Category Manager - ANZ (Hybrid)

JOB PURPOSE

The Category Development Manager leads the development and execution of an integrated category strategy that delivers growth to both BIC and the customer. This role leverages consumer and shopper insights, market analysis and business insights to identify opportunities, optimize product assortment and mix, optimize shelf placement and to track promotional and price effectiveness. This role acts a bridge between Sales, Marketing and the customer to maximize category performance and deliver business results across Australia and New Zealand.

Main Responsibilities / Tasks

Category Strategic Planning:

• Lead the design and implementation of category plans that are built from shopper, consumer and customer insights and aligned with BIC’s objectives and customer strategies.
• Ensure alignment of the brand and account plans with the category plans to deliver upon our strategic pillars for growth.
• Monitor and analyze market trends, consumer behaviour, and competitor’s performance.
• Identify growth opportunities across product categories, channels and customers.

Consumer and Shopper Insights:

• Lead the investment and delivery of local market research to close knowledge of consumer and shopper insight gaps.
• Lead the communication of global and local market, consumer and shopper insights.
• Translate shopper and consumer insights into actionable business initiatives.
• Utilize market research, panel data, and retail analytics tool (e.g. Nielsen, Circana, Kantar, Dunnhumby)
• Identify appropriate case studies / research studies from other countries across the world to share with, and potentially implement, in Australia & New Zealand.

Cross-Functional Engagement:

• Partner with a cross functional team to develop and deliver the category reviews for key customers across Australia & New Zealand.
• Track, analyse & communicate post review performance.
• Ensure reviews are linked to commercial plans.
• Support promotional planning and revenue growth initiatives.

Global Stakeholders & Customer Engagement:

• Regular interaction & relationship development with BIC’s customers to understand their strategies and share insights to assist them with driving category growth – in particular within the Range Review process.
• Attendance at industry forums to help increase or capability across the category management function and to share best practice with industry peers.
• Regular interaction and networking with other Category Management colleagues across the BIC world; in particular the Global Centre of Expertise to share best practice & seek support.

Category & Portfolio Performance Tracking:

• Proactive development of tools to enable the ease-of-access to category and market insights and data points (e.g. dashboards, trackers, top sheets, monthly summaries etc).
• Accountable for managing the accurate tracking of category, segments and brand performance.
• Communicate on exception reports any underperforming lines or gaps that need to be addressed.
• Working closely with the RGM team to track effectiveness of promotions& support to identify opportunities to optimise our promotional plans.
• Lead the ongoing tracking of competitive price movements & communication to the commercial team.
• Provision of ad hoc reports / analysis of data as required by key stakeholders.

Manage Data Requirements:

• Management of agency relationships – key point of contact for day-to-day business, organisation of regular reporting and presentation sessions and negotiation of contract / fees as and when required.
• Training and induction of newcomers in Category Management / specific software’s (e.g. Circana or Nielsen) when required
• Provide effective leadership in ensuring accurate and timely management (reporting and updating)
• Manage the ad-hoc buying process of specific data gaps the business might have.

Market Research Budget Management:

• Accountable for managing & tracking the market data & research budget, including monthly syndicated data as well as consumer, shopper and customer ad-hoc studies.
• Ensure planned spend does not exceed budget at year end and all related administration is completed.

Qualifications

Essential

• Tertiary qualifications in business or related field
• Minimum 5 years Category experience in FMCG industry
• Ability to use MS Office applications (particularly Excel & PowerPoint) to intermediate/high level essential
• Understanding of the AUS/NZ retail environment
• Generation of Insight – ability to understand and identify the insights (the ‘so what’) within the extensive data sets
• Analytical Agility - ability to extract, distil and understand market trends from multiple data sources and identify opportunities for growth
• Strong Communication & Presentation Skills  - ability to build and deliver compelling presentations that motivate and influence others
• Commercial Understanding - ability to understand impact of recommendations on commercials of both BIC and the customer

What do we offer?

• Working for an international FMCG leader with iconic brands

• A great team of highly motivated and enthusiastic people

• Opportunities for growth within a global organization

• Attractive flexible working policy

• Healthcare cover

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BIC World is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We strongly commit to hiring people with different backgrounds and experiences to help us build better products, make better decisions, and better serve our customers. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, disability status, or similar characteristics. All employment is decided based on qualifications, merit, and business need.

BIC World is not seeking assistance or accepting unsolicited resumes from search firms for this employment opportunity. Regardless of past practice, all resumes submitted by search firms to any team member at BIC via email, or directly to a BIC team member in any form without a valid written search agreement in place for that position will be deemed the sole property of BIC, and no fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by BIC as a result of the referral or through other means.