Category Management Association Share Groups get rave reviews from participants

June 16, 2009 - PRLog -- The Category Management Association's mission statement , "Advancing professional standards in category management" has been right on target!  Share Group discussions have been exciting with high attendence and dynamic participation.

Overview: Share Group's Focus, Topics, Audience.

The Insights and Analytics features John Williams  as Chaiman.  John is Dr. Pepper Snapple's Director of Category Management, a supporter of the Association, and an active thought leader and proponent of best practice category management strategies and tactics.

Speakers in the Insights and Analytics touch on cutting edge technologies and analysis.  The agendas follow a discussion of a real opportunity with the explanation of the solution and the process or tools used to execute and quantify the solution.

Giving a clear example of a business sucess story that is current, relevant and can be utilized by the audience to accomplish their business goals and objectives is the focus.  The audience makeup is  a select group of highly skilled and educated category management experts from top retail and consumer product manufacturers.

A new corporate member commented after attending one session, "great content provided ... appreciated the realtime updates of attending companies and follow-up questions...- John Williams....did a fine job moderating the event.- upcoming topics are right on target and interaction from the audience was very positive....- overall it was time well spent for our category management personnel.

The Space Management Group is chaired by Ana Luisa Valadez, Director of the Space Planning Group for HEB Mexico.   The last session  there had the Director of Category Management from a major beverae company explain in detail their automation iniative describing it's benefits in short term resource allocation and long term ability to focus on value-added customer relationships.

“While our past process would take as much as 600 hours and require 10 people to support, we now have a fully automated process that takes about 40 hours to generate an equivalent number of planograms."   John took questions and the session was attended by over 20 professionals including a new retail member who has since followed up and is reviewing the solution."

The  keys to the share group's successes are the objectives of open collaboration in the meetings across retail and manufacturer organizations.  The meetings allow for a free exchange of ideas and information that otherwise would require travel and meeting logistics, time and expense.

The Category Management Association also works with HR departments, corporate trainers, consultants, and Universities to establish a certifications curriculum to create an industry wide benchmark for educational needs and skill sets that will meet the needs of both retailers and manufacturers.   The need for standards developed from this collaboration.

The Category Management Training Standards & Certifications Steering Committee is the key discussion group and their mission:

.....to provide the industry at large with three key deliverables:
1. General guidelines for a manufacturer’.... organizational structure and roles.
2. Defined skill proficiency expected in category management roles.
3. Certification of training programs which conform to the standards established ...

Purpose of Industry Certification Standards for Category Management:

Establishing standards will provide a common ground for category management professionals to follow.  Manufacturers, brokers, retailers and universities alike will be able to adopt a common language.  Training programs can be established or modified to enable individual and team development across the full spectrum of category management skill sets.

The Association has a conference that is also focused on education and collaboration.
It's members are the top thought leaders in category management.

A presentation from the Category Management Standards & Certification Steering Committee about the results of the work they have been doing for the last 18 months is only one of the objective and informative sessions being held.:

Bob Wong, Del Monte Foods, Chairman of the Category Management Standards & Certification Steering Committee, states:

"While Category Management has existed in our industry for many years now, we have never had a set of standards that helps the industry think about the unique skill sets required to do Category Management work.   This makes it challenging to assess and develop talent because there is no common language to ensure consistency and comparability of knowledge in terms of its quality and content. "

The Association also hosts the Human Resources and Shopper Marketing  Share Groups.

The Association is also involved Internationally hosting a Conference in Latin America next year.  Frequent visitors to the share group include professional from many international participants who are eager to learn best practices and collaborate with their peers in the US.

Luis Herrera, Director of Merchandising, HEB Mexico, is a strong proponent of the Association and has volunteered to develop the Latin American Chapter.

The Category Management Association is a unique group of focused professionals who are dedicated to improving both themselves and th industry as a whole.

The history:

Early in 2003 an informal newsletter began circulating as an anonymous discussion group exchanging ideas and advice.   An interview with Progressive Grocer article prompted the formation of a formal organization November 2004.

Excerpt:  BYLINE: By Jane Olszeski Tortola

HEADLINE: INDEPENDENTS REPORT: Putting the 'manager' in category management

..."The developmental stage of the association has been a really exciting time," says Frazier

"First of all, it's important to realize that category management is not just something that 'sales' does," says Frazier. "A major goal in the process is to transform all employees from sales and marketing, product management, finance, and accounting into business managers. Overall it's a collaborative marketing effort by which manufacturers and suppliers work with individual retailers to determine for each category the best product mix, merchandising, pricing, and promotions that will satisfy consumer needs." .....

She adds, "If the category manager represents the category captain -- in other words, the vendor chosen by the retailer to guide the analysis of the category in the stores, and help make assortment and shelf set decisions based on the retailer's sales data and other factors -- he or she must be totally unbiased."

"CPG CatNet is regarded both domestically and abroad as the premier resource for category management professionals who appreciate being connected to their colleagues and to critical information needed to perform their jobs most effectively. "

Since that time, the association has blossomed by simple word-of-mouth into a member-driven resource for sharing information and advice.

Visit for more information at cpg.catnet.org. or contact Ken Dailey, Director of Membership for more details at 512-557-0843

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The Category Management Association: Mission Statement
"Advancing professional standards in category management"

Share groups discussions encourage collaborative communication of best practices on issues relating to consumer retail shopping trends.