Retail Insights and Optimization Analyst
Description
Bringing our love of food to families for five generations! Blount Fine Foods is a family-owned and operated manufacturer, marketer, and developer of premium fresh prepared foods. We are an engaging team, bringing restaurant-quality products to America including single-serve grab-n-go fresh soups, mac & cheese, and entrées in grocery stores across the country, as well as for hot bars and restaurants. Help us create the finest food experiences including those with specialty certifications that include organic, gluten-free, and low sodium, among others. Join a proven team for growth, success, and a satisfying career!
Summary: The Retail Insights and Optimization Analyst plays a pivotal role in driving the growth and performance of Blount’s owned and licensed CPG brands. This role blends analytical rigor with strategic thinking, supporting both the Sales and Marketing teams through the development of actionable insights, trade performance analysis, and customer-facing storytelling.
The ideal candidate will be skilled in leveraging syndicated data, building dashboards, and translating complex data into clear, compelling recommendations that influence decision-making and drive ROI. A key focus of this role is supporting strategic initiatives across the Grocery, Mass, and Club channels, ensuring insights are tailored to the unique dynamics of each retail environment.
This role is highly cross-functional, requiring close collaboration with Sales, Marketing, Demand Planning, and external partners to ensure trade investments and category strategies are aligned with business goals.
Essential Duties:
1. Sales and Promotional Insights
- Conduct category reviews and analysis, including assortment, pricing, and promotional planning for key accounts and in collaboration with the sales team
- Develop insights and fact-based selling stories to support retailer engagement.
- Analyze shopper behavior using syndicated and panel data to generate actionable recommendations.
- Identify trends and opportunities for Blount and competitor brands, sharing insights with Sales, Marketing, and Forecasting teams.
- Create sales enablement materials and presentations to support brand growth at retail.
- Build and maintain dashboards and reports to support Sales and Marketing initiatives.
2. Trade Planning and Performance
- Track and maintain trade and promotional activity for assigned retailers, ensuring accuracy and alignment with current plans.
- Monitor trade spend and forecast performance, providing insights to Sales and other stakeholders.
- Communicate updates to internal and external partners, including broker teams.
- Serve as the subject matter expert in trade planning, allocation, and ROI analysis.
- Partner with Sales to develop methodologies for evaluating promotion effectiveness and fatigue.
3. Business Performance & Strategic Reporting
- Lead the development of frameworks for measuring and analyzing sales performance across Blount and Panera brands.
- Conduct strategic analyses to identify brand strengths, risks, and growth opportunities.
- Standardize reporting and dashboarding to deliver consistent insights to Sales, Marketing, and Operations.
Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree (B.A.) from a four-year college or university required: MBA preferred; 5+ years of related experience in a brand or category management role with a CPG company being a strong advantage.
- Experience with syndicated data and/or shopper card platforms (Circana, Nielsen, Numerator, 8451, etc.)
- Analytical mindset and skilled at synthesizing data from multiple sources to deliver clear, actionable insights and recommendations tailored to the needs of the sales team
- Proficient in advanced Excel functions, including pivot tables, VLOOKUP, and data visualization tools
- Familiarity with Grocery, Mass, and Club retail channels.
- Strong communication and presentation skills, adaptable to various audiences.
- Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- Previous retail CPG sales experience a plus
Our Total Compensation Package Includes:
- Medical, dental and vision benefits.
- 401k with Company match.
- Paid time off include vacation, sick time and holidays.
- Education Assistance Program.
- Life Insurance and Short-Term Disability.
- Discounts on Blount products at Company retail location.
- Discretionary Annual Bonus Program.