Cape Town

Premium FMCG brand is hiring

Position Purpose

The vision for the Category & Shopper Marketing Team is to be a trusted team of Shopper & Category experts in confectionery that is central to providing strategic and short-term solutions to deliver Category growth, internally and externally. The Category team is living a category growth mindset, to grow faster and more sustainably than the category through superior understanding and fulfilment of consumer and shopper needs.

Key Responsibilities

Lead shopper insight and category insights, leading key initiatives from project development, management to completion

Leadership for Category Vision and Drivers that enables customer teams to persuade key retail partners of the category strategy
Create and deliver short and long term shopper insight initiatives, as prioritized by the management team, to support MPD planning & specific segment challenges to turn shoppers into buyers of our brands
Leadership of brand / account workshops to enable the Marketing, Shopper Marketing & Sales teams to develop and sell the annual seasonal plans to our key retail partners
Lead the key cross functional Shopper Marketing projects
Coordination of both qualitative and quantitative consumer & shopper marketing research to lead new insights into the development of the category
Lead ongoing development of Category Vision, Drivers & Tactics, to engage our retail partners on the growth opportunities for the confectionery category
Through insight, lead and support customer marketing with new activation initiatives for brands to increase their visibility in store

Lead for Shopper Marketing contribution to the annual brand planning process
Support marketing team with shopper marketing insight/strategies that support new brand initiatives for existing and new products
Ensure that the identified shopper strategies play a core role in the company, category and brand long term plans
Support customer marketing team with category insight to lead new activation in store, both on and off the fixture.
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Planning and Review:

Provide support to the internal Brand and Key Account teams by conducting regular business analyses (with the focus on key strategic drivers and opportunities), presentations and merchandising solutions
Proactive management of team priorities
Build and develop internal reporting databases and templates
Manage cross-functional targets
Identify key trade opportunities including maximizing in-trade opportunities (ranging, distribution, merchandising and visibility)
Oversee development of Category Selling stories
Delivering commentaries and sales analysis for monthly business review reports, pro-actively identifying business opportunities and issues

Merchandising Input

Manage planograms & merchandising guidelines to support category shelving initiatives including the training thereof internally and externally
Responsible for updating space management product / image library & IRi data characteristics

Team Leadership

Training members of the cross functional team on data systems (Retailer POS, IRi)
Build effective working relationships and processes with the Sales and Marketing teams with the aim of driving incremental category and brand growth
Lead cross functional ways of working ultimately ensuring alignment to and focus on business objectives

Skills and Knowledge

Proven Category Management Expertise
Advanced MS Excel, IRi Temple & Space Planning Skills
Understanding shopper/consumer/market insights and how these drive category growth in retailers
Understanding of competitor and market dynamics
Excellent numeracy, analytical and data interpretation skills
Understanding brand and key account strategies and interpreting these into customized category plans
Implementing and evaluating category plans in-store
Excellent interpersonal skills, able to build relationships and influence at all levels internal and external
Confident, assertive self-starter with a drive for results and highly motivated
High level of initiative, able to drive projects independently
Structured with organizational skills
Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines

Requirements:

BComm Degree or suitable tertiary qualification
Previous experience in a customer-facing Category Management role, FMCG environment (minimum 5 years)
Prerequisites include advanced skills & working knowledge of external market data software and space planning software
Knowledge of and advanced skills in Microsoft Office (specifically Excel and PowerPoint)

As per our clients operational requirements, a clear credit and criminal history will apply

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