The Head of Category will play a crucial role in this journey by maximizing sales, profit, utilization, and market share for a specific group of products or categories. This role also involves the strategic development of the area to drive future competitive advantage and growth.
The Head of Category will become the expert and thought leader for their category, collaborating closely with key stakeholders to define and achieve customer excellence.
Key Responsibilities
- Customer Focus: Ensure customer-centric decision-making, working closely with marketing, customer, digital, and field teams.
- Strategic Insight: Develop a deep understanding of each sub-product group in terms of market size, share, trends, competitor offerings, and supply dynamics.
- Category Planning: Create a strategic category plan to capitalize on opportunities that will boost sales, profit, and market share.
- Networking: Establish and maintain internal and external networks to gather comprehensive feedback for category plans.
- Innovation: Identify and effectively bring new products and services to market.
- Performance Monitoring: Oversee and manage the ongoing trading performance of the categories.
- Digital Optimization: Understand and navigate key digital metrics across multiple websites, working with the Digital team to optimize profitability.
- Risk Management: Update the business on any risks to targets and present comprehensive recovery plans.
- Business Insight: Develop an in-depth understanding of all business levers to facilitate quick and effective decision-making for optimizing trading performance.
- Promotional Strategy: Design and implement compelling promotional and pricing plans in collaboration with the commercial planning team and channel owners.
- Competitive Benchmarking: Regularly benchmark prices to optimize price elasticity.
- Capacity Management: Ensure plans drive customer numbers that match capacity, understanding the relationship between capacity and demand to maximize utilization.
- Process Improvement: Identify and address opportunities within the end-to-end process across all categories through activity, development, training, or communication.
- Supplier Management: Define supplier selection policy, rationalize supplier base to secure additional value, and drive compliance within the network.
- Trading Agreements: Implement supplier trading agreements, ensuring adherence to procurement policies such as ESG, CSR, and Ethical Trading.
- Cost Efficiency: Conduct regular price benchmarking or tenders to secure the best cost prices for the business.
Key Skills/Experience
The Head of Category should possess the following skills and experience:
- Customer-Centric: Natural ability to connect with and deliver for customers.
- Commercial Acumen: High analytical and financial robustness, with a keen eye for cash flow and working capital management.
- Data Insight: Ability to interpret, challenge, and build actionable insights from complex data sets.
- Dynamic Leadership: Results-driven with high energy and commitment to business objectives.
- Entrepreneurial Spirit: Hands-on approach, responsive to fast-moving market conditions, with a willingness to fail fast and learn quickly.
- Positive Attitude: Can-do spirit with the ability to make things happen.
- Category Management Experience: Prior experience in category management.
- Multi-Channel Thinking: Experience with cross-channel and multi-channel strategies.
- Execution Excellence: Strong planning and execution skills.
- Pragmatic Approach: Grounded ability to drive delivery.
- Team Leadership: Ability to manage direct reports and inspire colleagues.
- Stakeholder Management: High collaboration and cross-functional expertise, effective interaction, and influence with the Leadership Team and Executive.
- Effective Communication: Outstanding presentation skills, articulate and persuasive, able to build strong relationships at all levels.
The Head of Category will be instrumental in driving the company's success and ensuring that the category's performance aligns with the overall business objectives.
Zachary Daniels is a Niche, National & International Recruitment Consultancy.
Specialising in Buying, Merchandising & Ecommerce | Design, Technical, Wholesale & Production | Finance | HR & Talent | H&S & Compliance | Marketing, Digital & Technology | Property & Centre Management | Retail, Trade, Leisure & Wholesale Operations | Senior Appointments & Exec | Sales | Supply Chain & Logistics
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