Category management

There is however, a flip side to CM as described by Steiner [84]. In many locations, the three leading manufacturers were category captains in over 50% of grocery retail stores and mass merchandiser sectors and in 67% of stores in the drug and convenience store sector. It is thus possible that as power shifts to a few large manufacturers, the benefits of CM efficiency may not be passed on to the consumer. It is this issue that has to be monitored, given the level of data sharing required by CM. 

Grocery retailers compete on many possible dimensions including price, freshness, instock levels, variety, organic products, and service. Walmart s everyday low price (EDLP) pricing policy is one such strategy. To optimize this metric, inventory and variety have to be chosen to guarantee that indeed the prices in every market are at the lowest level. The store-scanned data has to be tied to the inventory system so that replenishments can be triggered as demand is realized. 

An alternate strategy is to compete on uniqueness, a strategy used by Trader Joe s. While other grocery stores carry 25,000 to 40,000 items, Trader Joe s stores carry 1,500 to 2,000 items. However the store also introduces about 50 items each week and carries 80% private-label products as well as products that are offered at lower prices than gourmet shops. The international sourcing of items such as cheeses, wines, and desserts enables the store to offer items that are not found at most other grocery stores. Trader J oe s buyers (which number about fifteen) tour the world 

The a ressiveness of private label and national brands in choosing their respective pricing plans can be affected by the nature of customer preferences across products. Banks and Moorthy [3] describe a model in which there are two customer segments a brand-loyal segment with a search cost and a price-sensitive customer segment with no search costs. The branded product thus has to defend its brand by appropriate choice of price promotions. They show that as the search costs for the brand-loyal 

If competing stores are located close to each other, this may decrease the search costs for customers and thus increase the need for higher-than-normal service levels. Since any stockouts may well result in loss of the entire shopping basket, it may be optimal to carry higher service levels but at lower profit levels, in other words, a prisoners dilemma outcome, in which all retailers see reduced profits even though they offer higher service levels. 

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While you may gtoup trainees in any of a number of ways, consider at least four btoad categories managers, trainers, employees, and others—for example, contractors. The following discussion focuses on the training needs of each of these trainee groups and some of the techniques you may want to consider for addressing them. 

Contract research organizations can provide services for clinical trials whether they are the simplest phase 1 safety and tolerance studies or complex multicenter phase 3 efficacy and safety studies. Table 3 identifies specific activities that may be considered for outsourcing. These activities are grouped according to four major categories management of the study conduct at clinical sites, data management, data evaluation, and summarization. 

Steiner, R.L. Category Management A Pervasive, New Vertical/Horizon-tal Format. AntiTrust, 77-81, Spring 2001. 

Supply Chain Tactical Planning Demand Forecast Category Management Sales and Operations Planning New Product Launch Category Management... 

There are limited internal customer POS data available from key customers through EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), but the information is not formally integrated with the demand planning process. (POS information is only used for other activities like category management). 

Category management A structure, common in retail, that focuses on management of products or product families. With respect to SCM, this could also include incoming material, production planning, and distribution shifting away from a structure based on commodities or manufacturing plants. 

Accountability failure to develop appraisal and measurement of key goals and objectives (main category management). 

Systematic supplier relationship management, (2) Category management model, and (3) Joint development projects with suppliers ... 

The next question focuses on whether or not the product group(s) is (are) modularized. If this is not the case, maybe an alternative approach is used to modularize production groups. Hence, it shall be stated if a category management system is in use instead, and what the material groups are. 

If not, is a category management system used instead What are the material groups ... 

Category Management is the framework of the three collaborative demand side practices, namely Efficient Store Assortment, Efficient Product Introduction and Efficient Promotion. This means, new categories are developed and managed as strategic business units with the aim to focus on higher consumer value (Von der Heydt, 1997). The store assortment as a starting point is meant to be... 

Borchert, S., 2002. Implementierung von Category Management im Handel. In D.E Frey (ed.), POS-Marketing - integrierte Kommunikation fiir den Point of Sale. Wiesbaden, Gabler, pp. 253-271. 

Gruen, T. and R. Shah, 2000. Determinants and outcomes of plan objectivity and implementation in category management relationships. Journal of Retailing 76, 483-510. 

The focus of ECR is to integrate supply chain management with demand management. This requires supplier-retailer collaboration - but in spite of the apparent emphasis on the end-consumer, a lot of the early ECR studies focused on the supply side. Subsequent increased focus on demand and category management, however, has led to the adoption of a more holistic view of the supply chain when discussing ECR initiatives. In addition, ECR has stimulated collaborative efforts that have increased the emphasis on key areas such as EDI, cross-docking and continuous replenishment. 

The main areas addressed under ECR initiatives are category management, product replenishment and enabling technologies. These can be broken down into 14 areas where individual as well as well-integrated improvements can be made in order to enhance efficiency (see Figure 8.4). 

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