Category Planning Manager, Uxbridge

Category Planning Manager 

(Grocery, Discounters and Ecommerce Environments)

What you become part of:

Soft drinks is an exciting, fast paced and always evolving category.  But what is the perfect soft drinks range for our customers?  At Coca-Cola European Partners, the category planning team are at the forefront of leading the soft drinks growth agenda. It’s all about being experts in not just soft drinks but the shoppers and environments in which we sell. 

Understanding who is buying and drinking the products and which occasions and shopper missions are driving the category forward. The category planning team are also experts in retail and leisure, whether it’s in a supercentre, a convenience store, a cinema or a pub, getting under the skin of our customer environments where our shoppers and consumers are buying soft drinks and understanding the key triggers and barriers is key to delivering the right range recommendations and execution plans to grow the soft drinks category.

You will be accountable for the delivery of category growth within your defined customer/environment, working hand in hand with key stakeholders including the Environment leads, Sales teams and directly with the Customer to deliver against defined objectives through the utilisation of category insight and data available.

What to expect:

• You will become an expert in the category and customer performance and will develop and implement category strategies and tactics to drive overall category sales, segment and CCEP brand growth.
• You will work directly with customers on key projects such as Category Vision, Range Reviews, Sector Deep Dives, etc.
• You will have strong credibility and will be able to build relationships quickly to influence either internally or externally towards the project objectives.
• You will have a clear understanding of the Category planning processes and systems needed to identify and implement successful category growth initiatives
• You will understand the commercial implications of decisions but will remain credible to support the delivery of category growth recommendations
• You will identify best practice category strategy, and where possible, implement as common practice across environments, ensuring time is spent out in trade to gain a broader perspective
• You may be required to represent your project at any relevant internal meetings or external forums (industry conferences)
• You will be a key part of shaping the category content for your customer / environment for ABP 2021 and identifying what needs to be created to enable delivery

Skills & Essentials:

To be successful in this role you need to demonstrate excellent analytical skills, strong communication skills (both verbal and written) and the ability to create a story using data and insight to influence customers and internal stakeholders. Prior experience gained from working within Category Management, Insights or Customer Management is essential.