Category Managers are at the center of curating a retailer’s unique assortment of products and creating compelling value for customers. But consumer trends evolve and competition from other channels of trade and online options present continuous challenges to remaining relevant. If your category team is not aligned and equipped with the latest merchandising strategies and techniques, you might be sub-optimizing profitability and leaving your brand indistinguishable.

Truly understanding your categories’ performance from a cost, selling, and operating point of view and developing a strategy and roadmap to position every category will help you deliver on your brand while providing the highest return. Arming your Category Managers with comprehensive advanced category management training, tailored specifically for the convenience industry, is the key to aligned success. Training that demonstrates current techniques in value creation, brand strategy, and assortment and space optimization gives Category Managers actual steps needed to improve the competitive positioning of your brand.

Category management is essential to meeting your customers’ needs. Executing it creatively and efficiently creates more loyal patrons and puts you ahead of the competition. Impact 21 has helped many companies and individuals fine tune and significantly enhance their category management skills and strategies. In partnership with NACS, we’ve developed and facilitate an Advanced Category Management course that is offered online and conducted in-person during the annual NACS Show where retail operators can earn a Certified Convenience Advanced Category Management (CCACM) designation. We also tailor and facilitate our category management training program to meet individual organizations’ unique needs.

Download Our Category Management Overview Factsheet