Delivering a great piece of category work with all the insight and data beautifully crafted into clear recommendations is only half the job. Now you need to make it happen. How can you ensure that your work has the best chance of being implemented?
Trust and Relationships
The biggest underrated element of a category managers job is the trust and relationships that are needed externally with retailers. Its something that needs to be built but how?
Share knowledge and expertise ongoing in a timely manner (such as market updates or monthly reports). This helps demonstrate that you are an expert and someone who knows the market. If you have actions and follow ups from meetings you say you're going to do, ensure they are done in a proactive timely manner.
As a category manager being the voice of the shopper without bias. Be on time for meetings and have answers prepped for questions that may arise. If you are in a small supplier that doesn’t have frequent engagement with retailer stakeholders make those moments count when they do happen, be over prepared.
Consistency and Resilience
Talking about the changes you want to recommend once, is unlikely to be enough. Needing to repeat yourself numerous times to different people might be necessary. Who else can you talk to and make sure sees the work you have done? Outside of the buying team who else is a stakeholder in the changes that need to be made?
Make the complicated simple
Category Management is notorious for having too much data and insight. Your role in a range recommendation is to cut through all of this and ensure there are clear actions that need to be taken within the category. Can you turn your review into a one pager to follow up with at a later date?
Timing
Delivering a piece of category recommendation is all about timing,. If final range plans are locked in 12 weeks before launch when are you going to present your work? If you need to do extra bespoke research how does that fit in with the timelines?
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