Steph Wissink

Title

Managing Director, Senior Research Analyst

Company

Jefferies

Closing session:

Exclusive consumer research: Pet ownership and consumer engagement post-pandemic — Steph Wissink, managing director and senior research analyst, Jefferies, explores current pet owner attitudes toward pet food transparency and trust of the industry, plus specific pet food product types, claims, humanization and premiumization. This is based on exclusive research conducted in partnership between Jefferies, an investment firm advising and supporting pet food companies, pet retailers and similar organizations among its thousands of clients, and Petfood Industry.

Experience:

Steph Wissink is managing director and senior research analyst leading coverage of broadlines and club retail, beauty and personal care, entertainment, pet and specialty consumer health for Jefferies, an investment firm. She anchors her research in demographics, changes in consumer engagement and store observations complemented by a robust set of primary and secondary alternative data inputs. With over 20 years covering retail and consumer companies, Wissink’s experience in tracking business cycles, demand curves and business model evolution shapes how she thinks about degree and magnitude of change, and how that creates opportunity and risk for industry players. Her current focus includes lasting impacts from COVID-19 on retail and consumer demand; digitization of the shopping experience; the next phase of loyalty and what consumers expect to get in return for sharing their data; and the call to action by consumers and investors for companies and brands to fill the social responsibility void left by the increasing de-relevance of traditional institutions.