Business acumen is the ability to assess an external market and make effective decisions. You need the skills and tools to think more like an owner of the business and to understand, set and execute business strategy while being able to measure the effectiveness of their business strategy through financial performance – skills that I think many of us can improve upon. Think about what you’re responsible for in your job. How often do you think about or consider the impact of your decisions on other areas in your company?  For example product supply? Or finance? Or your implementation team?

Retail has changed significantly over the past 20 years – new data, technology, tools, analytics, Shoppers, omni-channel … How much have you changed your internal approach to reflect these changes? I recently co-facilitated a “Retail Leaders’ Forum” for retail executives responsible for category management, with Tom McDonald of the Category Management Association. We talked about the importance for this audience to evaluate their current catman approach in 3 areas.

We spend a lot of time analyzing our business, but we need to ask whether we are looking at the entire picture or just scratching the surface.  Are you looking for the big opportunities? Developing next year’s category plan? Identifying weaknesses when business is soft? Determining the next big innovation? Evaluating the post results from an initiative? Or analyzing a specific tactic? Identifying the question will help you achieve your goals.

If you’ve made cuts to next year’s training budget or plan to, there’s still time to avoid: Productivity losses, Missed opportunities, and Strategic misfires … All for a fraction of the cost of Data, Technology, and Shopper Insights. Here’s how …

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.

The direction you need to achieve your goals. You’ve completed a category review or category assessment, ultimately identifying your biggest areas of opportunity to help you achieve your target goals and objectives in the category. Now what? 

We’re all searching for better ways to tap into Shopper insights data to address the “why” in category management — why aren’t we finding it?

Today, many Manufacturers are spending more dollars than ever before on data, technology and Shopper understanding. While the complexity of the data and technology increases, resources are being cut, requiring us to do more with less. 

Note: This content is part of our new eBook on Category Management with Limited Data. Feel free to read and share.

Which Opportunities Match Your Priorities for the Year? With change comes opportunity. And there are tons of changes happening in category management unfolding as you read this post. Most are being driven by CatMan 2.0™, and the commitment of Retailers like Walmart who are demanding more advanced solutions and approaches both internally and from their Vendor community.  So where are the biggest changes and what are the opportunities for YOU?