Master Essential Skills & Topics for Retail and CPG

Category management is a strategic approach to managing your business in retail, CPG, c-store, DIY, industrial, professional services, etc. It's important to understand as a retailer, a supplier or solution provider. Through a basic understanding of category management, how it works, and why it's important for your business, your team will learn how to apply category management principles for more strategic business plans and ultimately, better business results. You will have the opportunity to discuss  and develop overall strategy in category management for your unique business through customized workshops. SESSION DETAILS: Optimum class size: 10-15 participants (maximum 25) Length of session: 120 minutes Cost: Starts at $3,000 USD (includes development, customization, delivery, student notes, hands-on workshops). Multiple sessions of the same topic are at a reduced price. Core Competency:  RETAIL STRATEGY   This session can be combined with other training topics to create a virtual training series over days, weeks or months.  

This advanced training program is designed to build skills in areas like shopper and product supply. It includes a set of on-demand courses that gives participants the skills to function at an advanced level in their role in retail / CPG / FMCG.  This program meets all learning requirements for the CPSA designation.    Who should take this course? For those looking for an advanced understanding of Category Management - and/or who is looking to achieve CMA designation at the CPSA level.   Program Details   Approximately 20 hours course time  Prerequisite: Intermediate category management understanding and/or CPCM Designation (if you are looking for CMA certification).  Note that the CPSA level does not include exam preparation materials as certification is by an essay-based exam that also considers the candidate's experience.  Buy Advanced / CPSA Category Management Training Program ($499) from CMKG.ORG  

This category management training program spans the foundations of Category Management from the foundational to the intermediate level with a focus on in-depth data and analysis. It's a great program if you have a limited background or need a refresher in the foundations, if you want a good general knowledge of category management data and analytics, or if you are seeking certification at the Certified Professional Category Manager (CPCM) level with the Category Management Association (CMA). Buy Foundational / CPCA + Intermediate / CPCM Category Management Training Program ($1,549) or Certification Package ($1,699) from CMKG.ORG

This training program is designed to build category management skills at an intermediate level, including in-depth data and analytics across key data sources and the category tactics.  It includes a set of on-demand courses that will give participants skills to function at an intermediate level in their category management or sales role in retail / CPG / FMCG.  This program meets all learning requirements for the Certified Professional Category Manager (CPCM) designation with the CMA for those who are interested.   Who should take this course? Retail, category management, sales and shopper teams looking for an intermediate understanding of Category Management and/or who is looking to achieve CPCM certification.   Program Details   Approximately 30-35 hours course time  Prerequisite: Foundational / CPCA  Buy Intermediate / CPCM Category Management Training Program ($999) or Certification Package ($1,099) from CMKG.ORG

This set of foundational courses gives a solid grounding in the category management process, analytics and presentation skills. This program meets all learning requirements for the designation of Certified Professional Category Analyst (CPCA) designation for those who are interested in certification.   Who should take this course? Retail, category management, sales and shopper teams looking for an intermediate understanding of Category Management and/or who is looking to achieve CPCA certification.  Program Details   Approx. 30-35 hours course time No prerequisites Available in Spanish

This accredited program develops proficiency in the foundations of category management, including the process and strategy, from a retailer perspective.  Understanding the foundations of category management is critical to anyone who touches retail. Without the big picture perspective, it’s difficult to understand the role that you play within it and how to create the best solutions. Buy Understanding Retailer Strategy and Category Management 1 ($297) from CMKG.ORG  

This accredited program builds proficiency in the category management process at a deep level, including category definition, roles, strategies, and implementation of the plan.  By moving into more depth about the category management process, you will learn to effectively set up your categories for success through these more detailed foundations in category management. Buy Understanding Retailer Strategy and Category Management 2 ($369) from CMKG.ORG  

Category Management needs to change to reflect more complex data, increasingly complicated technologies, more sophisticated Shoppers, and an evolving retail Omni-Channel. And, as the industry continues to rapidly evolve and present new challenges, your strategic category management approach must adapt to meet the needs of the new Shopper and Omni-Channel. This virtual classroom training will dive into the most important changes to the category management process, the implications they have for your team and for navigating your business into the future, and will provide your team with the skills necessary to implement an effective category management strategy to keep up with this ever-changing industry. SESSION DETAILS: Optimum class size: 10-15 participants (maximum 25) Length of session: 120 minutes Cost: Starts at $3,000 USD (includes development, customization, delivery, student notes, hands-on workshops). Multiple sessions of the same topic are at a reduced price. Core Competency:  RETAIL STRATEGY   This session can be combined with other training topics to create a virtual training series over days, weeks or months.  

