Post Consumer Brands
Back-to-School eCommerce Intern Project
THE PROJECT:
As an eCommerce Intern at Post Consumer Brands, I spent 13 weeks analyzing competitor performance, historical data, and consumer research to develop a comprehensive back-to-school media strategy across Instacart, Amazon, and Walmart.
The Problem
Back-to-school creates a highly competitive media environment for the ready-to-eat cereal category. The season drives some of the highest stock-up behavior and grocery spend per trip of the year, while increased competitive traffic and rising bid costs make it harder to capture high-intent shoppers efficiently. With no structured approach to this high-traffic period, there was an opportunity to improve media efficiency, strengthen performance visibility, and create a repeatable strategy for future back-to-school seasons.
Approach
Leveraged NIQ, Numerator, competitor, consumer, and internal insights to identify promotional and audience opportunities, uncover basket affinities, and inform media allocation, budget, brand prioritization, and timing.
01. Research
NIQ · Numerator · Competitor Analysis · Consumer Insights · Interviews
02. Identify Opportunities
Promotions · Audience Segments · Basket Affinities · Retailer Opportunities
03. Build Strategy
Media Allocation · Budget · Brand Prioritization · Timing
Strategy
Impact
Built a comprehensive BTS media playbook
Translated competitor, historical, and consumer research into an actionable media strategy.
Created an optimization framework
Established KPIs, reporting cadence, A/B testing, and budget allocation principles.
Identified growth opportunities
Developed search, promotional, audience, and basket-building strategies across the shopper journey.
Delivered an actionable roadmap
Created a week-by-week approach for activating, optimizing, scaling, and measuring media throughout the season.
