Also known as Category Management, it is a product placement strategy to achieve successful retail sales. Learn how to use it to benefit your business.
4 min read
If you are already immersed in the world of sales, you will surely know that product placement is vital to commercial success. In this sense, one of the most useful tools is CatMan or Category Management . It is a process that helps put the right product in the right place, based on algorithms and data analysis.
The ‘ECR Committee’ defines CatMan as the process carried out between manufacturers and commercial chains to manage product categories as strategic business units.
“In the context of purchases, Category Management refers to the management and forecasting of the product categories to buy, for better performance and profits,” indicates the America Retail portal.
The CatMan can be applied in practically any retail business, but it is more useful and complex when it comes to large spaces. Image: Alexander Kovacs via Unsplash.com.
“It is a Customer-Supplier process that consists of managing categories as Strategic Business Units, aimed at the final Consumer, generating results in Retail” , explains the same medium in another publication .
In simple terms, the CatMan is a very effective tool that manages spaces in large surfaces, allowing you to place the correct product , in the right position , with the most convenient display , to boost your sale .
How is the CatMan process done?
A good Category Management is achieved through the analysis of product cataloging : margins, sales prices and turnover. As for consumers , the data analysis divides them by type of customer, store, channel and region.
The result of the process is the Planogram , a virtual graphic and analytical representation of the assortment of a specific category. This is used as a placement guide to physically implement on the sales floor .
The ultimate goal is to have an effective impact on the consumer to increase the profitability of a product at the point of sale.
Why is the CatMan important in the era of COVID?
Sanitary restrictions for stores, imposed to contain the pandemic, make the arrangement and organization of products key for customers to buy an item.
The goal of Category Management in retail is to increase profits and provide the customer with a better shopping experience . Therefore, it is important to strategically plan the location of the products on the sales floor and place them according to the category to which they correspond and the attitude of the buyer.
The Category Management or Category Administration serves to place each product in the most convenient place, according to its category, in order to increase profits and give added value to the consumer. Image: Neonbrand via Unsplash.com.
The CatMan emerged in the United States in the late 1980s, with Walmart . Since then it has given excellent results for different commercial chains and manufacturers.
Currently there is the Category Management Association , founded in 2004 to put professionals immersed in this process in contact. Thus, they can learn about the best practices at a global level in this regard.
Technological advances have helped streamline the CatMan process in terms of measurement and control. Now the challenge is to take this strategy to the field of online sales, which is gaining more and more popularity since 2020 and to date.
