There is little doubt that a successful approach to category management can yield wide-ranging and positive results for convenience store retailers and is core to creating a profitable business.

In a concise ‘complete guide’ to category management , written for professional retail academy website Retaildogma, author Rasha Mahmoud notes that the goal of category management is to “ensure that each category’s performance is maximised to its full potential by implementing different strategies and tactics from buying and supplier management to visual display and sales performance management”.

Alongside maximising inventory return, she notes that it also means more effective buying, as a category buyer for a number of stores is in a position to consolidate and achieve savings through economies of scale.

Yet perhaps the most important point of her message is the 4 Ps of category management, which Mahmoud cites as product, price, placement and promotion, with each of these in turn contributing to the overall results retailers want to see: traffic and transaction building, staying one step ahead of the competition, profit generation, creating excitement for the consumer and thus retaining loyalty.

So for a store owner to really boost revenue generation and profit, effective category management is a key strategy.

Convenience Store’s Category Management section on the website delivers a wealth of advice for retailers on product sectors ranging from tea to chocolate, savoury snacks to cheese, soft drinks to chilled ready meals.

The fmcg companies associated with each category give clear insight into market performance and trends, as well as top tips for on-shelf management, and offers of support either via planograms, POS or more in-depth online advice from their websites.

With consumer demand constantly evolving, staying on top of the latest data and on-trend flavours in the market is important to keep your offer new, fresh, exciting and convenient for your local audiences. For example, do you know:

You can find the answers to these and plenty more by clicking on the relevant features and exploring each category in more depth.

So why not use this valuable resource to keep abreast of the latest trends, ahead of your local competition and armed with powerful knowledge to meet your shoppers’ demands.

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