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Category Manager- Exciting Branded Business

Employer
Category Captain
Location
Alconbury Focused
Salary
£Attractive Salary + Benefits
Closing date
19 May 2016

View more

Business Sector
Food & Drink
Contract Type
Permanent
Hours
Full Time
Function
Buying, Category Management, Marketing, Merchandising

Job Details

Who We Are

The Westland is a place where good life flourishes. It's a place where the bees are buzzier, the smells more fragrant, the sounds more heightened and there is MORE LIFE

Westland Horticulture was established in 1990 in Dungannon, County Tyrone.  Since its early days of producing compost, Westland has grown in size and strength and is now one of the leading and fastest growing horticultural companies in the UK.

Supplying a wide range of market leading gardening products to the industry including growing media, lawn treatments, lawn seed, plant food, pest control, fungicides, weed killers and mulches. Westland is guaranteed to bring more life to the garden.  Westland also own the market leading brand of seed Unwins and wild bird feed ranges Peckish, Nature’s Feast and Bucktons.

Westland’s products are available for purchase in independent garden centres, large retailers on the high street and online and also in most supermarkets across the UK. As part of our continued growth We are now seeking to appoint a Category Manager.

The Role

As the Category Manager you will be the acknowledged expert of the category and build strong relationships through sharing credible information and guidance both internally and externally. You will lead the category agenda and will be responsible for driving insight generation and reporting, management of customer range reviews, merchandising and relationships across all retail channels within the gardening and wild bird care arenas.

Engaging well internally and externally, you will have a consumer and customer centric approach to your role, along with having the ability to liaise with internal (marketing and sales) and external customer teams with the aim of extracting the full value out of data coming into the business and ensuring that category and strategic plans are robust. Championing the business with passion and belief across all areas of the business you possess analytical and creative marketing skills that allow you to present in a professional manner that influences decision making and presents Westland in an industry leading way.

This is a unique opportunity with a wide scope focussed on category, trade and shopper marketing.

Key responsibilities include:

  • With 1 Report You will Lead the Category Vision of the Business
  • Work closely with sales team, the product management team, retailer contacts, design studio, agencies and vendors to develop and deliver, effective category plans to support profitable sales growth.
  • Research and develop strategies to better align category management strategy with the optimum shopper journey.
  • Develop three-year rolling development plan for major UK retailers.
  • Development of all P.O.S & Management of the P.O.S budget
  • Market and EPoS analysis.
  • GFK analysis.
  • UK Pricing analysis.
  • Business Simplification analysis.
  • Work with Sales and Marketing teams  to plan marketing support for account sales plans, this will include supportingcustomer presentations, review of promotional structures in line with the direction from account managers
  • Work with retailer contacts to provide supporting market insight, as well as design and implementation in terms of merchandising (i.e. planograms, visual mock-ups in merchandising labs)
  • Design and implementation details to ensure effective delivery of marketing materials. This will include work in and for retailer merchandising labs : mockups, plannograms etc.
  • Brief graphic designers in line with key product messaging and brand guidelines.
  • Assume full control of the category management budget process for all items planned and produced.
  • Liaise with merchandising providers to deliver in store placement of new materials.
  • Organise measurement and conduct analysis of key campaigns when required.
  • Development of instore planograms
  • Manage relationship with retailer EPOS providers (national and independent retailers)
  • Analyse market and EPoS data and provide regular insight reports to the Management, Sales and Marketing teams. .
  • Manage external data provider relationships
  • Analyse GFK data and provide information to Management & Sales teams as required.
  • Assist with other on-going marketing / sales workload as required.

Qualifications/ Experience required:-

  • Degree Level &/Or Graduate Calibre
  • Professional qualification desirable
  • Min. 3 years’ experience in category / channel management essential
  • Experience of customer presentations desirable
  • High degree of fluency with MS office essential

Highly numerate and at ease with using data to develop compelling category arguments

Key behavioural competencies:

  • A passion to get our in-store execution aligned with the needs of our customers and consumers.
  • A passion for understanding consumer needs and buying habits
  • Self-starting, team player with high attention to detail
  • Understands retail environments and market place
  • Understands principles and tools of category and strategic management
  • Knowledge of shopper / consumer / trade marketing
  • Ability to work on own initiative
  • Strong influencing skills
  • Previous customer facing role
  • Excellent presentation skills
  • Ability to multi task and work as required to unreasonable deadlines

Candidate Requirements

Relevant Candidates will have ideally gained exposure to Category/Trade Marketing within in a Branded or Own Label environment. However we are also open to candidates with Retail or Data/Insight Agency experience. You must be at ease with operating in a fast moving environment, have fantastic communication skills and understand how to shape strategic ideas and implement activities. Naturally candidates must also be at ease with Data analysis & interpretation across its various formats including Kantar/ TNS and EPOS. In return the business offers a great platform in which you express your true passion for Category Management within a leading FMCG Player.

Company

Category Captain is a division of PT Executive. 

Welcome aboard Shipmates! I'm Category Captain and my mission is to help you navigate your career across the Waters of the FMCG & Consumer Durable Marketplace.

 

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