Category Development Manager
About The Position
The Category Development Manager develops the overall shelf assortment strategy for a product category or categories. This position should understand consumer and shopper needs and purchase behavior, new product vitality, importance of private, specialty and regionally-relevant product options that will drive sales and achieve performance targets. This position is responsible for providing product category insights and proposals by analyzing marketing and customer data and monitoring relevant market conditions. Success in this role demands a strong strategic and analytical orientation coupled with exceptional communication skills as well as a highly developed collaborative nature with a clear ambition of driving sustainable category sales and profitability.
Requirements
- Working knowledge of most current technologies and products used in the industry
- Strong commercial acumen
- Strong strategic and analytical orientation
- Proven leader, team-builder, and resourceful problem-solver
- Strong organization, project management and stakeholder service skills
- Exceptional presentation, communication, and story-telling skills
- Self-motivated, action-focused mindset
- 2-5 years of experience and knowledge of category management, marketing, and sales principles
- Bachelor's Degree - Business
- Master's Degree - Business
Responsibilities
- Owns, creates, manages and delivers warehouse-specific category planograms, related mix options, variety, shopper selection and output quality
- Owns assimilating key corporate growth objectives into assortment planning imperatives, clear retail guidance and instore activation priorities
- Owns determining assortment growth goals in line with the C&S growth plan
- Delivers monitoring, tracking, and communication of assortment and execution KPIs vs results timelines
- Owns data synthesis to identify growth and operational opportunities in all product categories
- Owns the analysis and incorporation of key insights to determine industry and consumer trends, product market performance and determining space to sales appropriation
- Utilizes shopper insights in recommending store macro-planning decisions regarding category placement, adjacencies and flow
- Employs shopper insights to make micro-planning decisions of product placement, visibility and adjacencies
- Leads manufacturer relationships focused on category mix, assortment and best practices and the incorporation of key learning into planning and activation plans
- Owns internal and external communication relating to cycle guidance and execution
- Owns new product business case development and recommendations
- Collaborates with internal supply chain partners to recommend exit strategies for unsuccessful products
- Collaborates with systems, product and sales management to ensure realization of growth agenda
- Lead assortment planning SOP and ensure process adherence and proper outputs
- Ensure key information and asset management resources are fully engaged and current
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
