Category Development Manager - Spar & On The Go

Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure and people? Then this is the place for you.

As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire. We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits.

To succeed at pladis you need to be purpose-led, resilient and positive to succeed here because we expect pace and agility, we insist on collaboration and demand accountability. If that is your thing, then pladis offers global ambition, a clear Vision and roadmap for success, challenge, and unrivalled opportunities to learn and make an impact

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Why join our team?

The pladis Category Team is a focused and dedicated team with a clear ambition to be seen as the #1 category authority by our customers. The role of the pladis Category Management team is to help our retail customers and pladis to grow category sales of snacking products through the provision of industry-leading shopper, retailer and market insights. These enable robust decision making on product ranges, merchandising, business planning and promotions.

We work directly with customers externally, as well as providing mentorship internally to ensure alignment of our business goals with the category needs of our customers.

What will this role achieve?

The Category Manager will be accountable for a portfolio of customers across the Impulse channel, including Spar, Forecourts and High Street – influencing our Biscuits, Crisps & Snacks, and Cake businesses across the Take Home and especially the On The Go/immediate consumption missions.

You will ensure development of strong external customer buyer relationships & delivery of industry-leading insight at all levels; providing category leadership and developing and implementing plans that deliver category growth for our customers and for pladis.

Execution of the category growth plan will result in pladis being seen as the category partner of choice with our customers. You will assist with strategy development as well as the optimisation of range, distribution, space, location, transparency and availability of the category, in order to achieve the agreed category growth plan which will ultimately also help grow pladis sales/share in the Forecourts and High Street channels and Impulse channel overall.

What will be your key deliverables?

• CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS: Broaden our sphere of influence and build close working relationships with key external contacts within your portfolio of channel customers. Develop a customer contact strategy to be agreed with the Controller, encompassing contacts to network with, frequency & objectives of the contact.

• CATEGORY GROWTH PLAN: In line with the 3-Year vision of category growth for the focus customer(s) that identifies new ways to unlock consumption and purchase for biscuits/C&S/cake, work with the customer to tailor & implement a one-year category growth plan; bringing it to life in a simple and compelling way that encourages the focus customer(s) to see the growth potential of the categories, makes it clear what they need to do to unlock the value, and reinforces pladis as the #1 category advisor to help achieve growth.

• FIXTURE OF THE FUTURE: Help to build & deliver our vision of the fixture of the future by key customer mission and format to increase shopper engagement with the category, improve ease of shop and drive greater impulse purchase opportunities.

• CATEGORY FUNDAMENTALS: Ensure development and execution of differentiated strategies and tactics for focus customer(s) that improve range, distribution, location, availability, promotions and space (Macro, primary and secondary) for the Category; making the categories we play in easier and more enjoyable to shop. Objectively evaluate Category performance in the focus customer(s), identifying risks or opportunities to the portfolio and proactively communicating suggested course correction. Ensure that range reviews & ranging window opportunities are improved by highlighting opportunities & risks, agreeing & supervising progress vs. agreed metrics.

• INSIGHTS TO ACTIONS, ANALYSIS AND REPORTING: Successfully interpret all available industry, category, customer and shopper data turning it into powerful insights that are communicated regularly to focus customer(s) and, where appropriate, any specific findings for the pladis' organisation e.g HFSS regulations, Category health checks, promotional analysis and category fundamentals.

• BRAND CHAMPION: For the designated area of responsibility, work closely with the Brand Marketing, Innovation and commercial planning teams to ensure that there is a clear category, consumer, shopper and retailer rationale for our brands – and that retailer operational considerations are clearly understood and acted on in the brand planning/innovation process.

• NEW BUSINESS: Help to lead and deliver new business/tender proposals and pitches alongside the sales teams to win new business for Pladis.

Measures:

• Biscuits/Crisps & Snacks/Cake Category Growth.

• Agreed specific Category Plan metrics.

• Advantage Group Survey Ranking & Score.

What do you need for this role?

• Experience & understanding of Category Management principles and execution.

• Understanding of the UK Retail Trade across all Channels and validated experience in developing merchandising and category recommendations in multiple customers or channels.

• Genuine desire to physically engage with customer contacts on a regular basis is critical for this trade sector.

• Good influencing and relationship building skill with customers & partners crucial.

• A passion for understanding the dynamics behind category performance & a desire to improve performance.

• Validated experience with leading, developing and deploying Annual Category Growth Plans that deliver effective business results.

• Knowledge and understanding of Space Planning, Insights tools and data sets spanning but not limited to JDA, Nielsen, Kantar, Circana, Lumina etc.

• Specific experience/knowledge of category management or sales roles within the Impulse channel is recommended.

Working Pattern: This role offers an agile 3,2 working pattern with 3 days in the office and 2 days from home.  

pladis is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to hiring a diverse workforce. All openings will be filled based on qualifications without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, age, religion or any other classification protected by law.

We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List. If you are a recruitment agency and wish to submit candidate to be considered for this vacancy, you must have agreed to, and signed, our terms of business.
We will not accept CVs from any other sources other than those currently on our PSL. We will not pay a fee for any candidate that has not been represented by a provider on our PSL.