Failure to address these issues can result in a number of negative effects such as: High levels of stock or stock outs Stagnant revenue and sales Dropping profitability. How do we help? What are the benefits? Improve brand equity: define the assortment that will support you in meeting customer demands Increase sales : through better alignment between products and consumer needs Increase profitability : through better management of the product margin and sales productivity Reduce complexity: set clear boundaries through segmentation Greater visibility and precision to act: monitor performance at SKU level and make precise corrective adjustments based on real world performance Reduce stockouts and overstock: reduce excess inventory or OOS events through better management of assortment per store Improve retailer relationships: demonstrate commitment through matching assortment to retailer brand positioning Support the differentiation from competitors: clarity on the categories and products which can deliver differentiation from the competition.
How does it work? Delivering a learning journey for your team as well as a technical solution. Classify store clusters based on internal and external variables Analyze the external context such as visitor type, density of competitors, competitor types etc. Define the strategic and tactical layers of the product hierarchy Align with the category role e. With this we developed a clear picture of the market, consumer needs and category strategy which all teams could subscribe to Connecting SKU level detail with the big picture strategy — We brought clarity to the role of each category considering the business objectives, brand positioning and differentials and ensured high-level principles such as product hierarchy drove decision-making at the operational level.
Total commitment to involve and align all stakeholders — guaranteed buy-in from areas beyond just commercial, ensuring all teams were pulling in the same direction. In order to deliver a solution, we focused on a variety of core aspects: Understanding the beliefs and motivations of both sides — we undertook extensive field visits to understand the perspective and needs of the gas stations owners across the country; creating a compelling value proposition, target customer, and mission aligned to the company objectives and attractive to the gas station owner.
Durable Consumer Goods. Read more. Andrea Aun. Vinicius Olivo. They will also be responsible for their sales and marketing strategies. They analyze current and future trends to offer their clients seasonal or trendy items that will sell best.
An Indirect Category Manager is in charge of purchasing the goods or services in the supply chain. These items are necessary to achieve the objectives of the established strategic plan.
They usually have previous knowledge of the specific sector in which they work IT, tourism, etc. We have already seen the main functions of the two types of Category Managers but, what tasks are the Buyers and the Product Managers entrusted with?
It is the person in charge of buying goods and services for a company through suppliers already established in their database. For example, if a company needs to purchase shopping baskets, the buyer will have to talk to an established supplier and manage the purchase from beginning to end.
They will also need to provide all the documentation of the process. To acquire new suppliers, they usually get help from the Senior Buyer. It is the person in charge of managing and maximizing the profitability of a product from its creation until the end of its life cycle. He is in charge of the success of this specific product based on the 4 Ps:. The Product Manager works hand in hand with other departments and interdisciplinary teams to collect the needs of each of them.
Therefore, the Buyer receives orders to buy necessary items for the company. Reckitt Benckiser has a culture that values fast decision making, entrepreneurship, and teamwork. While managers are compensated and promoted based on individual performance, they are also rewarded for team performance and cultural fit. The organization structure is kept flat, streamlined, and nonbureaucratic, all of which foster speed in making decisions and responding to changing consumer and market conditions.
How lasting such organizational changes prove to be depends in large part on the ability of people to address the more complex competitive environment CPG companies face. One global company, for example, undertook a major reorganization and in the aftermath categorized various high-level coordinating roles, such as brand and category managers, as pivotal. It then used targeted recruitment and promotion to upgrade talent in them.
More broadly, according to a recent McKinsey Quarterly survey, although most companies formally identify high-performing talent, fewer than half formally designate a set of coordinating roles, such as brand or category managers.
Companies that do designate such roles put more emphasis on screening and placement than on relevant skills. In fact, fewer companies focus tightly on developing brand-management skills than on many others, such as supply chain management or service operations Exhibit 3.
Executives believe that people in crucial roles do not perform well across a range of critical skills. This translates to a heightened emphasis on career-long training, internal networking, and clear communications skills across the company. Faced with an increasingly complex competitive environment, CPG companies have responded by creating fragmented, overlapping structures that have tied up brand and category managers and others in key coordinating roles, crimping their vitality and value creation potential.
Streamlining critical processes and building skills among the people in coordinating roles will help companies avoid endless rounds of reorganization and ensure that their executives in coordinating roles can once again deliver real value. The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Lizzie Burn, a consultant in the New Jersey office, to this article and the research underlying it.
Accept Use minimal essential cookies. Skip to main content. A new world for brand managers. In any corporation, some jobs have an outsize role in creating value.
Yet companies don't often know which ones they are or manage the people in them well. In this podcast, McKinsey's Monica McGurk and Julie Lowrie discuss findings from their recent survey on pivotal roles and experience of how companies can do better. We strive to provide individuals with disabilities equal access to our website. If you would like information about this content we will be happy to work with you. Explore a career with us Search Openings.
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