Manager, Category Development Kroger

This position will be based in Cincinnati, Ohio

Diageo is a world-class leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits and beer! Diageo has over 200 outstanding brands – old and new, large and small, global and local, with brands sold in 180 countries at almost every price point, in every category to meet consumer demand.

Diageo is the leading spirit player in every region of the world, highlighting a broad portfolio of both international and local brands. Diageo leads the top two largest spirit brands in the world, Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff, and 20 of the world’s top 100 spirit brands. Its portfolio includes Crown Royal, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Buchanans, Don Julio, Casamigo’s, Tanqueray, Baileys and Guinness!

Purpose:
Primarily responsible for providing category recommendations to Kroger through a fact-based approach: category assessment, planogram assessment, assortment optimization, promotional planning and evaluation, shopper insights, loyalty card analytics, etc.
 
Complexity of Role:

• Has a solid understanding of the business, financials, products/services, markets, and the needs of customer; become recognized as an expert in the Spirits category.
• Complexity is high and flexibility is critical in a dynamic fast-paced environment (centralized/decentralized customer, very SKU intensive category).
• The role requires a significant level of collaboration and the ability to build productive relationships with the buying teams and provide fact-based category recommendations to the customer.
• Deep understanding of category management practices and ways of working.

Key Outputs/Results:

• Identify and develop impactful category analyses, consumer insights and solutions that drive profitable sales growth using a range of syndicated and non-syndicated data sources.
• Utilize various sources such as internal customer data, syndicated data, loyalty card data, and research to solve current business issues, define category and consumer trends, and identify business opportunities to create fact-based recommendations and customer presentations.
• Ensure delivery of category management best practices: shelf management, promotion planning/analysis, pricing analysis, and business development projects.
• Create and maintain category scorecards with proactive recommendations on an ongoing basis.
• Develop and maintain a pipeline of fact-based actionable consumer and shopper insights relevant to customer needs.
• Provide planogram support through pre/post reset data analysis, database maintenance, and thought leadership on merchandising principles.
• Assist the sales team with selling stores, market level analysis, and ad-hoc reporting to help differentiate themselves from the competitive set and provide value creating initiatives for the customer.
• Assume expert role and ownership of assigned tools, processes, and tasks.

Experience/Skills:  

• Minimum 3 to 5 years relevant experience required, preferably Category Management experience in Consumer-Packaged Goods or Beverage Category.
• Highly prefer strong technical experience with advanced software skills relevant to Category Management function and the customer - this includes syndicated data systems (IRI, Nielsen, Spectra), internal Kroger data systems (Market6, 84.51, IRI Gateway), space planning software (JDA/Apollo), Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word), and visualization tools (Tableau, PowerBI).
• Previous category advisor or customer interfacing roles required.
• Possess strong project management, time management, and organizational skills.
• Skilled at communicating data findings and demonstrating completed reports to partners bo