Commercial Intern (Retail Partnerships) Review

In Retail Partnerships, we work with affiliate partners - these are partners who promote our brands and can earn a commission on every successful booking made. We work with such partners as it boosts our brand visibility and expands our customer pool. Additional to the partners, we work with 3rd party affiliate networks, such as CJ, and they help us with several things including promoting our products to the affiliate partners and acting as a middle man with certain partners. On a day-to-day basis, I would work on my project which was to streamline information on CJ but also determine potential partners Expedia could work more closely with in the long term. To determine these partners, I spoke with account managers at Expedia, client development managers at CJ, used the CJ website to look at performance insights, focused on success metrics (incl. revenue, clicks and actions), as well as visibility currently give to us on their website. As for the streamlining portion, I worked on multiple accounts/brand programs (these accounts differed by our 4 brands and different countries) to identify inconsistencies and then came up with ways to make it consistent across all brand programs. To help come up with ways to increase consistency, again I spoke with account managers at Expedia but also other internal members such as those on the business operations team and merchandising team. Aside from the project, I also attended team meetings which allowed me to get an insight into what the team are currently doing and what their plans would be for upcoming weeks with certain partners. I was also lucky to sit in some partner meetings and this gave me an insight into how to communicate with the top performing partners as well as exposing me to the unique ways we work with these partners to promote our brands.

I learnt and developed several skills throughout my internship. A key skills I developed was my communication skills: this was a job where I was exposed to working with team members who were much older than me and it was certainly a tricky thing at first to navigate, but I was very fortunate to be part of a team that were extremely friendly and who did not label me as 'the summer intern', but genuinely valued me as a team member regardless of how long I was there for. It was because of my lovely team, I am much more confident in being able to communicate with a variety of people. An essential skill I learnt was data analysis and manipulation - this was required of me when I was identifying rising stars for my project as I looked at success metrics to determine why they were a rising star and developing a closer relationship with that partner would be of benefit for the company. I had to analyse a lot of data regarding revenue, clicks, actions and conversion rate but also navigate which of these metrics were appropriate to suggest to the team as some partners were stronger on some of these metrics and weak on others. As for data manipulation, I learnt how to use v-lookup on excel which was by far the most handiest tool throughout the internship as the reports I needed (which I could only pull from our affiliate network CJ) contained separate information- for e.g., one excel document was solely regarding revenue and another solely actions and I needed this information for all the current partners. Using v-lookup made it much easier for me to collect this data into one spreadsheet and then determine potential rising stars.

In terms of the amount of responsibility given, I would say that I would've liked more. However, this was my first internship but it was also the first intern for the team I worked with and so understandably we were both navigating on what would be appropriate to assign to me and also considering the fact that it was only 10 weeks. Although, I didn't work directly with partners, the responsibility I was given in my project was great as my suggestions would hopefully clean the affiliate network up and thus make it easier for internal and external members but also the rising stars I recommended meant that the account managers would work closely with certain partners based off what I said and the data to support them but also because the development of these relationships could go either way and essentially that would be down to me. However, the trust instilled in me by the account managers is what made me really confident in my recommendations but also demonstrated to me that the company gave me a great responsibility.

The amount of support I received my internal team members were greatly appreciated. I appreciated how they didn't treat me like an intern but like a regular employee: they were more than happy to reply to any questions and concerns I had regarding my project but also in general about my internship experience. They were really quick with their responses and I was immensely grateful for that. Therefore, I would like to thank the Retail Partnerships Team EMEA, the business operations team (or BOPs) and also other members from teams including the early careers team and merchandising team!

Very bustling! As we work hybrid, we're in the offices on Tuesday and Thursday and I think these days are perfect as we all came in very energised and ready to get through the day. There's always something going on if you keep an eye out on the London community slack channel and so when it's time to take a break, it was always refreshing going up to the 5th floor because they were handing out snacks. It's also not your typical 9-5 day job; everyone is very chill and relaxed but at the same time very disciplined and we put our heads down when we need to.

I enjoyed my internship thoroughly! Actually teared up when I said goodbye to my manager! Expedia was beyond my expectations in terms of how the building itself looks, the things they have available but also like I said, the people. It was reassuring knowing I was 1 out of ~60 interns this summer and when I got to know the fellow interns, we were all in as similar boat and so made sure to stick together to enjoy the 10 weeks to the best of our ability. Unlike the stories you hear about other corporate businesses, I can honestly say there is no competition amongst the colleagues and all-in-all a very healthy environment.

Yes

Cliche but enjoy it!! It's only 10 weeks and you realise that it goes by really quickly. You want to ensure you have no regrets about making the most of your time on the last week - whether that's the facilities, the networking across different departments and the cool socials they have going! And be comfortable with your team - sometimes it can be hard to navigate, especially if it's your first internship but also it may be the case you are your managers first intern. But communicate that - if you aren't particularly enjoying something or there's something you want to dabble in (doesn't even have to be related to the team you're in! I was in commercial but took a dip into the creative production side such as the social media and ads portion), let your manager know! Often, your manager or team members are very well connected within the company and they will have a contact they can send your way and so take advantage of that! And lastly, during the application process, if you think you aren't qualified, actually you most likely are! I had zero background in business (I'm currently an undergrad in neuroscience!) but it was all about the transferrable skills I had from my education and work experience that they look for and also my passion to tackle an industry I never have because I was genuinely interested. Apply for the position regardless of your background!