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(Trade Marketing Manager, Category Marketing Executive, Shopper Marketing Executive, Commercial Marketing Executive)
Sales & Marketing
Salary
€32,000 - €65,000/yr
Level
Professional
Outlook
Stable
Sector
Sales & Marketing
As a Trade Marketing Executive you plan and deliver promotional activity between a brand or distributor and Irish retail partners such as supermarkets, convenience chains, and off-licences. You negotiate shelf placement, plan in-store displays, and coordinate with field sales teams to ensure products are visible and competitively positioned. Your daily work involves analysing sales data, monitoring competitor activity, and working closely with account managers, buyers, and marketing colleagues to develop trade promotions. You track the performance of campaigns against agreed targets and report findings to senior commercial staff, recommending adjustments to pricing, placement, or promotional mechanics as needed.
Listen: a day as a Trade Marketing Executive
You arrive at the Dublin office just before eight-thirty, grab a coffee, and open your laptop to check overnight emails from the field sales team. Two representatives have flagged that a rival brand has taken a prominent end-of-aisle display in a SuperValu in Limerick, so you note it for the competitor tracker you update every Monday morning in Excel. You also check the weekly Nielsen sell-out data that landed in your inbox overnight, scanning volume figures across your key grocery accounts to see whether last week's promotional mechanic — a multipack price reduction — moved the numbers you needed. By nine o'clock you are on a Teams call with three field sales reps covering the Munster region. You walk through compliance photos they have uploaded to the shared SharePoint folder, confirming whether the agreed planogram — the diagram specifying exactly where and how your products should sit on shelf — has been followed. Two stores are out of compliance and you log these with the relevant account manager to chase the buyers.
Most Trade Marketing Executives enter the role with an NFQ Level 8 Honours Bachelor degree in Marketing, Business, Commerce, or a related discipline from a university or technological university such as TU Dublin, UCD, DCU, or ATU. Leaving Certificate subjects such as Business, Economics, Mathematics, and English are helpful preparation for this career path. Some graduates enter through a Level 7 Ordinary Bachelor degree and gain promotion after building experience in sales or category management roles. PLC courses at Level 5 or 6 in Marketing Practice or Business can provide an alternative route into a junior commercial support role, with degree-level study pursued later via the CAO or part-time. No statutory professional registration body governs this occupation, though membership of the Marketing Institute of Ireland is valued for professional development.
Most people begin in a junior commercial role such as Sales Representative, Category Analyst, or Trade Marketing Assistant before moving into an executive position. With two to four years of experience, progression into a Trade Marketing Manager or National Account Manager role is common. Senior professionals may move into Head of Trade Marketing, Commercial Director, or Category Controller positions, often with responsibility for significant budgets and a team of executives. Many Irish FMCG and drinks companies, including those with European headquarters in Ireland, offer structured graduate programmes that accelerate this progression.
AI-powered analytics tools are transforming how Trade Marketing Executives access and interpret sales and shopper data, enabling faster and more accurate promotional planning. Automated reporting dashboards reduce the time spent on manual data processing, freeing executives to focus on strategic decision-making and retailer relationships. Predictive modelling can now help forecast the likely uplift of a promotion before it launches, improving budget allocation. However, the relational and negotiation aspects of trade marketing continue to require human judgement and interpersonal skill that AI cannot replicate.
→ Trade Marketing Executive (Current role)
Organisations in Ireland that employ people in this occupation.
St. James's Gate, Dublin 8
Drives in-store visibility for Guinness, Baileys and spirits portfolio.
Naas, Co. Kildare
Plans trade promotions for Robinsons, MiWadi and soft drinks brands.
Ballycurreen, Cork
Coordinates supplier promotional activity across SuperValu and Centra networks.
Dublin 2
Executes trade marketing for Jameson and premium spirits in Irish retail.
Dublin 2
Manages shelf positioning and promotions for FMCG brands in Irish grocery.
Drogheda, Co. Louth
Delivers trade marketing for Londis, Batchelors and own food brands.
Rush, Co. Dublin
Plans in-store produce displays and promotional deals with Irish retailers.
Dublin 4
Activates spirits trade promotions across off-licences and multiples.
Tallaght, Dublin 24
Represents FMCG brands, executing trade campaigns with Irish retail buyers.
Tallaght, Dublin 24
Coordinates supplier trade marketing and in-store promotional planning.
Dublin 2 and Nationwide
Supports Irish food brands with trade marketing insights and retail activation.
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