Short Paper
Assortment Management
Many retailers (especially grocery stores) have found category management to be a great technique for improving sales productivity within merchandise categories. It has also changed the way that vendors and retailers communicate with one another. In a paper, answer all of the following questions:
1. What benefit would retailers gain from using category management to guide their decisions with merchandise planning?
2. How can retailers utilize the vendor's knowledge of the merchandise categories that it sells to make better merchandising choices? Explain your answer.
3. What are some reasons that consumers become dissatisfied with a retailer's merchandise selection? What can retailers do to avoid these pitfalls?
Guidelines
1. Senior level College paper. Must also contain introduction, thesis, & conclusion.
2. Length of paper : 1 ½ to 2 page paper.
3 Times New Roman Font. Font size 11. Single spaced. Margins 1 inch.
4. Paper must be well articulated, and must provide a detailed analysis that demonstrates comprehensive exploration of many merchandise management concepts.5. No errors related to organization, grammar and style, and citations
6. Here's an article recommended by my College professor.
"Effective day-to-day category management"
https://www.bearingpoint.com/en-uk/download/BENO1167_CatMgmtWP.pdf
This is some additional information my Professor provided us with. I'm using this text book as well.
Merchandising: Theory, Principles, and Practice, Chapter 5
Category management is used by retailers to bring order to the merchandising process. This is important when retailers must make numerous decisions and transactions involving large sums of money, especially in acquiring merchandise. Category management is a technique used by retailers that focuses on improving the productivity of merchandise categories rather than brands (Berman & Evans, 2013).
Using category management strategies, the retailer first identifies the merchandise categories that it plans to carry and then determines the assortments for each category. This involves determining the range of offerings for each merchandise category; the retailer has three options to choose from (Swanson & Everett, 2009):
• Merchandise assortment depth: In this assortment, the retailer offers a limited number of merchandise categories with a variety of styles.
• Merchandise assortment breadth: In this assortment, the retailer offers a variety of merchandise categories with a limited number of styles.
• Merchandise assortment balance: In this assortment, the retailer offers a variety of both merchandise categories and styles. When category management is used, retailers and vendors determine how each merchandise category will be fulfilled and replenished. This approach requires that a retailer vendor relationship be established and function effectively to ensure both parties can communicate on a regular basis regarding merchandise productivity. Instead of working independently, as retailers and manufacturers have traditionally done, category management requires both parties to work together for long-term success.
There is an eight- step process for implementing the category management approach to merchandising (Fowler & Goh, 2012):
• Category definition: The retailer determines what merchandise categories it will carry. • Category role: The retailer determines the purpose/role of each merchandise category in its overall merchandise offerings.
• Category assessment: The retailer analyzes the performance of each merchandise category.
• Category scorecard: The scorecard is used to outline the targets and objectives of each merchandise category.
• Category strategies: The retailer identifies marketing and promotional activities for each merchandise category.
• Category tactics: The retailer may employ pricing and supply tactics to further promote each merchandise category.
• Category plan implementation: This is the final document that outlines the entire eight-step category management process that is used as a guide for implementing all stages.
Since most department stores offer very large assortments of merchandise, they manage their merchandise using category management because it allows them to focus on entire merchandise categories instead of particular brands.
References
Berman, B., & Evans, J. (2013). Retail management: A strategic approach (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Fowler, D., & Goh, B. (2012). Retail category management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Swanson, K., & Everett, J. (2009). Promotion in the merchandising environment (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Fairchild Publications.