Nestle Purina

My time assisting Purina included delivering data-driven recommendations, data analysis through visualization software, conducting primary research, and maintaining research protocol.

A Seven-Month Grind Filled Novelty; Memorable for Problem-Solving

As part of my MBA practicum, I partnered with Nestlé Purina on a research project focused on e-commerce behavior. My team used eye-tracking technology to study how consumers interact with product badges when included on pet supply e-commerce stores.

In this role as a Practicum Student Consultant, I focused on market research, analytics, visualization, and stakeholder communication.

This experience reinforced my strengths in:

  1. Analytical problem-solving.

  2. Data visualization and uncovering insight.

  3. Working with partners and stakeholders.

  4. Turning research into actionable recommendations.

It also cemented my interest in using research and data to support strategic decision-making, not just reporting for its own sake.

Also, not to be lost…our team displayed some serious dedication. When we didn’t hit our goal of 50 participants before Christmas break, me and two others researchers brought in visiting family on Christmas Eve to participate in the study. Additionally, we spent every week day and many weekends getting together to for a status update

One of our proudest wins was solving how to structure and standardize the data so it could actually be used for analysis. We had to get the Excel spreadsheets to correlate for Power BI. With teamwork, we turned something raw and buggy into something extremely useful.

As a team, we:

  1. Conducted primary and secondary market research

  2. Cleaned, debugged, and standardized messy research data.

  3. Built visualizations and analysis in Power BI

  4. Translated technical findings into a clear, narrative-driven presentation for stakeholders

At the end of this project, our team presented our insights to the Director of Category Leadership at Purina, his team, and the Dean of the Chaifetz School of Business. We fielded a lot of great questions and feedback. Most importantly, the Purina stakeholders found value in our work.