Category Specialist

Purpose of this job (or Department Overview)

The Category Specialist will play an integral role in building, developing and maintaining credible, long-term relationships with Red Bulls retail partners.

The Category specialist will work with the National Account Sales team in order to accelerate the growth of Energy drinks & Red Bull respectively. In doing so the Category specialist will need to analyze multiple data sources in order to identify strategic & actionable opportunities and solutions.

Responsibilities

CATEGORY & SHOPPER EXPERT

Develop an unassailable level of energy category & shopper insight through thorough analysis of multiple data sources (offtake sales data, shopper data, market demographics, local & global shopper insights, and internal cooler data).

Support Category Manager in regular category reviews, plans and strategies with retail partners via gaining a thorough understanding of the following;
Energy Drinks category & shopper, Assortment optimisation & Effective Planogramming, Merchandising principles, Current category project success & identification of further category growth opportunities.

PROJECT ANALYSES & MANAGEMENT

Track performance of current category projects utilising multiple data sources (offtake sales data, shopper data and internal Cooler door opening data) in order to report success back to retailer.

Manage the rollout & maintenance of category projects in retailers; ensuring a smooth rollout & that the units are always looking premium in store.

Support Category Manager with sign off of further category project rollouts into store through strong sales and shopper data analyses supporting reason for rollout.

TURNING INSIGHTS INTO ACTION

Identify key opportunities for Red Bull and educate the field team on how to capitalize on these opportunities through training days.

Further equip the field team to action in trade in form of insights one-pagers that help sell in shelf space allocation of category and Red Bull, new item listings, disruptive display placements, additional cooler placements and other identified category opportunities.

Support category team in managing and planning the annual retailer meets shopper conference, giving our retailers a competitive edge through understanding the latest shopper and retail trends through a day of influential speakers.

Training of retailers broader teams on Category management through training days in order to further position ourselves as the category & shopper experts.

Experience Needed

-Minimum 3-5 years experience in Category, Insights analyses or Key Account sales in the FMCG industry.

-This highly analytical, organized, and self-motivated individual must have the ability to draw insights from multiple complex data sources.

-Excellent analytical skills are needed not only to evaluate, but to provide useful, actionable tools that are clear, meaningful, and delivered in a timely manner.

-Experience working with syndicated data (Nielsen & IRI), Nielsen Panel (homescan) and shopper metrics.

-Customer-facing experience a must; travels up to 25% of the time working with retailers.

-Familiar with Planogram software, such as JDA is an asset.

-Highly proficient in Microsoft Office, especially Excel and Powerpoint.

-In-depth knowledge of the FMCG industry and South African Retail Industry.

-Strong project management and planning competencies.

-Strong communication and stakeholder management skills are required to express analytics and deliver presentations to various levels in the organization.

Education Requirements

1. University Bachelors Degree
2. Fluent in English