As Giant Eagle’s senior eCommerce marketplace manager, Edna Pinzón promotes the diversity of products the supermarket chain offers. She also allows many Latino food brands to make themselves known to U.S. consumers.
While exploring the market for new products for Giant Eagle, Abasto met Pinzón. She was participating in a Procolombia business roundtable in Houston, Texas, where hundreds of Colombian brands were making themselves known to do business in the United States.
Pinzón, of Colombian origin, spoke with Abasto about her professional career, her studies, and how she became one of the creators of the e-commerce platform of the supermarket chain Giant Eagle.
In Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, Pinzón studied business administration at the prestigious Universidad de Los Andes, and after graduating, she completed two master’s degrees in marketing in Perú and Spain.
“After that was when I entered fully into my professional career in e-commerce and digital life,” said Pinzón.
After developing several e-commerce projects in Colombia, Pinzón traveled to the United States to study at the University of Michigan, where she earned a master’s degree in business analytics.
Shortly after finishing her master’s degree in 2021, Giant Eagle offered her the opportunity to join the company to help them develop from scratch the eCommerce platform for the supermarket chain based in O’Hara, just outside Pittsburgh.
Being Hispanic and English not being her first language was not an obstacle for Pinzón to integrate easily into the Giant Eagle team.
“I was fortunate to come to a company completely open to diversity. At first, I was a little embarrassed about my accent or not knowing English a hundred percent, and on the contrary, they thought it was wonderful. I talk to them a lot about our traditions, which are celebrated in my company,” said Pinzón.
“Without a doubt, coming to a company like this, we are talking about more than 35,000 employees and more than 500 stores in total, is a huge challenge, but here we go with the support of my bosses,” Pinzón acknowledged.
Pinzón contributed to the development of Giant Eagle’s eCommerce platform, so the supermarket chain took a great leap forward. They went from having an online service limited to selling products available in the store to be picked up by customers to multiplying the supply of items online by thousands. Now the consumer can choose from more than 40,000 additional products with the option of having the purchase delivered to their doorstep.
The development of the eCommerce marketplace platform has allowed Pinzón to constantly search for new products for Giant Eagle and open the door to Hispanic brands.
In this regard, Pinzón said, “for me, it is a fortune that from the role I have right now, I can support many Latino businesses. It’s something I love, and I like to meet with Latino brands, meet them and understand their history.
In addition to Pinzón’s vital support to Latino businesses in the eCommerce market area, she also supports her Hispanic colleagues within Giant Eagle. “This year, I was elected president of Giant Eagle’s Hispanic group, the diversity group called Hola, and this allows me to promote the diversity of the Latino culture within the company.”
Pinzón’s passion is creating new business models. Looking to the future, she sees herself supporting companies, growing in this retail food industry, and passing on her expertise in the digital field.
Regarding the role of women as leaders in companies, she considers that women are still a minority at the highest levels of companies. However, with enthusiasm, she assures that “everything is still to come and women have special skills regarding perseverance, discipline, organization and we bring the teams a big heart, caring for others, so opportunities for women are everywhere.”
