Category Manager
A Category Manager working for an FMCG food or drinks manufacturer will manage the category strategy across a portfolio of branded of own label/private label products. A Category Manager may report into a Senior Category Manager, Head of Category, Category Controller or in some cases the Category Director. They will analyse data to produce customer-focused category plans via recommendations on optimum range assortment, promotions and pricing.
A Category Manager will have specific retailer accounts that they manage, they may support Top 4 Grocery accounts such as Tesco, Asda, Morrisons or Sainsbury's or premium retailers such as Waitrose and Marks & Spencer (M&S). Alternatively they may be responsible for the category relationships across the Convenience, Out of Home (OOH) or food service channels and support customers such as Co-op, Mccoll’s, Booker, Nisa, Costcutter, Poundland, Boots, Spar, Londis or Budgens.
A Category Manager will create actionable category insights to assist in the delivery of commercial objectives and enhance the development of any brands or own label products that fall under their remit. They will be very analytical and use data solutions and providers such as Kantar, Nielsen, Dunnhumby and IRI to provide analysis and trend recommendations to both retailers and the business they are employed by. They will work closely with the Marketing, NPD, Finance and Sales teams to understand the commerciality of key decisions, whilst building relationships with key retail customer contacts to identify and create category opportunities which facilitate profitable sales growth.
Salary wise the role generally pays between £40,000 to £60,000 depending on regional variance and level of experience.
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a sprawling county stretching from the northern outskirts of London, up to the edge of the Midlands. Amazingly a third of the county is designated as green belt land, making Buckinghamshire an outstanding area of natural beauty and ranking as one of the UK’s top rural areas to live.
Key towns in Buckinghamshire include Aylesbury, the county town of Buckinghamshire, High Wycombe, the biggest town in the county and Amersham.
With superb travel links by both road and rail, cities such as London, Birmingham, Oxford and Milton Keynes are all within easy access. This obviously makes the county an extremely popular place to live for commuters, which has pushed up house prices in recent years. Interestingly Buckinghamshire also has the highest quality of life, life expectancy and the best education results in the UK.
Buckinghamshire has a very successful modern economy, ranking as the entrepreneurial heart of Britain, being home to the most successful business start ups. This, coupled with the fact that the county ranks highly for growth in all industry sectors, means that Buckinghamshire has the 2nd fastest growing economy in the UK.
Away from work, the county is home to the stunning Chiltern Hills, which is hugely popular with walkers, runners and cyclists.
