Find the Best Category Management Consultants

The role of a Category Management Consultant is twofold. He streamlines procurement processes in order to ease the procurement process. He also strategically focuses on consumer needs in order to optimize sales. Reasons for hiring a Category Management specialist are:

Control of the Procurement Process

Sometimes, owing to receiving of high orders, the procurement process may get out of hand. The disorganization that comes with these high orders may bring about confusion and may lead to loss of track. For purposes of reorganizing the procurement process, you need an expert to break down the process into manageable sections.

• The consultant will identify, define, and categorize items to purchase together. He analyzes trends, business goals and objectives, and anticipates demand and stakeholder’s interests.
• With his wealth of specialized experience, the consultant undertakes deeper analysis to study the trends, carries out market analysis and breaks down the costs that relate to each group.
• The consultant can evaluate your likely suppliers and set yardsticks to evaluate supplier performance. The specialist helps your company evaluate supply chain risks associated with a particular supplier. The Category Management consultant also plans for procurement processes, and evaluates the time and documentation requirements. Using the available documentation relating to identification and requisitions, the consultant helps organizations to determine the order time, as well as the delivery time.
• Finally, the consultant monitors the progress of the procurement process. He rates management practices in relation to measurement of cost and time saving.

Control of the Sales Process

Businesses need specialized services to solve vendor management, pricing, marketing and inventory processes. The Category Management consultant uses customer centric management practices to achieve the following:

• The consultant undertakes research to find out more about the customer and their needs. By placing the customer at the center of the sales drive, the strategist endeavors to understand who the customer is and how the customer goes about her day, and positions the product as the sought after solution. He also researches the competition in order to determine product differentiation.
• The expert uses the available data to develop strategies to implement long-term developments. He collaborates with the marketing department to determine the positioning, pricing, and promotional drives that resonate with the target.
• In order to increase sales and profitability, the consultant helps organizations create long-term strategies for product categories. He advises on promotions, pricing, and product positioning that secures visibility. He is able to develop and keep favorable vendor relationships in order to secure better quality of the products at an advantageous price.

Since the consultant deals with product categorization to group together similar products, he makes important decisions concerning placements and promotion of certain products, and discontinuing unsuccessful product lines.