Category manager

Category managers (also known as product category managers) are responsible for a range of products or services. This is an emerging and increasingly influential career.

  • Starting salary (per month)-
  • Job ads112

The life of a retail area manager...

Overseeing and leading a portfolio of clients

In order to maximise turnover from products and services in their sector, area managers look after a portfolio of clients in an attempt to:

  • Ensure their products appear as much as possible on shelves in stores within their region
  • Ensure any new products make it onto the shelves in retail outlets
  • Ensure their products are visible on shelves and in food outlets by introducing promotions negotiated with buyers and managers/restaurant managers
  • Manage relationships with the distributors responsible for getting products to points of sale
  • Report back with information from local areas to sales managers and directors

Finding new clients and bringing them on board

Beyond taking care of their portfolio of existing customers and points of sale, retail area managers need to be able to expand their customer base by bringing in new prospects within their sector.

Two career branches: retail and catering

Points of sale are generally divided into two major categories nowadays:

  • medium and large retail outlets (such as Auchan, Walmart, Tesco or Casino)
  • food and drink outlets (for all kinds of dining outside the home, including hotels and restaurants)

As a result, retail area managers generally follow one of two main career paths nowadays, either specialising in retail or else food and drink outlets.

Fun fact

It has been proven that customers generally circulate from right to left at points of sale. Have you noticed how the entrance is often located to the right of a store? And with so-called “cold zones” and “hot zones”, where products are placed on shelves can make an enormous difference. The next time you go shopping, keep your eyes peeled and see for yourself!

Skills

Hard skills

  • Store design layout
  • Channel marketing
  • Product life-cycle
  • Customer insight
  • Pricing strategies
  • Cost management
  • Market research
  • Content marketing strategy
  • Sales promotion techniques

Soft skills

  • Identification of Consequences
  • Analytical prediction
  • Systemic perception

Typical educational background

4 to 5 years of higher education in business studies, masters in retail

Advanced vocational business studies with a focus on sales

Within companies

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