Today we got the chance to meet with EIR, Joe Pietropola, who has a deep history of working in retail, specifically at Dick’s Sporting Goods. What I found extremely interesting about Joe is that within his job, he was never confined to just one area of focus. Instead, when Joe wanted a new thrill and challenge for himself, he asked his boss what more he could do and what new positions he could take on. Joe never intended to work in retail, so hearing his story of how he got where he is now was super interesting. Given that he has worked either for or with nearly every department, Joe was also able to offer us with a lot of valuable information regarding our consulting project. One major topic that he stressed for us to understand within our project is market segmentation, which just happens to be my main focus for Gteic. Understanding the market segments for a company is the first step in beginning to focus marketing efforts towards their specific audience.
We also had a group dinner tonight at Grapow, which is an Asian Street Food restaurant owned by Chef Nima Sherpa. This restaurant had super good food, and we would totally recommend everything on their menu! Onto the business sector of their restaurant, Nima has only been open for a year now. He was able to offer us valuable insight on how he is starting to promote his restaurant and stay afloat with competitors around him. One specific practice that he explained to us was how he aims to work with micro-influencers, such as Pittsburgh Foodie, who he expressed just filmed content for him the other day!
We are excited to see how these people and companies will help us in the development of our consulting project for Carrigart, and I especially will use these skills in my education and future career.
Us girls ended our day with a stop at Millie’s, where some of us got sweet treats!!