Our industry is changing. Has your organization responded? Are you stuck in a holding pattern or waiting for a signal?
This blog will help you to get started in leading the journey for your organization.
Ready, set, go?
There are so many different areas of opportunity to focus on that it’s difficult to know where to start and what your biggest areas of opportunity even are.
The following will get you on a path to identify your biggest areas of opportunity, assess your current approach and ultimately provide access to resources to help you get prepared in your journey.
First, identify your future plans for category management as a Retailer or Manufacturer
AS A RETAILER, Which best describes your approach?
- We use category management internally to drive category growth, but don’t work with Manufacturers and are not looking for further development beyond tactical work associated with traditional category management.
- We want to engage in category management that is collaborative with our Manufacturer partners, but not in a fully vetted category captain arrangement.
- We want to engage in a fully vetted category captain category management program that maximizes a collaborative approach with our Manufacturer partners, including implementation of strategic category plans through execution in stores.
AS A MANUFACTURER, Which best describes your approach?
- We use category management internally and externally to drive brand and category growth, but are not looking for further development beyond tactical work associated with traditional category management.
- We want to win a large percentage of category captain roles in our most important categories and with our most important Retailers, being seen as one of the leading category management teams in the industry for our categories. We want to build collaborative relationships with our most important Retail partners.
- We want to be influencers of category management strategy in our most important categories and our most important Retailers, adding value to Retailers in specific parts of the category management process. We want strong relationships with our key Retail partners.
Second, assess your current approach to category management
It’s critical to complete a self diagnosis of your current Category Management Positioning, taking into account these 3 components of category management: PEOPLE, DATA, TOOLS.
People
- How many RESOURCES are available to support category management for my organization?
- What degree of INTERNAL ALIGNMENT exists across my organization?
- How is category management TRAINING utilized and what is its effectiveness?
Data
- How much SHOPPER DATA & RESEARCH has been purchased for use by my organization?
- How robust is our current suite of category management DATA?
- How do we manage DATA INTEGRATION across key sources?
Tools
- What EXTRACTION TOOLS are available to our teams to complete analytics?
- What internal category management standards, best practices, and PROCESSES exist within our organization?
- How effective are our PRESENTATIONS of data and identification of insights, both internally and externally?
Next Stop?
Get a Complimentary Category Management GPS Assessment from CMKG
By completing an assessment of where you’re currently at across these different category management components (PEOPLE, DATA, TOOLS), you can start to focus on where your biggest areas of opportunity are relative to what you’ve identified as your future plans for category management.
