: : Training Presentations

This seminar examines the evolution of category management as a business discipline with its impact both externally and internally. They will tackle the key questions of whether category thinking is yet a practical tool for developing partnership with customers in the UK and now in Australia despite the inevitable challenges of short term commercial issues; and secondly how sales and marketing teams can be brought together to build strategic thinking around a category perspective – improving cross functional understanding and clarity of purpose.

Hide details

One of the critical success factors in retail, category, brand marketing strategy is whether you can implement change that actually impacts on shopper behaviour in store. That’s where the rubber hits the road!

This informal seminar gives you a change to take a look at what leading supermarkets everywhere in the world are doing to achieve competitive advantage. We will be reviewing examples of in store environments worldwide, and how different retailers are making an impact in the way they plan store layouts, merchandising, promotion and theatre. Private Label executions and supply chain concepts are also examined. This will showcase good ideas and serious commitment to excellence.

Hide details

A series of workshops that focus on the practical issues of driving results with major retailers. This is not about process for process’s sake, but is about equipping your team with tools to use in day to day business in three key areas:

• Developing a longer term category plan that the retailer “buys into”

• Strategic range recommendations

• Effective planning of promotional investment

Hide details

The concept of “destination” is a key one in category management. How can retailers and manufacturers work together to deliver marketing plans that bring shoppers to the store and then to the fixture to generate incremental sales.

Hide details

Times has been tougher for brand managers in today’s environment. Facing multiple pressures on margins, companies are ever more concerned about measurable value for money in their investment of all kinds. Marketing investment can often be the toughest to justify, particularly compared to the hard nosed calculations that are the norm for capital investment and the like. A second key issue is the influence that trading relations with key customers can have on marketing plans. To what extent is marketing today about doing what keeps retailers “on side” as opposed to what makes sense for the long term success of the brand. How can there two things be balanced?

This seminar aims to stimulate ideas in this area and give some practical guidance to making marketing plans more measurably effective. The session will be of interest to brand, marketing and trade marketing managers in any companies, particularly those in FMCG

Hide details

In today’s ever more competitive environment, with increasing pressures on shelf space and the rising profile of own brand, innovation has never been more critical or challenging.

On the one hand, brands need to move with the times and find fresh sources of business, keeping one step ahead of the competition. On the other hand, the coasts and hence, the risk, of launching products is daunting. The importance of winning shelf space in the supermarkets is of critical importance and can often be the toughest hurdle to leap ( and even when you products are on the shelf, you don’t have long to prove their worth.)

Sometimes the annual round of range review and the “lottery of listings can make any of us wonder whether the cost and risk of NPD is still worth it. What are the critical success factors for effective innovation in today’s tough environment?

How do you go about finding the elusive “win win” with customers of new products, and how do you minimise the downside risk.

Hide details

A workshop that will give your category management, trade marketing or brand management people new ideas and tools to understand how their plans can create profitable growth for the category and competitive advantage for your brands in the most time efficient way.

Hide details

Creating a punchy, effective shared plan to drive category growth, based on consumer insight – how hard can it be? But as with anything, achieving the ideal is far from easy.

This seminar talks about the requirements of a good, effective category plan from a major retailer’s point of view. With an emphasis on bottom line results, he will share real life case studies of effective supplier initiatives and ineffective ones. He will talk about pragmatic use of research, how to sort the b*sh*t” from the real issues, how to focus on what will really make a difference and what it takes to get the retailer on your side.

Hide details

Given the unique challenges of the retail environment in Australia, there is no business issue that is a hotter topic than this. With EDLP becoming a fact of life that all brands in Australia must live with, how do you adapt the principles of Category Management to work with, rather than against, your customer’s demands? How can brands continue to build profitable sustainable relationships with their consumers when price is the overriding issue at point of purchase?

Hide details