Category Management in Practice

Author: Cheng Li
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: In 1990, Dongguan Meijia, the first chain supermarket in China, opened in Humen; in 1995, the French retail giant Carrefour entered Beijing. In just 15 years, China's retail industry underwent profound changes! Foreign stores continued to open, with increasing penetration rates and market shares; domestic companies responded to challenges by aggressively expanding stores and undergoing mergers and acquisitions. Price wars became the only trump card, and unrefined promotions were widely adopted as a panacea. How to improve store efficiency? How to gain a deep understanding of customers? How to develop customized marketing strategies to escape the shadow of price wars? How to improve shelf layout and supply chains to reduce stockouts? How to secure strong support from suppliers? Numerous challenges forced retailers to seek a new and effective management model. With the rapid expansion of the retail industry and the swift development of hypermarkets, supermarkets, and convenience stores, how to enhance performance through effective marketing has become the primary puzzle for retailers. To address this challenge, this book introduces a proven retail solution, category management, which has been validated in Western countries. The book consists of 17 chapters and 3 appendices. The first three chapters provide a concise introduction to the basic concepts of category management. Chapters 4 to 15 are the core of the book, detailing how to implement category management from the perspective of its operational process. The last two chapters focus on consumer research and the introduction of category management tools. The appendices compile case studies of category management implemented by major suppliers in the FMCG and pharmaceutical industries, as well as common terms used in category management. This book is suitable for use by retail buyers' directors, department managers, procurement personnel at various levels, store managers, modern channel directors of suppliers, and sales personnel at all levels. It can also serve as a reference for retail general managers, training managers, channel development managers and training managers of suppliers, as well as retail industry consultants. This book introduces a proven retail solution, category management, validated in Western countries. It comprises 17 chapters: the first three provide a concise introduction to the basic concepts of category management; chapters 4 to 15 are the core, explaining how to implement category management from the perspective of its operational process; the last two chapters focus on consumer research and the introduction of category management tools.