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Phil Kaus is a cross-functional retail leader with 20+ years of experience driving growth for brands including Cabela’s, Albertson’s/SuperValu, PetSmart, Macy’s, The Container Store, and Tommy Bahama. He leverages deep expertise in analytics, merchandising, marketing, and inventory management to deliver data-driven strategies that boost profitability and elevate customer experience. Known for leading large, high-performing teams, Phil excels in aligning operations, marketing, and merchandising to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. He is looking forward to bringing that experience to the classroom.

Areas of Expertise:

• Marketing
• Merchandising
• Pricing
• Market Research
• Machine Learning
• New Product Introductions
• New Store Location Selection
• Media Measurement and Effectiveness
• Planning and Inventory Management
• P & L Analysis
• Business Insights and Analysis
• Artificial Intelligence
• Product Assortment Strategy
• Floor Space Allocation

Business Consultant, March 2019 – March 2020

Provide consulting to multiple organizations and communicate best practices for effectively developing and executing merchandising, marketing, business performance, and customer strategy. Offer guidance to steer the initial business launch, including development of initial business plans, marketing tactics, and inventory management. 

Key Contributions:

• Established guiding principals for two start up direct to consumer companies surrounding functional areas of responsibilities and initial investments.
• Provided subject matter expertise to numerous private equity organizations looking to further develop their understanding of retail practices, organizational structure and industry configuration.
• Applied expertise to conduct marketing effectiveness analysis and customer profile evaluation for an omni-channel outdoor retailer.
• Constructed and guided the statistical model development of real estate property valuations based on environmental factors to enhance tax assessments in areas that crossed recreational and agricultural boundaries.

Swanson Health, Fargo, ND

VP of Merchandising, May 2018–Feb 2019

Guided and established the development of modern assortment strategy evaluation and development for a $250M direct to consumer organization. This included the implementation of best practices for effectively developing and executing merchandising strategy and assortment, new product development and launches, and development of cross-functional relationships to drive business performance without negatively impacting the customer experience.

Key Contributions:

• Established monthly Marketing & Merchandising meetings ensuring collaboration and alignment of merchandise strategy with the marketing calendar.
• Spearheaded SKU rationalization resulting in a 10% reduction of SKU count, 5% reduction of inventory cost with no impact to sales.
• Implemented demand forecasting methodology; increasing sales by 2.5% while improving in stock position 200 bps.
• Established merchandise-planning methodology to drive category performance/targets across all KPI’s.
• Lead the delivery of over a dozen new product introductions.

Cabela's, Sidney, NE

Sr. Director of Planning & Inventory, April 2017 – March 2018

Applied cutting edge practices to fulfill supply chain related functions involving inventory investments, pricing, and trends. Oversaw development of financial plans for an $800M merchandising division. Supported conversion of inventory COGS to cost management methods. Mentored over 50 employees within the planning and inventory organization during the ownership transition while experiencing very little employee attrition. Established metrics for performance and forecasted inventory needs. Coordinated incremental open-to-buy meetings with representatives from merchandising categories to correlate with go-to-market plans. 

Key Contributions:

• Reduced inventory costs $30M (~15%) and increased sales by ~10% by implementing effective processes.
•    Managed integration of purchase price accounting and valuation of inventory during a merger with Bass Pro Shops. 

Cabela's, Sidney, NE

Multiple Positions Ending with Sr. Director of Enterprise Analytics, 2008 – 2017

Supervised 30+ staff members accountable for direct marketing analysis, data governance, and advanced analytics for $4B international omni-channel retailer. Managed and appropriated $1.5MM research budget for customer surveys/interviews, industry benchmarks, media mix modeling, and demographic data. Provided customer insights and analytics for the strategic review process. Owned due diligence processes, responded to data requests, and communicated with potential investors. Developed algorithms to drive branded websites and automate call center activities. Leveraged market trends and financial insights for space allocation. 

Key Contributions:

• Defined and implemented organizational customer personas which were leveraged to drive marketing, merchandizing, and product development
• Represented the Cabela’s customer lifecycle during executive conversations throughout the strategic alternative process with potential Strategic and Private Equity partners.
• Shifted organizational culture with implementation of test and learn methodology; e.g., media allocation and geo-targeting changes across print, digital, retail and direct to consumer that improved ROI from 3.2 to 4.7.
• Lead adoption and improvement of price elasticity methodologies, first with internal tool development via SQL/Visual Basic/Excel to implementation of Revionics.
• Spearheaded organizational adoption of Media Mix Modeling and Attribution modeling to allocate $240MM in advertising spend while increasing ROI.
• Lead the implementation of ML/AI practices to develop suite of 26 propensity models that were leverage to select customers for over 120 catalog mailings annually.
• Drove the development and adoption of gravity flow modeling to improve retail site selection practices and accuracy that resulted in over 50 highly profitable new stores being added to the retail footprint.

Additional Experience

Performance Consultant (2007 to 2008), Acxiom, Boise, ID

• Conduct media performance analytics for numerous clients.

Senior Marketing Manager (2005 to 2007), Albertson's, Boise, ID

• Manage and execute direct mail program and shopping customer analysis.

Senior Marketing Statistician (2001 to 2005), Cabela's, Sidney, NE

• Model and execute direct mail catalog campaigns.

U.S Crop & Livestock/International Sugar Analyst (1998 to 2001), CARD-Iowa State University, Ames, IA

• Deliver long-term policy analysis of supply, demand and price across world agriculture complex.

Graduate Teaching Assistant (1996 to 1998), University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE

• Responsible for teaching 2 Sections of Biometry 201 each semester during my graduate study.