Erin Kotch

About Erin Kotch

Enigmatologist, Strategist, StorytellerI love a good puzzle, an enigma. All puzzles have a *what* element, a final answer (or answers). That’s fun enough, I guess, its own simple pleasure. But a good puzzle has more. A good puzzle has a discoverable *why*, a purpose, an underlying set of drivers that define the rules of the game. And that, the *why*, is so much more interesting.So you’ve figured out I enjoy Sudoku (really O’Ekaki is more my jam), but what does that matter here? Insights is the why level of puzzle solving - finding the patterns, the intersection of those metrics that describes and predicts behavior. And then, not only do you have to discover the Insight, then you have to figure out what to do with it. Determine what’s important and what’s a red herring. Craft a story to not just deliver the Insight, but explain why it matters and answer “Now what do we do?” So I work Insights Enigmas: find the why, distill to actionable findings, figure out what to do next, and tell the story.

Experience

1. Senior Category Insights & Analytics Manager

   Lindt & Sprüngli USA

   Mar 2020 — Present · Cincinnati, OH, US

   Leader of US Category Strategy, Insights & Analytics. My team is responsible for shopper research; developing and socializing the Category Vision; developing Perfect Store guidelines and embedding them through the Wholesale environment; understanding and communicating macro trends and their impact to future business to senior leadership; insights storytelling to support initiatives including major product launches & drive periods; support holistic business planning with market and business demand forecasting; manage the syndicated and customer-specific data budget, relationships, user training; develop and maintain standardized reporting supporting Wholesale & Marketing

Education

• Chaminade-Julienne

  HS, HS

  1992 — 1996

• Franklin University

  B.S., Business Management

  2005 — 2008

• Franklin University

  Master of Business Administration - MBA, Business Administration and Management, General

  2020

• Cincinnati State Technical and Community College

  AAB, Marketing Management Technology

  2003 — 2004

Skills

• Customer Insight
• Analytics
• Pricing Strategy
• Merchandising
• Data Analysis
• Segmentation
• Consumer Insight
• Shopper Marketing
• Retail Schematics
• Ac Nielsen
• Fmcg
• Retail
• Category Management
• Spectra
• Management
• Iri
• Forecasting
• Business Insights
• Nielsen
• Competitive Analysis
• Grocery
• Key Account Development
• Pricing
• Vba
• Consumer Products
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Sales
• Syndicated Data Analysis
• Analysis