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Innovative Category Management
Authored by Balakrishna Parankusam
Recently there have been a spate of debates within our circle of retailers on the relevance of Category Management in the face of waning brand loyalty and increase focus of CPG Cos. on non core brands.
Read on for my take on this topic.
Being associated with one of India's leading retailers, I had this opportunity to work with many companies who not only preached but also practiced CM.
It is important for the Category Manager to lay down his goals first as to how best he can derive benefits out of CM.Once the path is set, then it becomes easy for the manufacturer to go down this path and ensure that he innovates on his way to the goal.
Innovation could be in the form of category specific promotions or activities that would increase customer recall and benefit the overall category. It’s the onus of the Category Captain to push for innovation with active involvement of the Category Manager. Procter and Gamble for example had run an in store activity wherein they had installed a television and a hand held device to gauge the quality of hair of the customer and then suggesting him the brand or type of shampoo suitable for her hair. This activity was a huge success, and this increased the excitement factor towards the Shampoo category.
CM is sometimes the victim of the agreements, which the retailer has with the CPG companies. Assortment rationalization is done keeping in mind the mutual benefits and relationship building objectives in mind. This ends up including non - performing SKUs which otherwise would not have found space in the assortment planning.
CM goes in sync with effective promotion and in store activity planning and creates excitement through innovation within the category.
It is important for the Category Manager to lay down his goals first as to how best he can derive benefits out of CM.Once the path is set, then it becomes easy for the manufacturer to go down this path and ensure that he innovates on his way to the goal.
Innovation could be in the form of category specific promotions or activities that would increase customer recall and benefit the overall category. It’s the onus of the Category Captain to push for innovation with active involvement of the Category Manager. Procter and Gamble for example had run an in store activity wherein they had installed a television and a hand held device to gauge the quality of hair of the customer and then suggesting him the brand or type of shampoo suitable for her hair. This activity was a huge success, and this increased the excitement factor towards the Shampoo category.
CM is sometimes the victim of the agreements, which the retailer has with the CPG companies. Assortment rationalization is done keeping in mind the mutual benefits and relationship building objectives in mind. This ends up including non - performing SKUs which otherwise would not have found space in the assortment planning.
CM goes in sync with effective promotion and in store activity planning and creates excitement through innovation within the category.
