Category Manager, Sourced & Promotional Products

MOO•East Providence, RI

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

MOO is seeking a commercially minded Category Manager to lead and expand its branded merchandise assortment, focusing on premium brands, promotional products, and third-party suppliers. This role involves defining the product and brand offerings, creating a compelling and unique assortment, identifying market trends and opportunities, and fostering strong supplier and brand relationships. The Category Manager will collaborate with the Sales team to develop a comprehensive promotional product selection for business clients, covering areas like gifting, events, and branded merchandise programs.

Requirements

Experience in category management, merchandising, buying, branded merchandise, promotional products, or a related commercial product role.
Proven experience in owning and developing product assortments, including identifying new products and category growth opportunities.
Strong experience working with external suppliers and/or brand partners, including evaluating products, capabilities, and commercial considerations.
Strong commercial and analytical skills, with experience using sales, margin, and customer insights to inform category decisions.
Experience working cross-functionally to bring new products or assortments to market.
Strong understanding of product trends and the ability to translate them into relevant commercial opportunities.
Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience in branded merchandise or promotional products.
Experience working with premium consumer brands.
Knowledge of decoration methods and promotional product supply chains.
Familiarity with the promotional-products supplier/distributor ecosystem.
Experience across both ecommerce and sales-led assortments.

Responsibilities

Own the strategy, performance, and ongoing development of MOO’s third-party branded merchandise assortment.
Define category architecture and identify opportunities across product categories such as drinkware, notebooks, pens, bags, apparel, and gifting.
Utilize customer insights, sales performance data, market trends, and competitive analysis to identify assortment gaps, additions, and exits.
Develop and maintain a category roadmap that includes optimization of the existing assortment and future growth prospects.
Stay informed about emerging brands, products, materials, and decoration techniques, translating trends into commercially viable opportunities.
Identify opportunities for MOO to develop proprietary products based on customer demand, category performance, or market trends.
Partner with the Sales team to build and enhance a compelling promotional product assortment for business customers.
Provide product and category expertise for areas including gifting, events, employee programs, and other customer needs.
Collaborate with the promotional products lead and suppliers to continuously improve the assortment's breadth, quality, and competitiveness.
Assist in developing scalable processes for product selection, sourcing, decoration, ordering, and fulfillment.
Build and maintain strong relationships with third-party suppliers and premium brand partners.
Identify and evaluate new suppliers, brands, and product opportunities.
Collaborate with Supply Chain and Commercial teams on pricing, MOQs, lead times, availability, and commercial terms.
Understand supplier and MOO decoration capabilities to determine the optimal model for each product.
Monitor supplier and product performance, identifying areas for continuous improvement.
Serve as the category expert for branded merchandise across MOO.
Collaborate with Sales, Ecommerce, Product Marketing, Brand, Creative, Operations, Supply Chain, and Planning teams.
Use category performance and commercial insights to make clear recommendations and influence future investment decisions.
Partner with the broader Category team to ensure MOO’s overall product portfolio is cohesive and customer-focused.