Steven W.

Noll
14 Bradford Ave., Crafton, PA 15205--stevenwnoll@gmail.com--301-525-8070

March 16, 2020

Costco Home Office

Issaquah, WA
To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to formally apply for the Merchandising Analytics Analyst position at Costco. I have been with
Costco for over four years and currently work as a front-end assistant and work in major sales as well. My time
cashiering and working sales has allowed me to observe the customer base firsthand and gain insight on
spending habits and behavioral patterns of our member base. I guide my work by Costco's mission to adhere to a
highly ethical standard of treatment of employees, customers, and suppliers. In fact, for my Accounting for
Managers course in my Master’s degree program, I wrote a thesis paper that analyzed and dissected Costco’s
mission statement, accounting, and sustainability efforts as well as the company's ethical standing. My
dedication to the mission and desire to use the skills from my current position and the data analysis skills that I
have acquired through my education has led me to apply to the Merchandising Analytics Analyst role. 

The work I have completed through pursuing my Master’s degree in Business Data Analysis has greatly prepped
me for this position. My degree has taught me to use analytical skills and formulas in MS Excel, Python, SQL,
the R programming language, and other programs to analyze and interpret data for clients. Additionally, I have
spent an entire semester on a course on how to utilize Tableau software to create clear and visually engaging
dashboards to quickly and effectively communicate the results of analytics to executives. I have also taken
courses on economics, marketing, accounting, corporate finance, and statistics. All of these courses have given
me a toolbox of skills and understanding of business to allow me to effectively navigate and participate in a
corporate analyst environment as well as provide insightful feedback on procedures to impact company decision
making.

Furthermore, I understand the value of keeping a focus on the executive decision maker understanding and
experience and tracking and visually presenting analytical results of data as needed to impact company
performance. I am dedicated to creating relationships internally and externally that result in a strong and
enthusiastic customer following and enhance profitability. Presently, I am a freelancer with smaller companies,
and my current client is in the tabletop role playing game industry, a quickly growing market with highly
dominating products such as Dungeons and Dragons, Shadowrun, and World of Darkness. I am creating the
Kickstarter pitch for my client to create value for their product to consumers. This requires me to manage all
aspects of the Kickstarter, including creating visual engagement through managing a team of graphic designers
and artists. Additionally, I have led the pre-Kickstarter marketing campaign through product demonstrations in
both online and convention forums as well as seeding word of mouth marketing efforts directly to potential
consumers. While this Kickstarter has not launched yet, I have assisted with six other Kickstarters for small
companies that have reached an average funding of 233% of the funding goal.  I am self-motivated to initiate
projects and seek out and build relationships with clients to further their products and standing in the industry.

As a Merchandising Analytics Analyst, I look forward to rigorously analyzing the information supplied to me
and creating solutions to problems that arise from the data presented based on my knowledge of the company,
our parameters, and the member base. With all these things considered, I believe I would be a strong asset to
your team and would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to demonstrate my skills in data analysis.
Please feel free to contact me to arrange an interview at your convenience. Thank you for your consideration, I
hope to hear from you soon.

Regards,
Steven Noll