Category Manager- Produce

Save A Lot; Missouri; On-site; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401K company match

Paid Time Off

Medical Insurance options including FS

Vision Insurance

Employee Assistance Programs

Tuition Reimbursement

Job summary

Save A Lot is seeking an experienced Category Manager to strategically manage grocery categories, negotiate with key vendors, and drive sales and gross profit. You will analyze performance data, develop assortment plans, and coordinate with cross-functional teams to implement promotions and pricing strategies.

The role requires strong negotiation, financial acumen, and proficiency with Excel and PowerPoint. Travel to stores and markets is expected to support category goals.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, marketing or related field.
• 3–5 years of relevant retail and merchandising experience.
• Strong negotiation, analytical and financial awareness.
• Proficiency in MS Excel and MS PowerPoint.
• Ability to read P&L statements and support category plans.

Responsibilities

• Develop category strategy and plans to increase sales and market share.
• Own vendor relationships and negotiate for range and pricing.
• Manage pricing, promotions and assortment to drive profitability.
• Collaborate with sourcing, supply chain, and marketing teams.
• Lead cross-functional teams to execute category initiatives.
• Analyze performance and adjust plans based on data and trends.
• Communicate category plans and results to stakeholders.
• Visit stores and markets to observe product performance and competition.
• Ensure displays and planograms support the category strategy.

Skills

Negotiation

Analytical thinking

Vendor management

MS Excel

MS PowerPoint

Strategic planning

Education

Bachelor's in Business/Marketing

Retail/category management experience

Tools

ERP / POGs tooling

Data analysis tools

Job description

Purpose

Strategically manages categories and negotiates to increase sales, gross dollars, market share versus prior year, and meet or exceed projected numbers . Recommends pricing, promotion, assortment and shelf planograms for each assigned category, based on detailed analysis of past performance and results, industry best practices, and consumer trends.

Responsibilities

• Drives sales, sets a vision, and executes necessary steps for category success
• Owns vendor relationship as a primary contact by maintaining quality relations and meeting on a consistent basis for growth results, negotiate future planning, range assortment, and understanding of industry trends
• Manages P&L, monitoring and recommending prices, to obtain the most aggressive price in the market
• Works closely with partner functions (sourcing, replenishment, supply chain etc.) and communicates category and promotional plans to ensure desired service levels and the optimum inventory position achieved
• Owns cross functional work with a wide variety of teams such as replenishment, suppliers, branding, and others to fulfill objectives and responsibilities of full ownership to assigned items
• Partners with promotional team on creation and implementation of a promotional calendar by major category and in tracking results at the end of each promotion in terms of sales, P&L share growth, or contribution
• Collaborates with Space Planning team for POGs, attentive to advertisements, keeping foot traffic in mind
• Drives product development through understanding market quality of both national and private brand, maintains private brand and product quality, and identifies need (or lack of need) for private brand products
• Owns the assortment planning process by making logical recommendations of new items entering the market and discontinuing lines based on potential contribution to the category strategies and department
• Takes ownership in working with the Quality Assurance team to determine the right quality specs and specify composition and sensory requirements of products
• Holds supplier accountable to continually provide the negotiated quality within agreement terms
• Collaborates with analysts and finance and analyzes category through measurement of total contribution to the entire department, previous results , and market trends to create a yearly category business plan
• Acts as expert on assigned items with understanding of ingredients, commodity impacts, and packaging costs
• Held accountable for gross profit projections at the category level, rolling up to department projections quarterly, monthly, and yearly
• Partner with promotional planning and space planning teams to recommend ads and displays in support of the category plans and total department initiatives for stores
• Visits competition as well as markets, stores, and distribution centers as necessary to observe results of product lines and communicate knowledge of competitive products, performance, and business trends
• Ensures all items are in effective and efficient display cases for supply chains and stores
• Pro-actively recognizes issues, defines customer-focused solutions, leads cross functional teams to define actions that will sustainably drive results, and presents strategy to line manager or above
• Initiates and follow through on personnel actions such as: interviewing and providing input used in hiring decisions, and/or providing feedback on performance standards
• Maintains formal and informal channels of upward communication; encourage the expression of new ideas , suggestions, and complaints; review them for appropriateness and further action
• Performs other duties as assigned

About You

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business , Marketing or related field and/or 3-5 years of relevant retail experience
• 3-5 years relevant business experience where a solid understanding of marketing, merchandising, Consumer research and financial management practices have been gained
• Solid financial, mathematical, statistical, marketing, merchandising, and consumer research background to read, interpret, and understand how internal and external factors influence financial results
• In-depth understanding of store operations and merchandising methodologies and practices, including P&L and financial management
• Familiarity with Category Business Planning or ability to learn
• Ability to read and interpret P&L statement and understand how the categories managed are affecte d
• Exceptional skills in negotiation, influencing, analyzing problems and decisions, and taking initiative
• Interpersonal skills to build rapport, network, and maintain effective business relationships within and outside the company
• Strategy development skills with the ability to manage short-term goals to meet long-term initiatives.
• Proficient in MS Excel and MS PowerPoint
• Understanding of procurement, logistics , inventory management

Physical Requirements

• Ability to travel up to ~10% of the time, which may include weekends and evenings, as needed
• Most work is performed in a temperature-controlled environment
• Incumbent may sit for long periods of time at a desk or computer terminal
• Incumbent may use calculators, keyboards, telephone and other office equipment in the course of a normal workday
• Stooping, bending, twisting and reaching may be required in completion of job duties

Benefits

• 401K company match up to 4%
• Paid Time Off
• Medical Insurance options including FSA & HSA
• Vision Insurance
• Employee Assistance Programs
• Team Member Referral Program
• Tuition Reimbursement

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature of the work performed by the employees assigned to this job. All employees must comply with Company policy and applicable laws. The responsibilities, duties and skills required of personnel so classified may vary within each department and /or location.