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jlb · 1 day ago

Category Manager

Minneapolis, MN

Full-time

Onsite

Senior Level

6+ years exp

JLB is an award-winning retail consulting firm that helps brands succeed at Target. The Category Manager will lead complex category work by analyzing data, managing relationships with Target, and providing strategic recommendations to enhance category performance.

ConsultingRetail

Hiring Manager

Tamara V.

Responsibilities

Independently manages day-to-day relationships with Target and cross-functional teams, including merchant, business analyst, inventory analyst, space & transition planning & pricing promo team, and develops relationships with the Director merchant

Leads the preparation and execution of client meetings, including weekly updates and ad hoc sessions, while driving collaborative problem-solving discussions

Provides strategic recommendations grounded in a deep understanding of category trends and client needs

Owns the end-to-end reporting process, combining advanced data analytics with a deep understanding of business drivers

Integrates multiple data sources to deliver detailed weekly reports and strategic insights that highlight performance trends, opportunities, and risks

Incorporates insights on sales, promotions, and inventory in multiple roll-ups like brand, vendor, subcategory, and item

Develops and manages custom attributes, enabling deeper analysis and providing valuable insights into business performance

Supports ad hoc reporting needs, proactively identifying relevant data points to address client questions and guide decisions

Manages in-depth analyses of competitive marketplace and retailer trends, including merchandising, pricing, brand, and SKU selection

Produces comprehensive reports on market share, competitive retailer performance, and industry trends

Identifies and capitalizes on emerging trends, opportunity items, promotional themes, and merchandising strategies

Provides strategic recommendations to Target merchant team

Executes category and seasonal review utilizing some pre-established templates and creating custom outputs for their business

Gains a deep understanding of client strategies and analyzes sales, space-to-sales, consumer behavior, basket drivers, segmentation, pricing tiers, assortment gaps, white space, and merchandising

Provides actionable insights and strategic recommendations to enhance category performance and productivity

Is successful at synthesizing to create executive summaries and key recommendations summaries independently

Effectively presents to the client, utilizing advanced presentation techniques to convey complex data and insights, fostering client understanding and buy-in

Own the transition & revision planogram process from start to finish

Manage T&A, confirming item images & attributes, merchandise planning, SVP walk-through support, planogram optimization, and writing all planogram versions

Analyze merchandising and assortment to influence strategy

Develops strategic planograms that align with business objectives and enhance the customer experience

Efficiently writes up to 1,000 planograms, store ties, fixture placement, signage, and proofing

Manages the development of comprehensive digital performance reports and seasonal analyses

Conducts in-depth analysis of channel sales performance, search behavior, purchasability, and site content and experience

Collaborates with internal digital category experts to identify the correct tools to use for a business question before developing custom outputs

Develops and presents to Target strategic recommendations based on data analysis to support business objectives and improve digital performance

Research trends and utilize internal resources to gain comprehensive insights

Identify emerging trends and apply these to current and forward-thinking category initiatives

Shares insights and presentations that are applicable to other categories at JLB to create efficiency and knowledge sharing

Qualification

Data AnalyticsCategory ManagementPresentation SkillsRetail ExperienceProject ManagementRelationship ManagementTrend AnalysisDigital Performance ReportingProblem-SolvingCommunication Skills

Required

Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field such as Business, Finance, Economics, Statistics, Mathematics, Data Science, or a related discipline

6+ years of experience in retail or brand background

Proficient in diverse tasks including reporting & analytics, setting planograms, planogram writing, creating presentations, and adept presentation delivery

Skilled in synthesizing multiple/extensive resources to craft compelling narratives and actionable insights

Deep understanding of merchandising strategies and the ability to leverage and apply substantial datasets effectively