Being able to analyze data and derive relevant insights from it is a requirement in almost every role for both Retailers and Suppliers. There’s an opportunity for many in our industry to learn how to make fact-based, strategic decisions and recommendations by building skills to effectively read and interpret data. A great starting point for learning how to do this is through a category assessment. Creating a category assessment is also the first step in developing a retail category plan, but the flow, measures and logic apply to development of category reviews, business reviews and internal planning documents. You should be able to analyze, benchmark, interpret and identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats through an effective category assessment.

Data is one of the biggest requirements in category management for moving toward a more strategic, fact-based organization. Many organizations spend millions of dollars on data and sometimes even more money to mine the data through software and front-end reporting systems. But organizations too often forget to train their organization on some of the most important things about data. This is what can lead to misinterpretations and frustrations when using data.

Ready to create your category plans? Start with the essential category management foundations … Effectively defining Retailer strategy is the MOST important foundation to achieve success for any Retailer. Retailer strategy should include consideration of the following: Development of overall strategies associated with your store format(s), your target Shopper, your competition and your Private Label / store brands. Proper category definitions (and associated segments based on the consumer decision tree) based on your target Shopper and how you view and shop the category. Assignment of category roles to provide a structure to managing the categories across your store (once again based on your target Shopper). Once a Retailer’s strategies are defined, they need to be communicated.

Here’s why you shouldn’t treat all your categories the same… Imagine a retailer who sells hundreds of categories and treats each of them exactly the same – including decisions on assortment, shelving, promotions and pricing. Remember – equal treatment would require the same number of resources and time spent against every category. Sound like a good idea? Absolutely not! Retailers need to assign roles across categories to get a broad look at their category mix, determine the category’s relative importance, and apply similar tactical strategies across categories with the same role. This is an important foundation of their overall Retailer strategy. Here are some great resources from CMKG for you to get started on your learning journey: Category Roles: Category management training course preview (video) Complimentary download that reviews the roles of the category Certified course details Before you determine roles for your categories, consider these 3 factors.

Who owns Category Definition in the store anyways? Determining the best definition for categories (including their segments) is one of the core foundations in category management. In its simplest form, defining categories is about what items belong in a category based on Shopper expectations — and this responsibility belongs to the Retailer. It sounds like an easy task, but in practice, it is not because there are many considerations in this strategic component of category management. Here are some great resources from CMKG for you to get started: Category Definition & Segmentation course preview (video) Category Definition complimentary download Category Definition & Segmentation certified course details Before you define your categories, read these 3 considerations.