Associate Category Manager (Hybrid work policy)

Job title: Associate Category Manager (Hybrid work policy)

Job Location: Gauteng, Johannesburg

Deadline: April 21, 2025

The Associate Category Manager (Senior Data Analyst) is responsible for the main responsibilities as below:

• To analyze data (IRI | Cognos | Trade Intelligence) to drive insights to deliver the business and category growth objectives.

To define channel guidelines across Category Management levers with a focus on:

• Driving incremental sales and profit for BIC and Retail partners.
• Gain optimized distribution and visibility for BIC products in the retail environment.
• Provide analytical inputs on category opportunities.
• Drive alignment between the functions involved in Category Development (Marketing, Sales, RGM) and coordinate programs and actions needed to implement recommendations.
• Lead identified category management projects.
• Translate global Category Management strategies by Category into locally relevant strategies where applicable.
• Ongoing relationship building and communication with the Marketing and Sales Teams, driving alignment on opportunities and building data credibility with the teams.

FULL RESPONSIBILITIES / TASKS

• Strategically focused, decision-making support function to the Sales and Marketing Departments to maximize customer-focused opportunities.
• Monitor and track internal and external performance of demand creation initiatives.
• Identify key performance gaps and opportunities for demand creation initiatives across the categories.
• Maintain, operate, and actively assess IRI, QlikView Insights, Trade Intelligence, Shoprite Webbie, GS1 for detailed reporting to the business.
• Monthly reporting on performance of categories to the BIC business, locally and internationally.
• Producing detailed Retail Reviews which encompass category strategies.
• Tracking performance, new product innovations, pricing, and distribution of competitors and their products.
• Working with GS1 to generate barcodes for new products and to load new products onto GS1 (data net).
• Listings of all new products for Major Retailers such as Game, Shoprite, SPAR, PnP, Makro, Dis-Chem, Clicks, Boxer, etc.
• Strike Rate reports (listing shortfalls by channel and store, OOS reporting).
• Ensure that the planograms are built on accepted industry guidelines.
• Assist Sales where necessary, to improve the merchandising standards within various channels according to company guidelines.
• Attend meetings with Key Account Managers to assist with delivering the Category plans.
• Competitor analysis and understanding.

Key performance indicators / KPIs

• Meeting of deadlines for all reporting.
• Results of key marketing initiatives and promotional activities to be updated and communicated monthly, assisting in the achievement of the sales budget.
• Interaction and collaboration with key stakeholders in Sales and Marketing to develop and enhance strategies to deliver the operating plan.
• Distribution gains and improvement of each POP.
• Analysis of key price points by category ensuring that the pricing strategies are delivering (price volume interaction) and propose course corrective action when necessary.
• Build and develop sustainable collaborative relationships with internal stakeholders and external data service providers.

Qualifications and technical skills

• 4 years + / - of Data Analytics or Category Management Experience. Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) experience is a plus.
• Experience analysing data from Circana / IRI, Nielsen, Spar or any related data providers.
• Strong computer literacy in related software such as IRI, QlikView Insights Software, MS Office, etc.
• High Numeracy skills – detail analytical ability.
• A proven record in excellent internal and external customer liaison skills and outstanding supplier relations & service excellence experience.