The Category Management Master's Series is a set of 12 virtual courses (recorded) with information about CatMan 2.0™ that will impact individuals’ day-to-day and futures role using an updated, advanced category management process. Get yourself or your team ready with topic-based recorded virtual courses that help learners apply new & refreshed Catman 2.0 principles through examples, strategies and tips. Who should take this program? Category management practitioners, analysts, sales, marketing and other roles who want to move to more advanced. What will I learn? How each topic is, or will be, affected by changes in the industry, Shopper, and CatMan 2.0. How to incorporate the most relevant topics into participants existing category management framework. How to apply new concepts in day-to-day work. How to speak to one’s manager, peers, and customers about the changing dynamics across different topics with clarity and understanding. How to determine which topics are the biggest priorities and opportunities for learners and their role. 

Course Overview  

Promotion, as a driver of incremental sales, has expanded way beyond traditional flyers and coupons to include websites, targeted emails, social media, and retailer mobile strategy. Participants learn to use advanced data and technology to plan effectively for this new and expanding complexity in promotion planning.

Pricing is an important but complex tactic in category management because changes can have huge implications on sales and profit. As we continue to expand understanding on just how varied the response to price changes is, we can begin to understand the variables such as online shopping, price transparency, Shopper expectations, and value.

Shopper Marketing is a brand new tactic and needs special attention to understand how it can succeed and be analyzed alongside other tactics. Learners identify the requirements for successful Shopper marketing, and the importance of using Shopper insights to develop effective Shopper marketing solutions for retailers and their categories.

This final, but critically important, implementation step is often misunderstood or even forgotten — even though success of your entire category plan relies on effective deployment. Participants understand the most efficient and effective ways for deployment.

Well-defined category foundations provide the rules, guidelines, and strategies for a category’s success or failure by aligning to how the Shopper most likely views the category; how items are segmented; and a solid category decision tree. Participants learn how to assign Category Roles and Strategies with the Shopper in mind, including their emotional needs, and be more creative when it comes to defining Retailer strategies.

According to CatMan 2.0™, interdependent roles should be in the same organization, which means Shopper Insights and Marketing belong within category management. Internal alignment cannot happen if the category management department is separated from the rest of your organization. Participants learn how to unify category and Shopper perspective, strategy, and understanding and how to measure ROI from your more sophisticated category management process and framework.

Retailers can decide how much space different categories get, which impacts the number of items carried within a category assortment; OR they allocate space to specific categories based on the number of items or product range desired. Learners consider how new data sources, technologies, and analytics can be reflected in advanced space management best practices for shelving — now and in the future.

Product assortment is where large amounts of analytic time is spent since products not carried by a retailer can’t sell. Assortment analysis determines how to fit innovation into the product range. Participants inquire how to use new data sources, technologies, and analytics in advanced assortment, and consider the impact demand-based clustering and assortment.

Category scorecards are a MUST HAVE for category plans for both Retailers and Manufacturers. That’s because every plan needs objectives by which organizations can measure success. Learners develop an advanced, Shopper-focused scorecard that includes category foundations, critical opportunities, and metrics that correlate best with opportunities.

One of the biggest changes and challenges is the integration of Shopper Insights into the Category Assessment to answer WHY they buy. Answer this very important question, and learn HOW to insert Shopper insights into assessments, review and analytics.

Category assessments are WHERE opportunities are identified primarily through the evaluation of historical data. There are many ways that assessments can be improved and enhanced to reflect the Shopper to incorporate more advanced data sources and analytics. Participants learn how to derive deeper category insights.

The category management process has changed to reflect more complex and granular data, more complicated technologies, a more sophisticated Shopper, and an evolving retail Omni-Channel. Learners find out what the most important changes to the category management process are, why each of these changes was made, and the implications of these changes on their work. More importantly, they consider what they need to do differently to navigate the category management road ahead.

Many category management professionals end up in a very tactical role that results in them pulling and compiling data, with little room left for analyzing the data and becoming more strategic in their role. The opportunity is to become more strategic by learning where participants are spending too much time doing unimportant work and making some usually simple changes to free up some time for that more strategic work that they’ve always meant to get to.

Course Overview Category management is the retailer/supplier process of managing categories as strategic business units, producing enhanced business results by focusing on delivering consumer value. Category management provides strategic businesses approaches and analytics that benefit sales, marketing and category management professionals to understand. If participants are working in a category management environment, they need to understand the whole process, from a big picture perspective.     Approximately 1.5 hours course time