Category Management

The consumer—it’s what ultimately keeps a
category manager up at night, wondering:
Do I have the right assortment and
merchandising mix for every customer that
walks through my doors? And if I don’t, how
much impact do the wrong product
assortment and merchandising mix have on
my bottom line? The truth is, the impact
could be enormous.

What exactly is category management?

"Boiled down to basics, category management is a process that involves managing product categories as business units and customizing them on a store-by-store basis to satisfy customer needs. Rooted in the belief that today's new product explosion has made strategic management by department too unfocused, category management transforms retail "buyers" and manufacturer "sellers" into entrepreneurs, each responsible for a small business within a larger enterprise." - Nielsen Marketing Research

When retailers take a more comprehensive approach, sales opportunities begin to present themselves. Point- of-sale data and the wealth of syndicated data developed from it allowed retailers to have a product-centric understanding of sales, right down to sales by store, by flavor and by size.

I have the experience and the training (AC Nielsen) to use category review processes, and with the addition of marketing tactics will yield incremental returns that will boost sales and add to the bottom line.