Trade guide
Category manager
Have you always been interested in sales and marketing? Would you like to work in a sector that is very much in vogue these days? Would you like to try your hand at the relatively new job of Category Manager? Find out everything you need to know about this profession in this article.
The business
What is a Category Manager?
Its role
Category manager is a relatively new profession in the field of sales and marketing. You will beresponsible for ensuring the profitability and promotion of a whole range of products.
The category manager recommends and promotes all the products to be listed in the shop on a particular department, and is responsible for the sales and profitability of this product category.
Its field of action
When you become a company’s Category Manager, you occupy a key position within the company. In sales and marketing, the visibility and promotion of products play a major role in their development.
The functions
What does a Category Manager do?
As your main objective as Category Manager is to promote a whole category of products, you will have a number of tasks to carry out, including :
analyse consumer needs and expectations
study the positioning of a product range
choose your shelf position carefully
monitor market trends
analyse market trends
carry out market research, taking account of the competition
implement an effective strategy to promote a range of products
Qualifications
Qualities and skills required of a good Category Manager
If you want to be a good Category Manager, make sure you have the following qualities:
Excellent analytical skills
An eye for detail
Be organised, meticulous and rigorous
Mastering the art of communication
Good interpersonal skills
Being able to anticipate
Be responsive and motivated
The technical skills you need to acquire are just as important in optimising your chances of becoming a Category Manager. You’ll need :
A good knowledge of the product life cycle
Mastering marketing and sales strategies
Be familiar with the various tools available
At ease with digital tools and techniques
Excellent language skills
The benefits
What are the advantages of being a Category Manager?
There are many advantages to becoming a Category Manager. First of all, this is a relatively new profession, so there’s a lot of recruitment going on. So you’ll have every chance of getting a stable, progressive job that also generally offers good pay.
Secondly, the job of Category Manager requires you to work as part of a team and to negotiate from time to time with your colleagues.
In all cases, you have to communicate with people, which helps to improve your interpersonal skills, an important aspect to develop throughout your career.
What’s more, there’s little risk of monotony in this profession. The stakes vary a great deal, depending on the product to be promoted and made profitable. So you’ve got plenty to enjoy in a profession that involves a great deal of dynamism. You can look forward to continuing to learn as you go along.
Remuneration
Category manager: salary and career development
The salary of a customer service manager varies according to experience in the post and the size of the company. To start with, they earn around €30,000 gross per year. This can rise to €40,000 gross per year after several years’ experience.
As a Category Manager, you will be versatile and become an important professional within the company. As a result, you’ll earn a fairly attractive salary of at least 34,000 euros a year. That said, as you gain experience, you can earn up to 60,000 euros a year.
You’ll also notice that, as a Category Manager, you often have to work with many other professionals. This helps you acquire new skills and gives you access to a large number of related professions. You could, for example, become Product Manager, Group Manager, Brand Manager, Marketing Project Manager or Category Management Director.
Up to
40 000€
Salary per year
Training courses
How do you become a Category Manager?
Our training courses
The best way to get up and running as a Category Manager as quickly as possible is to take a course at a specialist establishment. INSEEC is a business school specialising in marketing and business development, offering a wide range of programmes and specialisations to suit your career plans.
The following courses are available to help you become a Category Manager:
To see all the other options available at INSEEC, please consult our FAQ section.
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