By Daniel Lohman, CPSA
I wrote this article for New Hope several years ago. I have the original submission should you have any questions.
Category management is typically an eight-step process. The best solution for your business is the one that encompasses all of the strategies needed to make your brand successful.
The process you choose will significantly help you achieve the goals you set for your brand. It will be your roadmap to success. This process will establish your brand as a true leader in the category and differentiate you from the competition.
Your goal is to understand your retailer and become an expert with regard to their needs, goals, and objectives for the category, their profit and margin expectations, etc. Aligning your process with their category management strategy will help you stand out in their eyes and establish you as a true partner and potentially, the category captain.
1. Define category
This step is perhaps the most important, as it will define your understanding of the retailer, their customers and the consumers who buy your brand. The key question is: how do customers shop the category? Help you define the category, the consumer decision tree identifies the choices and the order of decisions customers make when they shop the category. Do they choose a brand, sub-brand, quality, flavor/scent, packing, etc.? Do they choose complementary products during the same trip? For example, a customer shopping for your 24-oz. bottle of vanilla scented shampoo might also purchase your 24-oz. bottle of vanilla scented conditioner.
Click here to read the rest of my article on New Hope Network
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