Your Opportunity as the Manager, Category Analytics - Walmart & Sam's
The primary responsibility of this position is to build trust and influence with Walmart and Sam’s retailers and support Smucker’s sales teams to drive our brand penetration, growth and development across designated categories and JMS Brand activation. Leads customized development of category specific retailer growth opportunities and diagnostics relative to insight driven activations against the retailer, shopper, and category dynamics. Supports sales with insights to inform JBP’s, line reviews and customer annual sales planning delivering category and JMS growth opportunity identification and execution. Go-to category expert, responsible for providing in-depth category, retail, consumer and shopper expertise in support of our sales initiatives. Liaison back to HQ category leadership/strategy team.
Location: Bentonville, AR
Work Arrangements: Hybrid - onsite a minimum of 2 days per week
In this role you will:
Customer Category Management
Leads development and delivery of Customer specific Category Growth Drivers – strategy, initiatives and customized content of compelling category strategies and stories
Leads 4P tactical solutions for assigned customers and categories, specifically owning shelving and assortment and partnering with cross functional teams on price/promo
Provides thought leadership to elevate Smucker’s voice and influence with Walmart & SAM’S
Leads Category first approach in Customer Category Reviews and Assessments as well as Top to Top, JBP, QBR engagement meetings with key customers and internal stakeholders
Influence retailer category strategies through account-specific insights, business analysis, and clear recommendations related to distribution, promotion, pricing, and shelf placement.
Build customer ready stories, visuals and tools that enable high quality selling conversations supported by insights and data driven recommendations.
Anchor planning and execution in facts and performance, tracking results, promo/innovation effectiveness, and surfacing risks and opportunities.
Identifies opportunities and risks for category and JMS, with bias for action
Leverages all available data and customized content against consumer, shopper and category insights to create and deliver fact-based strategic selling resulting in implementation & activation at retail
Supports and drives omni activation and integration into all category deliverables, workstreams
Appropriately collaborates with category advisor teams, while partnering with sales to drive the business
Understands the competitive marketplace in which JMS and customers operate
Communicates insights and learnings both internally and externally to a wide variety of audiences
Provides category and key customer business analytics
Actively participates in retailer meetings
Collaborates and influences across the various SBAs
Internal Business Support Management
Partner with Sales, Marketing, Insights, Intelligence, Category Strategy, and other functional teams to identify business opportunities and translate insights into execution.
Expert on all customer business analytics and resources (Circana, panel, scintilla, etc)
Identifies requirements for tool development and data support systems to increase visibility and application of key category insights
Acts as a liaison back to the JMS HQ Category Leadership team
Customer Business Plan Development, Review & Activation
Provides input into customer long-term business strategy
What we are looking for:
Bachelor’s degree
6+ years in Consumer-Packaged Goods industry
3+ years Category Management or Shopper Insights experience
Proven success in building relationships within customers / retailers
Experience in analysis of shopper / consumer-based CPG information
Strong analytical skills, problem solving, and storytelling experience
Cross functional collaboration, especially customer and sales centric
Excellent organization and written / verbal communication skills
Proficient in leveraging Circana or Nielsen data, POS and panel data, shopper card, Scintilla, Atlas
Planogramming/Planogram software experience (Ex. JDA ProSpace, EZPOG)
Ability to develop and translate insights into actions with excellent story telling with data skills
Strategic mindset to help build and execute effective plans
Business & Financial Acumen
Travel requirements: up to 20-25%
Additional skills and experience that we think would make someone successful in this role (not required):
MBA
Experience working cross functionally in a Headquarter environment
The Right Place for You
We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs.
Stay connected with us on LinkedIn®
We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree
- 6+ years in Consumer-Packaged Goods industry
- 3+ years Category Management or Shopper Insights experience
- Proven success building relationships with retailers/customers
- Experience analyzing shopper/consumer CPG information
- Strong analytical skills, problem solving, and storytelling with data
- Cross-functional collaboration experience, especially with sales and customer teams
- Excellent organization and written/verbal communication skills
- Proficient leveraging Circana or Nielsen, POS and panel data, shopper card, Scintilla, Atlas
- Planogramming/Planogram software experience (e.g., JDA ProSpace, EZPOG)
- Ability to translate insights into actionable plans and sell-in stories
- Strategic mindset and business/financial acumen
- Willingness to travel up to 20-25%
- Hybrid work arrangement with onsite minimum 2 days per week in Bentonville, AR
- MBA
- Experience working cross-functionally in a headquarters environment
The J.M. Smucker Co. Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about The J.M. Smucker Co. and has not been reviewed or approved by The J.M. Smucker Co..
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Retirement Support — Retirement programs are described as strong, with a company 401(k) match, immediate vesting in some materials, and access to an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. These elements contribute to a favorable view of total compensation value.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave for all parents and on-site childcare at key locations signal a family-forward approach. Additional supports such as adoption assistance and pet-related leave reinforce this emphasis.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid time off, seasonal compressed schedules, and flexibility options are highlighted across materials. The ability to start with substantial PTO and buy additional time enhances perceived time-off breadth.
The J.M. Smucker Co. Insights
What We Do
Each generation of consumers leaves their mark on culture by establishing new expectations for food and the companies that make it. At The J.M. Smucker Co., it is our privilege to be at the heart of this dynamic with a portfolio that appeals to each generation of people and pets with products found in 90 percent of U.S. homes and countless restaurants. This includes a mix of iconic brands consumers have always loved such as Folgers®, Jif® and Milk-Bone® and new favorites like Café Bustelo®, Smucker’s® Uncrustables® and Rachael Ray® Nutrish®. By continuing to immerse ourselves in consumer and pet parent preferences for food, how it’s purchased and how the companies that make it should operate, we will maintain the important role we play in their lives. This will allow us to continue growing our business and the positive impact we have on all of those who count on us.
