SALES & MARKETING - CATEGORY MANAGER CATEGORY MANAGER - SALES & MARKETING 7 8 additional 2-5 years of work experience in a sales, demand planning or marketing role may be required. 3. Category Managers Follow Market Trends Following trends is an integral part of a category manager’s job. Market trends dictate what kinds of advertising, promotions, and marketing campaigns category managers perform for their products. One way they collect data is by developing strategic relationships with key suppliers to ensure early insight to new trends and products. Retailers can provide information such as how well marketing efforts were, the promotions ran and how well the communication strategy was. Using this numerical data they can figure out their next steps. 4. Category Managers Develop National Programs One of the major roles of a category manager is developing promotions and pricing strategies. They develop pricing strategies by analyzing their competition and the attributes of their product. Category managers work closely with the operations teams (the teams that work on manufacturing the products) when a new product is released. New products must adhere to a certain set of standards as set out by a promotional campaign. If it doesn’t than this can lead to a degradation of trust for a brand by consumers. 5. Category Managers Manage Budgets A successful promotion starts with knowing the budget. To manage their budgets, category managers use data to monitor key national promotions. Relevant data includes retail inventory levels, the price of products and the cost of promotional campaigns. All of these factors work together, enabling a category manager to watch where they need to spend their money. Another benefit to having one individual focus on category management rather than a particular brand is it enable sellers to align and organize the selling and supply chain in the most effective and sustainable way by maximizing the key business metrics in the long run. 6. Category Managers Act as a Primary Contact Category managers act as the primary contact for vendors that support different programs and promotions. When speaking with vendors, these professionals ensure that their merchandising is correctly executed according to the business plan. Finally, they directly handle day-to-day operational encounters, building a relationship with the vendors and ensuring that everyone benefits over a long period of time. 7. Category Managers Negotiate Contracts To stay ahead of the competition, category managers use point-of-purchase marketing. Point of purchase marketing is a phrase used to describe the messages delivered to a customer at the exact time they make a purchase. If you are trying to decide between two products to purchase it is likely you will read the label to decide which one to purchase. Category managers sometimes will encourage customers to purchase their product by placing it in highly visible location. This encourages the sale of the product, for example, when customers enter a grocery store, they are more likely to see products that are placed at eye-level than those that are located closer to the ground. Products placed at eye-level are known to be in the “prime location” for consumers to notice them (refer to last image for reference). Category managers negotiate with retailers, often paying them to place their products in an ideal location or developing a partnership with them. However, this negotiation isn’t just limited to pricing. A category manager also negotiates contracts with retailers for marketing campaigns and vendor contracts. Every category manager has their own negotiating style but the key is that mitigate risk within contract and make sustainable decisions for the business. 8. Category Managers are Curious, Competitive, and Creative Being a category manager requires a range of skills. However, there are a few which are more essential than others. These skills include: • Curiosity – These professionals are always curious about trends and consumer behavior. They will formulate a business questions and look for data that answers their question. They are curious about what encourages a customer to purchase one product over another and what they can do to encourage consumers to buy their products. • Competitiveness – Company’s maintain a competitive edge in the industry hiring the right people. Category managers are often competitive in nature because the success of their job is dependent on how well a product performs in the market. They are always analyzing the market and creating the best promotions that beat out the competition. • Creativity– To stand out from the rest of the crowd, category managers must be creative. They think critically and analyze markets to create distinct, exciting and innovative marketing plans. They have to balance being flexible and agile while staying true to their company’s brand. Want to learn more about what it is like interacting with suppliers? Then you should check out tradeshows even as a student! Learn more about how to survive a tradeshow as a student in Jennie Vallangcas blog on FoodGrads! Click the photo to read all about it! What is a pricing strategy? A pricing strategy is essentially how products are priced at retailers. Pricing can be become complicated as it is dependent on location, time of year, demand and the quantity. Prices have to be to set high enough to make a profit but not too high that a customer will purchase it. What is promotional marketing? Promotional marketing refers to the process of sharing knowledge about a brand, product or service through multiple marketing channels to increase brand awareness. Photo by Noel Hendrickson/DigitalVision George Brown College is an Education Partner of ours, check them out on FoodGrads! Click their logo below! Available Programs: Business Administration, Business – Finance, Bachelor of Commerce, Business Administration – Marketing, Marketing Management – Digital Media George Brown College Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko/Pexels Category managers are primarily responsible for managing a category of products. A simple example of different kinds of products in a category is multiple packaging sizes of your favourite cookie.
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