Many retailers are less than satisfied with their category management practices. In an increasingly tough retail environment, weaknesses in such a core process are a serious handicap to a retailer’s ability to be responsive to changing circumstances and to maintain sales growth and profitability.
Oliver Wyman’s in-depth interviews with the largest retailers in the UK and North America reveal that a few are setting a new standard in category management, helping them to overcome these challenges. Creating a more effective category management system requires more disciplined and streamlined processes, a culture of analysis supported by the right tools, and an organisational model that supports category managers with the right expertise.
