern California.
The Company was established in 1997 as a national platform, expanding its operations first into the Midwest and Texas, and later into the rest of the US. During this time, the Company also established a Diversified Channels division.
In the 2000s, Advantage Solutions continued to expand its operations both organically and via strategic acquisitions.
The Company notably included the acquisition of Superfridge, Crombie Kennedy Nasmark Inc, BIN Sales and Marketing, and marketing companies TryFoods International and Marketration.
The Company also expanded its business into new related fields, launching its Advantage Order to Cash and SMARTeam units.
In 2010, Advantage Solutions announced a new strategic plan focusing on five key pillars: People, Culture, Creating Raving Fans of Clients and Customers, Operational Efficiency, and Growth.
The Company has continued to expand its operations forming a number of partnerships, completing several strategic acquisitions, and launching its own units.
Advantage Solutions, previously known as Karman Holding Corp, took on its current name in 2016. In 2017, the Company filed its plans to complete an initial public offering. The Company has established itself as a leading provider of sales, marketing, and merchandising solutions, and serves a broad range of customers in the consumer goods market.
Business model of Advantage Solutions Inc
Customer Segments
Advantage Solutions provides outsourced sale and marketing services to a range of commercial enterprises.
The majority of the Company’s core customers can be placed into one of the following two categories concerning the consumer goods sector:
- Manufacturers, comprising manufacturers across a range of consumer product categories, such as packaged foods, beverages, perishables, health and beauty care, and consumer electronics; and
- Retailers, comprising a range of retailers of consumer goods, including Grocery stores and supermarket chains, mass merchandiser, drug stores and pharmacies, home improvement retailers, convenience stores, retail clubs, and military outlets.
Advantage Solutions is headquartered in the US.
The Company primarily serves clients in its domestic market. The Company does not appear to have any significant international operations.
In 2016, the Company provided services to more than 2,000 manufacturers for products located across more than 200,000 retail locations.
Value Propositions
Advantage Solutions provides value to its clients in the following ways:
- Reputation and Standing – Advantage Solutions has established itself over an extended period of operation as a reliable and effective provider of marketing services, and has made a name for itself as a trusted leader in its field;
- Innovation and Technology – Advantage Solutions uses cutting edge technology to collect, analyse, and deliver data sophisticated solutions, and is dedicated to developing and implementing innovative technologies for the delivery of its services;
- Flexible Solutions, Advantage Solutions offers flexible services and solutions that can be tailored to suit the individual needs of clients across a range of fields, and collaborates closely with clients to ensure that their expectation can be met;
- High Quality Services, Advantage Solutions offers high quality services and solutions to its customers that have helped it to cement its position as a leading provider of outsourced marketing and branding services in the US; and
- Expertise and Experience, Advantage Solutions employs teams of highly experienced employees who are experts in the field of marketing and branding, including the Company’s senior leadership personnel.
Channels
Advantage Solutions provides a range of customisable sales and marketing solutions designed to help manufacturers and retailers across a broad range of channels drive consumer demand, increase sales, and achieve operating efficiencies.
The Company provides its services directly to customers via a dedicated sales and service force, operating separate teams for its sales and marketing segments.
The Company’s sales associates prepare and present business cases to retailers with a view to increasing distribution of manufacturers’ products and optimise how they are displayed, priced, and promoted. The Company also makes in-store visits to ensure that products are adequately stocked and properly displayed.
Customer Relationships
Advantage Solutions seeks to establish longstanding relationships with its customers, providing its services to customers directly through its extensive workforce.
The Company does not offer services on a self-service basis. Advantage Solutions works closely with its clients over an extended period of time, developing tailored solutions that meet the specific needs of each client.
The Company continues to communicate with clients throughout the course of its services, notably making site visits to ensure that its insights are being implement4ed effectively.
Advantage Solutions operates a website at www.advantagesolutions.net, through which it provides information to clients on a self-service basis.
This includes information on the Company’s various services and solutions, the sectors and companies that it serves, and its management structure.
The Company also operates a number of social media accounts – including with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest – through which it is able to interact directly with customers, and to publish company updates and news.
Key Activities
Advantage Solutions is a provider of outsourced sales, marketing, and merchandising solutions. It primarily offers these services to companies operating in the consumer goods sector, including manufacturers and retailers.
Advantage Solutions organises its activities into two segments: Sales, through which it offers headquarter relationship management, analytics and insights, administration, retail services, and technology solutions to enhance sales in the traditional retail, foodservice, and e-commerce channels; and Marketing, through which it develops marketing programs, shopper and consumer marketing solutions, digital marketing solutions, and advantage media for manufacturers and retailers.
