Isn’t it time to put your big brave pants on? It’s time to become the Category Captain. In this article we look at the attributes needed to become a category captain. Are you a good listener? Is your leadership team asking you to become a Category Captain? Is your customer offering you ‘category captaincy’? Let’s...
As shoppers do more of their shopping online, the e-commerce channel needs to keep up with the changing demands of shoppers and evolving channel capabilities. Many suppliers have become very adept at delivering category management initiatives for bricks and mortar stores. Unfortunately, when it comes to online or e-commerce, this can be an afterthought. The...
With all the media hype around shopper marketing, technological advances and digital, brands need to make sure they remember to invest adequate time and effort in ensuring that the Category Management basics are kept in focus. The changes in today’s retail environment show no sign of slowing. It is vital that the decisions made across...
Back to our series on ‘Back to Basics’, let’s look at why category management became such an important discipline. As retailer power increased due to the consolidation of outlets, shopper’s loyalty became even more important. Customers developed loyalty programmes as a way of encouraging loyalty and they looked to suppliers to develop thought leadership, (as...
The eight steps to mastering category management have been guiding our industry since the early 1980s, when Dr Brian Harris first coined the term. We suggest that the time has come for category management to move with the times and evolve into ‘category development’. Category Development needs to be acknowledged as a new philosophy, where...
How do you grow an agile CPG business? Ever wondered if your organisation is a little too tactical with Shopper Marketing? Or needs a longer-term category vision? Do those marketing targets need a new business strategy? Do your structures and processes have to be more agile to allow you to grow? You may already know...
In a white paper, to be published later this year by Big River Solutions, we interviewed a number of CPG Category leaders across a wide range of FMCG manufacturers and asked them to describe their view of the Category world. The results have given us a fascinating insight into best practice, operational pinch points and...
At Big River Solutions we help brands grow, we help categories flourish and we help clients reach their potential. We like developing world-class category development. That’s what we do. Our objectivity and integrity is a currency we don’t spend rashly. World-class category development is complex and there are times when the project brief may need to be refined...
Marrying Category Management, Shopper Marketing and Promotional Marketing is the key to optimising brand and category success, argues David Edwards of Big River Solutions. Let’s liken marketing to putting up a tent. The job is easier when every person in the construction team knows what the end goal should look like if all individuals involved...
What is it? A Category Vision describes how the Category will grow in value & volume in the future and the change in purchase habits. It creates a “Strategic Agenda for Growth”. What is to be done to capture the value potential over three years by the key customer or the environment. And how a...
A shepherd through today’s digital realities.
Lead by Muhammad Khaliq.