E-Commerce Shopper Marketing Intern
E-COMMERCE SHOPPER MARKETING INTERN
Background
Our Organization & Mission: Positively Groundfish is a young non-profit organization (501c6) that was incorporated in April 2018, but it represents a fishery that has been around for generations and that was once the economic and cultural backbone of coastal communities along the West Coast. The groundfish fishery faced ecological collapse and was declared a federal economic disaster in 2000, but thanks to comprehensive sustainability measures, has since experienced a remarkable recovery and is now considered “the ecological comeback story of the century” (quote: NOAA). However, our goal is to make it not just an environmental success but an economic one too, and help shift consumption to these more sustainable, healthy options.
Positively Groundfish was formed as a collaborative multi-stakeholder initiative by a collective of environmental non-profits, fishermen, seafood processors and academia that have partnered with a shared vision for a healthy and vibrant fishery. Positively Groundfish’s stated mission is to tell the positive story of sustainable underutilized West Coast Groundfish to cultivate public appreciation and support the long-term economic success of local fishing communities. It is spreading a message of hope and responsible engagement with our ecosystems in which ecological and economic goals go hand-in-hand. We want to make America fall in love with West Coast groundfish and appreciate the great variety and unique tastes, qualities, and health benefits of our many wonderful species.
Our Fish: The term ‘groundfish’ refers to wild-caught finfish species that dwell near the bottom of the ocean, and include over 90 different species of rockfish, sole, flounder, ling cod, black cod, skate and thornyheads here on the West Coast. The West Coast groundfish fishery is considered abundant and sustainable: currently 18 of our most commercially important species are certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council and have “best choice” ratings from Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. Moreover, a comprehensive nutrient analysis we’ve recently commissioned, revealed that our key species have exceptionally great nutrient levels, putting them into “superfood” territory.
The Challenge: During the two decades it took for the fishery to recover, West Coast Groundfish species were essentially off-sale and all of their latent market demand vanished and shifted to other, mostly foreign species such as tilapia, while groundfish species were forgotten. Now we need to rebuild awareness, drive trial and distribution, and differentiate these lesser-known species in the minds of consumers. In essence, we need to ignite a new food trend for West Coast groundfish species.
This Project: We are working on a larger multi-pronged project focused on helping local producers elevate groundfish species’ presence across major retailers and working with retailers to improve the seafood shopping experience. This internship focuses specifically on the online retail channel. Seafood as a category is under-indexing in online sales, and groundfish species particularly so. The online channel has received relatively little attention from seafood producers so far, so there is ample opportunity for improvement and growth.
Your Responsibilities
> You will be a core part of our team and integral to making our retail improvement project a success.
- Produce a methodical analysis of the current state of groundfish species’ presence across major online retailers. And from that you develop action-oriented recommendations to improve groundfish products’ online retail presence, discoverability and shelf stand-out.
- Plan and oversee a comprehensive groundfish product photoshoot, creating a broad range of visual assets for online retail.
- In collaboration with local producers in our network, you develop a list of the major online retailer’s requirements for online product listings and merchandising. And then you’ll create a state-of-the-art online product listing kit for key groundfish species and major online retailers, which will be made available as a tool for local seafood producers.
Qualifications
- You are ideally a senior in an undergraduate degree, a current grad student, or recently graduated from college.
- Preferably, you have already gained some experience working in e-commerce, marketing, sales, or grocery management.
- You work methodically, you have an analytical mind and have great attention to detail.
- You have creative confidence and a developed sense of aesthetics.
- You are organized, self-motivated and able to get work done without close supervision.
- You have excellent communication skills, have a professional demeanor, and are comfortable picking up the phone to team members and external partners.
- Skilled in PowerPoint and Excel (or Mac and Google equivalents).