Advantage Solutions serves manufacturers across a range of consumer product categories, including packaged foods, beverages, perishables, health and beauty care, and consumer electronics. The Company is based in Irvine, California.
Key Partners
Advantage Solutions works closely with a network of partner companies across the US, which support the delivery of its core services.
These partners can be organised broadly into the following categories:
- Supplier and Vendor Partners, comprising suppliers of equipment and tools that the Company uses in the development and delivery of its core solutions, as well as third party providers of services that support the Company’s corporate operations more broadly;
- Technology and Innovation Partners, comprising various technology companies and specialist data analytics providers with which the Company collaborates on the development and implementation of effective and innovative data solutions;
- Service Partners, comprising other companies operating in the marketing and merchandising fields, with which the Company partners in providing or developing solutions for customers in the retail and manufacturing space; and
- Strategic Partners, comprising various other commercial enterprises with which the Company collaborates on other strategic business development, growth, or marketing projects.
Advantage Solutions has launched a number of key partnerships in recent years.
The Company notably entered into a strategic service partnership in November 2017 with Daymon Worldwide, under which the parties agreed to create and provide a range of marketing solutions.
Key Resources
Advantage Solutions’ business model is dependent on its ability to provide unique and innovative marketing solutions to its clients quickly and efficiently.
As such, the Company’s key resources are its intellectual properties, its technologies and analytics tools, its partnerships – notably its innovation and technology partners, its network of offices, its IT and communications infrastructure, and its personnel.
The Company notably utilises a proprietary analytic workflow in the delivery of its solutions, which ensures that its offerings are unique in the market.
Cost Structure
Advantage Solutions incurs costs in relation to the development and implementation of its technologies and solutions, the development and maintenance of its IT and communications infrastructure, the management of its partnerships, the operation of its office network – including utility and occupancy costs, and the payment of salaries and benefits to its personnel.
In 2017, Advantage Solutions recorded total expenses for the year of USD 482.72 million. This included cost of revenue totaling USD 413.15 million, and selling, general, and administrative expenses totaling USD 26.67 million.
Revenue Streams
Advantage Solutions generates revenue through the provision of tailored marketing, branding, and merchandising solutions to clients in the consumer goods industry.
The Company derives its revenue primarily under service contracts that are agreed directly with customers on a case-by-case basis.
Our team
info: Tanya Domier (“Domier”) has served as Chief Executive Officer at Advantage Solutions since January 2013 and has been a member of the Company’s board of directors since 2006. In this role, she is responsible for developing and implementing the Company’s overall business and growth strategies. Domier began her career at The JM Smucker Company, where she served in several roles before joining Advantage Solutions in 1990. After joining the Company. Domier quickly rose through the Company’s ranks, holding a variety of executive-level positions in sales, marketing, and operations. She held a range of positions of increasing responsibility before taking on her current role as Chief Executive Officer, including a spells as President of the Marketing Services Division, and President and Chief Operating Officer.
info: Brian G. Stevens (“Stevens”) has served as Chief Financial Officer at Advantage Solutions since 2010 and has been the Company’s Chief Operating Officer since 2015. In this dual role, Stevens is responsible for overseeing all of the Company’s financial management operations – including its accounting, corporate tax, and internal audit units – as well as for overseeing the Company’s day-to-day operational management. Stevens served for a number of years at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in his early career, serving in a variety of roles. He went on to join Multi-Fineline Electronix Inc, where he provided global oversight for the Finance, Accounting and IT departments and helped lead an initial public offering in 2004. Stevens joined Advantage Sales and Marketing in March 2008, and served as the company’s Vice President of Finance, overseeing its financial reporting and global accounting policies. This was his final role before joining Advantage Solutions in 2010.
info: Jill Griffin (“Griffin”) has served as President and Chief Commercial Officer at Advantage Solutions since 2019. She is responsible for leading the Company’s commercial strategy and the development of the organisation. She also coordinates between the Company’s executive management team and its board of directors. Griffin began her career with TMP Worldwide, serving various in business development and client service roles. She went on to serve for more than ten years at Navarre Corporation, notably serving as the company’s President of the Interactive Publishing Division, in which capacity she provided brand marketing and retail distribution services to a number of clients. Prior to joining Advantage Solutions, she served in several roles at related entity Advantage Sales and Marketing, including spells as President of Campaigners, its President of Integrated Marketing Services, and President of Marketing.