Erika Nelson Email & Phone Number

San Diego, Ca, Us

Stratham, New Hampshire, Us

San Diego, California, Us

Managed a team of analysts responsible for leading all product- and merchandising-focused market and consumer research at Petco. Played a key role in Petco's FY23 annual planning by providing insights and facilitating collaboration among senior leaders, resulting in CCO adoption of a new customer strategy framework. Developed new methods for measuring competitive market share and implemented research to guide Petco's rebranding efforts and innovation for its #1 owned brand, Wholehearted.

San Leandro, Ca, Us

Developed total U.S. chocolate confectionery category vision in collaboration with Lindt and Russell Stover category teams; designed proprietary applied segmentation study of over 49,000 chocolate shoppers, translated survey and Numerator panel data into deep category insights, shopper mindsets and shopping missions to guide merchandise and brand planning and help identify new product innovation opportunities.

Served on the global scientific advisory board of a health & wellness company providing scientific and technical expertise in the review and development of nutritional product development and positioning as well as clinical and basic science research projects

Orrville, Ohio, Us

Spearheaded shopper journey research for Smucker's pet brands, driving omnichannel marketing strategies across key retailers, including Walmart, Target, Dollar General, Kroger, Publix, PetSmart, Petco, Amazon.com and Chewy.com. Provided in-depth dog and cat food category expertise and shopper-focused thought leadership for category strategic initiatives, brand marketing and product innovation, which included leading numerous custom research projects, leveraging foundational and emerging insights to address category growth opportunities, and linking consumer macro trends to new product innovation for customer sell-in stories.

Irving, Tx, Us

Lead various custom research initiatives including online surveys, online research communities, focus groups, sensory testing, multivariate modeling, and in-store qualitative/quantitative research projects to guide merchandising and marketing strategies and operational initiatives. New product development research resulted in the most successful proprietary beverage launch in years, with 17% category sales growth and >3% total same store sales growth in 2014. Localized consumer research resulted in a 53% increase in company-sponsored community programs nationally and an incremental $1.5M merchandise sales within a single focus market in 2015.

Flower Mound, Tx, Us

Mannatech is a multi-national wellness solution provider which develops and sells innovative, high-quality, proprietary nutritional supplements, skin care products, and weight-management products that target optimal health and wellness.Served as product science expert for numerous product development teams and as liaison between the R&D, Regulatory Affairs, and Marketing departments to create product marketing materials for nine new global products. Designed, implemented, and project managed several pre-clinical and clinical studies and market research initiatives for new product development and positioning. Primary authorship and co-authorship of 4 peer-reviewed publications.

Dallas, Texas, Us

Doctoral research in the lab of Dr. Lisa Monteggia, studying the role of epigenetics in synaptic transmission.Designed and implemented electrophysiology, biochemical, molecular biology, and cell culture experiments. Primary authorship and co-authorship of 11 peer-reviewed publications and a textbook chapter.

Mba, Marketing, Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Ph.D., Neuroscience

B.S., Biology/Genetics